In the past two days, Dong Mingzhu has "fired" on young people again. Recently, a video titled "Dong Mingzhu angrily denounced Meng Yutong" was widely circulated and sparked heated discussions. In the video, Dong Mingzhu spoke at the induction ceremony of Gree Electric’s 2023 college students. Dong Mingzhu said that she chose Meng Yutong as a secretary because of her diligence in the intern program, but she could not write a single article. It was said that Meng Yutong only wanted to use the Gree platform to become an Internet celebrity, which had a bad impact on the company.
Dong Mingzhu said: "Everyone thinks she is worth the money. She already has so-called fans in Gree, but what's the use? I just made a little more money today." Dong Mingzhu also said that just thinking about making more money is no different from the walking dead. Money should not be the dream of college students, money is the result of struggle.
Not to mention what happened between Dong Mingzhu and Meng Yutong, but her views like "working not for money" and "just wanting to make money are like walking zombies" quickly aroused opposition from the blockbuster.
Indeed, as the leader of a large company, Dong Mingzhu's "speeches" seem a bit pedantic and outdated, and are not in line with the mainstream values of this era.
As early as thousands of years ago in the late Spring and Autumn Period, as the war situation became increasingly chaotic, the once glorious "ritual and music system" became a kind of decoration and gradually collapsed. But even so, there are still people who insist on "rituals and music", such as Song Xianggong, the king of Song Dynasty.
In 638 BC, Song and Chu went to war, and Zheng was very close to Chu at that time. Song Xianggong couldn't bear to see this, so he sent troops to attack Zheng Guo. In order to protect his "little brother", Chu State sent troops to attack Song Dynasty to save Zheng, and the war situation began to expand. In the later stages of the war, Song Xianggong was pedantic and did not listen to Ziyu's advice of "taking advantage of the victory to pursue victory". As a result, he missed the opportunity to fight and was finally defeated by Chu.
This story illustrates a truth to the world: don't be the enemy of the times.
But obviously, Dong Mingzhu does not understand this truth, so she stands on the opposite side of the mainstream values of this society.
Dong Mingzhu angrily scolds Meng Yutong
After Dong Mingzhu's remarks were reported, some netizens said: "Aunt Dong was wrong about others, so she became angry. What she wanted was not a person like Meng, and she chose the wrong one. Meng is indeed more suitable to be an Internet celebrity, so she gave her a salary of 5,000. She has been out of work for so long, and she is still aggrieved and singles out people for criticism. The structure is too small."
Regarding Dong Mingzhu's "criticism", Meng Yutong said on the 15th that he was preparing for the exam and it was not convenient to respond to some matters. According to previous releases by Meng Yutong, she is applying to study for graduate school abroad.
Zinc Finance believes that the essence of this public opinion is actually a confrontation between old and new workplace cultures.
In the minds of many older generation entrepreneurs, loyalty has always been the core factor in measuring an employee, more important than ability and salary. Especially entrepreneurs like Dong Mingzhu, who started from the bottom, "dedicated his life" to Gree and eventually became the leader, are naturally more "obsessed" with the loyalty of employees.
But times are always changing, and workplace culture is undergoing an invisible transformation.
In the minds of many young people today, a company is a profit-making organization, maximizing interests, free movement of employees is a business behavior, survival of the fittest is the essence of business, and requiring employees to be loyal has become a typical workplace PUA.
Loyalty has lost its former luster, the culture of long-term service to the same company has become outdated, people are increasingly willing to explore new opportunities, and job-hopping has become the norm.
This is the result of the times, and as business leaders, we must learn to adapt to the times, take advantage of the trend, and feed the people of the new era with the chicken soup of the old era. This will only widen the distance with young people.
Li Guoqing supports young people
Solidification of thinking is a terrible thing. Dong Mingzhu does not seem to agree with the "voice" of netizens.
After the "Dong Mingzhu angrily denounced Meng Yutong" incident fermented, many people on the Internet also said: "Dong Mingzhu's work thinking is old-fashioned. Dong Mingzhu's era and the era of today's young people are completely different social backgrounds."
In this regard, Dong Mingzhu said in the live broadcast on the 18th: "What are young people like nowadays? Free and undisciplined? Do not follow rules? Do whatever you want, and focus on myself? Then there will be no harmony in this society. If individuals are self-centered, it will be a mess. Many young people I have come into contact with still have a sentiment. Your results may not be ideal if you strive for yourself, but you have great love in your heart and care for others. I believe that the future world must belong to such people."
When Dong Mingzhu talked about Meng Yutong in the live broadcast, facing the doubts that she hired the wrong person and had problems with her eyesight, Dong Mingzhu said: "It's not called using the wrong person. It's her own choice. She chooses her own path in life. She determines her own values in life. It's up to you to decide what kind of person you choose to be. It's hard to say what it will be like in five years."
In addition to Dong Mingzhu's response itself once again aroused heated discussion, on the same day, Li Guoqing, who always likes to deal with "young people", suddenly posted a video saying that Dong Mingzhu had lowered his price in dealing with Meng Yutong, pouring another bucket of gasoline on the matter.
Li Guoqing posted a video saying that Meng Yutong, as a fresh graduate, wanted to partner with Dong Mingzhu to become an Internet celebrity. It is normal to have a second career to earn income. "You didn't harm Gree, did you? Did you not go to bring goods to competitors? Did you not use Gree's position to do something with dealers? It doesn't harm the company's interests, there is no big problem."
Li Guoqing also said that Meng Yutong, as the so-called successor selected by Dong Mingzhu, is now being "verbally and verbally criticized". He violated the system and persuaded him to quit. Now he is directly fired, and Dong Mingzhu is advised to leave some room for young people to save face.
Regarding Li Guoqing's remarks, many people expressed "agreement": "It is normal for young people to make mistakes, and there is nothing to say if they are criticized for making mistakes. But for this matter, it is unnecessary for a senior of yours to come out to "whip the body" every now and then. If you continue to talk like this, people will not think of Meng Yutong, they will just think that Sister Dong has become Xianglin's wife."
According to Zinc Finance, Dong Mingzhu has publicly "criticized" Meng Yutong several times since March this year, but as the "protagonist", Meng Yutong has received almost no response.
The new era creates a new workplace
What makes Dong Mingzhu stand on the opposite side of "young people" is not just her remarks about Meng Yutong.
In March this year, Dong Mingzhu suggested in an interview that legislation should be introduced to charge training fees for employees to change jobs. Dong Mingzhu emphasized: "Because you have worked with me for more than ten years, I have trained you, and I have spent so much money, manpower, material resources and time, and you leave after patting your butt, then your next unit must at least compensate me for the training fees."
In other words, in Dong Mingzhu's view, employees have learned skills and accumulated experience in the company, and can go to better places when they change jobs, so it is natural for companies to charge training fees to employees.
If we follow these values, "paid work" will become a trend in the future.
At this point, many readers may feel that Dong Mingzhu is too "disparaging", but this is not the case. For older generation entrepreneurs like Dong Mingzhu, they still have a lot to learn from "young people".
Speaking more broadly, Dong Mingzhu’s patriotism, integrity, and determination to move forward in a difficult environment are all precious and need to be passed on by young people.
Speaking of small businesses, Dong Mingzhu previously promised to provide employees with one apartment per person, and has now completed thousands of apartments. Building a house requires process and time, but her commitment will never change.
However, as young people, we must still "question" some of the suggestions of the older generation of entrepreneurs. After all, their growth environment is very different from today, and many "experiences" are not applicable in today's "unpredictable" era.
In our country, although the older generation of entrepreneurs have a strong ability to accept new things, they often fail to realize the disruptive impact of these new things. They still treat new things as old "add-ons" and are not aware of the new ecology, new models, and efficiency changes that new things may bring.
Musk holds a view that he firmly believes humans cannot live long. In his view, people's thinking will gradually solidify as they age. If human lifespan is extended indefinitely, the entire society will become obsolete and rigid.
Yu Minhong once said: "In fact, what our generation of entrepreneurs are most afraid of is getting old. Being old does not refer to physical aging, nor does it refer to age. Being old is because we are afraid that we will not be able to keep up with the times. We can no longer understand what young people say. Facing the changes in the world, we have become solidified. This is a sign of oldness, that is, your thinking no longer jumps and your thinking no longer upgrades."
All in all, young people should respect the older generation of entrepreneurs, but not be ignorantly obedient. The older generation of entrepreneurs must also adapt to the progress of the times and respect the choices of young people.