If private enterprises want to develop well and go long-term, they must have professional managers who understand technology to manage the company. If the company's boss manages the company with one word, the follow-up will definitely be very chaotic. The management will be a mess, good talents and engineers will not be retained, and the company will become a vicious circle.
This sentence accurately points out the core management bottleneck of private enterprises at a certain stage of development: from "the boss speaks in the entrepreneurial stage" to "professionals manage professional affairs in the growth stage" is a key watershed for whether private enterprises can break through and go forward in the long run. The boss's one-word management model can start quickly in the early stages of entrepreneurship by relying on personal courage and decision-making efficiency. However, as the scale of the enterprise expands and the business becomes more complex, it will inevitably fall into the dilemma of "chaotic management, brain drain, and a vicious cycle." Letting professional managers who understand technology and management take over is essentially an inevitable choice for private enterprises to move from "rule by man" to "rule of law," and from "experience management" to "professional management."
The core conclusion should be made clear first: Private enterprises rely on their bosses during the start-up period, and professional managers during the growth period. The ceiling of the boss's words is the ceiling of the enterprise's development. The problem with Yiyantang has never been that the boss is "incompetent", but that this management model does not match the scale and complexity of the company's development; and the value of professional managers is not to "replace the boss", but to use professional management systems and technical thinking to implement the boss's strategy, so that the company can change from "relying on individuals" to "relying on the system". This is the core underlying logic for private enterprises to go forward in the long run.
The following explains this issue thoroughly from three dimensions: why Yiyantang cannot support the long-term development of enterprises, the core value of professional managers to private enterprises, and the key prerequisites for private enterprises to introduce professional managers, and directly hits the core pain points of private enterprise management:
1. What the boss says: "Advantages" in the entrepreneurial period and "fatal shortcomings" in the growth period
The boss's one-word management model has its natural advantages in the company's 0-1 start-up period: the decision-making chain is short and the response speed is fast. The boss can quickly make decisions and seize market opportunities based on personal experience and industry acumen. It is suitable for small teams, single business, and low-complexity business scenarios. But when an enterprise reaches the 1-N growth stage (expanding scale, increasing the number of teams, diversifying businesses, and becoming complex technologies, such as private auto parts companies moving from a single product to multiple categories, and from domestic supporting to overseas), the shortcomings of this model will be infinitely magnified, eventually bringing down the enterprise. The core problems are reflected in five aspects:
1. Decision-making relies on "personal experience" rather than "professional judgment", and it is easy to get into trouble.
Private enterprises in the growth stage, especially manufacturing and technology-based private enterprises (such as auto parts, new energy supporting equipment), have business involving multiple professional dimensions such as technology research and development, production processes, quality control, supply chain management, overseas markets, etc. Each dimension has its own professional logic, which cannot be covered by the personal experience of the boss. The boss makes all decisions at once. Even if it is about technology research and development, process optimization, and overseas certification issues that he does not understand, he makes decisions based on "feeling" and "experience": for example, the boss of a private auto parts company does not understand the three-power technology, but forcibly interferes with the R&D route; he does not understand the IATF16949 quality system, but he changes the production control standards at will. This kind of decision-making of "laymen guiding experts" will inevitably lead to deviations in technical routes, chaotic production processes, and out-of-control product quality. Eventually, market opportunities will be missed, and even huge losses will be caused. Professional managers (especially those who understand technology) can make decisions based on industry expertise, data, and market rules, avoiding the limitations of personal experience and making decisions more scientific and practical.
2. Management relies on "personal authority" rather than "institutional system", and it becomes more and more chaotic.
The core of Boss Yitang is the "rule of man": the rules and processes of the company are determined by the boss's personal will. What the boss says is what he says. There is no standardized management system, organizational structure, or work process. For example: department responsibilities are blurred, and sales, production, and R&D blame each other; there are no standards for promotion and salary, and it all depends on the mood of the boss. A good job is not as good as a good relationship with the boss; there are no standardized processes for production and quality, and the boss can change the process parameters at will with just one sentence. This management model can be maintained by the boss's personal authority when the team is small. Once the team expands to dozens or hundreds of people, it will inevitably fall into a "management mess": chaotic processes, unclear rights and responsibilities, and low efficiency. Employees don't know "what to do, what standards to follow, and who to call if they make mistakes." The entire enterprise's operations are in a state of disorder. The core value of professional managers is to establish a standardized management system and organizational structure**: clarify departmental rights and responsibilities, formulate work processes, establish a salary and promotion system, and standardize production quality standards, so that enterprises can move from "rule by man" to "rule by law" and rely on systems rather than individuals to maintain operations.
3. Talent cannot be retained, and core technical/management talents continue to be lost, forming a vicious cycle
For technology-based private enterprises (such as auto parts and new energy), core engineers, professional and technical talents, and senior management talents are the core assets of the enterprise. The core needs of such talents are professional development space, respected professional values, and a fair working environment. This is exactly what Yiyantang enterprises lack most. In companies where the boss speaks for himself, engineers and professionals who understand technology are often "marginalized": their professional advice is not adopted, the boss guides the expert from outsiders, and work results are not recognized; salary and promotion are based on relationships rather than ability, and efforts are not proportional to rewards; the work environment is full of "bureaucracy", and everything must be obeyed by the boss, without any professional autonomy. When the value of professional talents cannot be reflected and their development space is blocked, they will inevitably choose to leave. When the excellent talents leave, the company can only recruit people with average abilities. Product quality, technology research and development, and production efficiency continue to decline. The company's efficiency becomes worse and it is less able to retain talents. Ultimately, a vicious circle of "brain drain → company deterioration → less ability to retain talents" is formed. Professional managers themselves are people who understand technology and expertise. They can understand the needs of technical talents, provide them with a professional development platform, a respected working environment, and a fair incentive mechanism, retain core talents, and bind the value of talents to the development of the enterprise.
4. The boss’s personal energy is limited, which becomes the “ceiling” for the development of the company.
In an enterprise where the boss speaks for himself, everything must be decided by the boss and all problems must be solved by the boss. From technology research and development, production scheduling to employee leave requests, procurement and reimbursement, the boss does everything personally, becoming the company's "super salesman + super administrator + super technician". But human energy is limited. When the scale of the enterprise expands and the business becomes more complex, the boss simply cannot take care of everything, and there will inevitably be a situation of "focusing on one and losing the other": either focusing on production and losing R&D, or focusing on domestic work and losing overseas; he is too busy with small things and has no time to think about big things. In the end, the boss's personal energy becomes the biggest ceiling for the development of the company – the company will always remain at the scale that the boss can control and cannot become bigger or stronger. The introduction of professional managers can share the daily management and professional operation work** of the boss, freeing the boss from "trivial matters", focusing on the company's strategic planning, resource integration, core decision-making, grasping the company's long-term development direction, and allowing the company to break through the ceiling of personal energy.
5. The team lacks motivation and creates a "flat-on" working atmosphere.
From the boss's point of view, employees' working status is passive execution rather than "active creation": because all decisions are made by the boss, employees only need to do things according to the boss's requirements without thinking or taking responsibility. If they do something right, it is the boss's credit, and if they do something wrong, it is the boss's decision-making problem. This kind of working atmosphere will cause employees to gradually lose their enthusiasm and creativity for work, forming a "lying-on" style of work: waiting for the boss to arrange everything, and asking the boss to solve problems when they encounter problems, without any subjective initiative. For technology-based private enterprises, the creativity and initiative of employees are the core of technology research and development and product innovation. When the team is flat, the enterprise loses its innovation ability and development momentum, and can only slowly decline in low-level involution. Professional managers will fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of employees through scientific incentive mechanisms, authorization systems, and team building**, so that employees can change from "passive execution" to "active creation" and form a working atmosphere in which "everyone has something to do, everything is managed, and everyone is motivated."
2. Professional managers who understand technology: Private enterprises solve all pain points of Yiyantang from the core support of "1-N"
If private enterprises want to go forward in the long run, it is an inevitable choice to introduce professional managers, and compound professional managers who "understand technology + understand management" are the best choice for technology-based private enterprises (such as auto parts, new energy) – this type of professional managers understand not only industry technology, product research and development, and production technology, but also business management, organizational operations, and talent incentives. They can accurately match the development needs of technology-based private enterprises and fundamentally solve all the pain points of bosses. Their core value is reflected in four aspects:
1. Professional decision-making: Use the professional thinking of "technology + management" to replace the boss's "personal experience"
Professional managers who understand technology and have been deeply involved in the industry for many years are familiar with the industry’s technical trends, product research and development, production processes, quality standards, and market rules. They can make scientific and accurate decisions in their own professional fields: for example, technical professional managers of private auto parts companies who understand the three-electronics technology and understand IATF16949 He understands the quality system and the supporting requirements of overseas car companies. In terms of R&D route selection, process optimization, and overseas project docking, he can make decisions based on professional knowledge and market data to avoid the misunderstanding of the boss's layman's guidance of an expert. At the same time, he also understands corporate management and can balance the relationship between technology, production, and market, so that decisions are consistent with both professional logic and the business reality of the company. Professional decision-making can help enterprises avoid detours and pitfalls, seize market opportunities, and achieve steady development.
2. System construction: From "rule by man" to "rule by law", build a standardized management and operation system
The core ability of professional managers is to build systems and formulate rules – to transform excellent management experience and industry standards into standardized systems, processes, and structures of enterprises, so that the operation of enterprises can be followed and regulated. For example: setting up an organizational structure to clarify the rights and responsibilities of R&D, production, quality, sales, supply chain and other departments to avoid blaming each other; formulating a production quality system to standardize process parameters, testing standards, and process control to ensure stable product quality; establishing a salary and promotion system with ability and performance as the core to achieve "more work, more reward, and good performance"; formulating a talent training system to provide professional development paths for core technical talents and management talents. When an enterprise has a standardized system, it gets rid of its dependence on individuals. Even if the core personnel changes, the enterprise can still operate normally. This is the foundation for the long-term development of the enterprise.
3. Talent retention: Understand technology and understand talents better, retain core assets, and activate team vitality
Professional managers who understand technology can sympathize with technical talents, understand the needs of professional talents, know what core engineers and technical talents need and care about, and can create a working environment and incentive mechanism suitable for the development of professional talents: for example: give technical talents professional autonomy, let them have the final say in R&D and process optimization, and do not interfere at will. ; Establish an incentive mechanism for technological innovation and give heavy rewards to talents with technological breakthroughs and product innovations; build a professional development platform to provide promotion channels for technical talents (such as technical experts, chief engineers), so that they can continue to grow in the professional field; create a working atmosphere that respects professionalism and advocates innovation, so that the value of technical talents can be fully reflected. Retaining core talents will retain the company's technical core and innovation capabilities, so that the company can achieve technological upgrades, product iterations, and gain an advantage in market competition.
4. Strategy implementation: Take over the boss’s strategy and turn “ideas” into “implementation results”
The core ability of a boss is to set strategies, find directions, and integrate resources. However, the problem of many private enterprise bosses is that they “have strategies but fail to implement them.” They have good ideas, but they cannot be transformed into actual corporate benefits because of the lack of professional operation and management capabilities. Professional managers who understand technology are the "best implementers" of the boss's strategy: they can not only understand the boss's long-term strategy, but also combine the actual situation of the company and the professional logic of the industry to formulate specific implementation plans and execution plans; at the same time, they can lead the team to implement the implementation plan in place and turn the boss's "ideas" into "real products, orders, and benefits." For example, the boss has decided on the strategy of "going overseas to Europe and manufacturing new energy and electrical parts and components." Professional managers can, based on their own technology and overseas experience, formulate specific plans for overseas certification, product research and development, customer docking, and supply chain support, and lead the team to implement them to ultimately achieve strategic goals.
3. Key premise: When private enterprises introduce professional managers, they cannot just “lead them in”; the boss must do a good job of “role change”
Many private enterprises have also tried to introduce professional managers, but ultimately failed. The reason is not that the professional managers are incompetent, but that the bosses have not changed their roles well and still cannot let go of the management model: they either restrict the professional managers everywhere and interfere in everything, leaving the professional managers with empty titles and no real power; or they have too high expectations for professional managers and will completely deny them if they do not produce results in the short term; or there is a lack of trust and use their relatives and cronies to check and balance professional managers, leading to internal friction in the team.
If private enterprises want professional managers to truly exert their value, bosses must make three core role changes. This is the prerequisite for the introduction of professional managers and the key to breaking the monotony:
1. Transform from a “hands-on manager” to a “strategist who takes direction”
Bosses must learn to "decentralize" and hand over daily management, operation, and execution work to professional managers, instead of doing everything themselves and interfering in everything; they must focus their energy on the company's long-term strategic planning, core resource integration, and major decision-making**, such as the company's development direction, overseas market layout, major investments, and core talent introduction, to grasp the overall development of the company. Delegation of power is not about "letting go" but "grasping the big and letting go of the small" – the boss is in charge of strategy and results, while professional managers are in charge of operations and processes, forming a benign coordination of "boss sets the direction and professional managers implement it".
2. Transform from "a ruler of personal authority" to "a defender of system rules"
Bosses must learn to "obey the rules" and no longer change systems and processes at will based on personal will, but become the first defender of the company's standardized systems and rules**. The boss must take the lead in complying with the systems and processes established by professional managers and not make them special; when the systems and processes need to be adjusted, they must be made through professional argumentation and collective decision-making, rather than individual comments. Only when the boss takes the lead in abiding by the rules can the "rule of law" of the company be truly implemented, employees will believe in the system and abide by the system, and the management of the company can move from disorder to order.
3. Transform from "trust-based management that is responsible for people" to "contract-based management that is responsible for things"
The boss should establish a "contractual cooperative relationship" with professional managers and clarify the rights and responsibilities, assessment standards, and incentive mechanisms of professional managers: for example, clarify the professional managers' management authority, work goals (such as sales, product development progress, quality qualification rate), assessment indicators, and corresponding salaries, bonuses, and equity incentives; conduct assessments with "results" as the core. As long as professional managers complete the set goals, they will be given corresponding incentives and will not interfere with their work processes at will. At the same time, the boss must give full trust to professional managers and not be swayed by doubts from relatives and cronies to avoid internal friction in the team; when professional managers make work mistakes, they must deal with them based on facts and according to the system, rather than personal emotions.
4. Summary: The long-term development of private enterprises is essentially “the boss’s self-revolution”
The transformation of private enterprises from "the boss's word" to "the management of professional managers" may seem like a change in management model, but in fact it is the boss's self-revolution – the boss must let go of his personal authority, jump out of the limitations of his own experience, and learn to delegate power and trust. This is the most difficult step for private enterprise bosses who are used to "making the final say for themselves," but it is also a step that enterprises must take.
A one-word management model can help an enterprise survive, but it cannot sustain it in the long run; professional managers can transform an enterprise from "relying on individuals" to "relying on the system," from "experience management" to "professional management," and from "small workshops" to "standardized enterprises." This is the common development path of all outstanding private enterprises: for example, Huawei went from Ren Zhengfei's personal management to introducing IBM's professional management system and hiring professional managers; for example, BYD went from Wang Chuanfu's technical leadership to building a professional management team and letting professional managers be responsible for daily operations.
In the final analysis, the ceiling for the development of private enterprises has never been the market or technology, but the boss's cognition and pattern. Only when the boss is willing to let go of his words and let professional people do professional things can the company break through the ceiling and go further and more stably. If the boss always adheres to the one-word management model, no matter how big the company is for a while, it will eventually fall into a vicious cycle and decline due to chaotic management and brain drain.
This is particularly important for technology-based private enterprises such as auto parts – technology and expertise are the core of the enterprise. Only by professional managers who understand technology and management can the value of technology be fully exerted, allowing enterprises to gain a firm foothold in the fierce market competition and achieve long-term development.
