WA NG JIANLIN THE WANDA WAY THE MANAGERIAL PHILOSOPHY AND VALUES OF ONE OF CHINA’S LARGEST COMPANIES FOR REVIEW ONLY Chapter One Perseverance Perseverance Breeds Success 29 April, 2013 – China Central Television program Voice, featuring Wang Jianlin uring his guest appearance on Voice, a well-known weekly program produced by China Central Television, Wang Jianlin gave a keynote speech entitled “Perseverance is the Key to Success” and Danswered questions from an audience of university students. In his speech, he shared stories of his upbringing illustrat- ing this maxim with insightful personal anecdotes and the history of Wanda Group. Here is what he had to say: “I was asked to set the topic for this talk today and have settled on ‘success requires perseverance.’ I was only 15 or 16 when, in 1970, I did my military service. 1970 was the year when Chairman Mao issued the ‘24 November’ instruction, intoning that ‘camp and feld training is good.’ Once the in- struction had been relayed that day, we would set out in the evening, each of us shouldering a bag of grain and a rucksack. On top of that, we had another 10 kilograms or so to carry. We began our training by crossing more than 1,000 kilome- ters. Te northeast really was forests of trees and knee-deep stretches of snow. We slept in the open. We were deprived of 30 Chapter One: Perseverance everything. In the snow, we had to dig our own hole to spend the night. We walked a daily average of 30 kilometers. Some days 35 or 40 kilometers. If you could not cope, you could go sit in the car at the back, which was emblazoned ‘sag wagon.’ However, if you did that, you could forget about being cho- sen to move up that year or earning your Exemplary Fighter award. Tis kind of hardship is difcult for today’s youth to imagine. During regular training, perhaps the regular rations were sufcient, but being as cold as it was, and exerting yourself that much, you still felt hungry even if you ate more. At that time, my squad leader said to me: ‘Wang, I want to tell you something, about how to eat your fll, but frst you need to promise you will keep it secret.’ I told him I would never tell anyone. In those days, the soldiers used a bowl to eat, a big, tall, crude bowl. He said: ‘When you go up there to fll your bowl, frst fll it up only half. No matter how slowly you eat, you will still fnish your rice before the others and you can have seconds. You can then fll your bowl to the brim, and you won’t feel hungry. By all means, never foolishly fll up your bowl at the frst serving – as many are tempted to do – because when they go back for seconds, there is no rice left.’ I never forgot his tip, and even though I was very young, that year on the road as a soldier, I was basically never hungry. How tough was our camp and feld training? I saw with my own eyes how a cadre was sitting there crying, saying he had had it. ‘I am not walking another step. I don’t want my Party membership. I don’t care about being a cadre!’ Many of us could not keep up. Of a team of more than 1,000 march- ing, not more than 400 reached the end. As a young teenager, I held on until the end. What kept me going was a conviction. When I started out, my mother told me, ‘You must become 31 The Wanda Way an Exemplary Fighter. Your father too served in the army, and you should strive to surpass him.’ Tis kind of conviction and persistence allowed me to join the army the frst year and become an Exemplary Fighter. Terefore, whatever you undertake in life won’t be suc- cessful unless you have a teeth-gritting spirit and a desire to fght until the end. Tis is a theme I have been talking about for over ten years: perseverance lies at the core of the entrepre- neurial spirit. First, no innovation, no dream can be achieved without perseverance. I started my company in 1988. In those days, I already had a really good life. In my early twen- ties, I had become a regiment-level ofcer. Tat was a really nice time in my ofcial career. Tose were the days – in the late 80s and early 90s – when there was a big wave of start- ups in China, and when many people tried their hands at a new trade. I was afected by the trend and decided that I too wanted to start up a company and realize my dream. Te industry I chose in those days is one probably loathed by many today – real estate. When I had chosen my indus- try, what I needed next was registered capital. We reached an agreement with a state-owned enterprise in Dalian to give us a loan. But with only money, we might not yet have been able to fnd a place to purchase because for that you needed to have a quota issued by the State Planning Commission. We did not have a quota. What could we do? I found another state-owned company, one of the three largest real estate companies in Dalian. I knew that one of my old comrades was the president there. So I talked to him. Would he be prepared to lend me his quota? Of course, I understood full well that borrowing his quota would cost money. Tere I was, with half a million in cash and with a quota I started my real estate business with a single building. 32 Chapter One: Perseverance Te start was far from glorious. On the contrary, it was really tough. I still remember the kind of grind and discrimination I had to put up with as a private entrepreneur. For a loan of 20 million yuan – which by the way had already been promised to us by that bank – I must have run back and forth over 50 times. I confronted the bank manager in person, until he did want to see me. I knew what time he started work and would go to intercept him every day. As I was always standing near the entrance, he possibly got in through another entrance. Sometimes I waited for him at lunchtime. I thought he might go back to work after his noon nap, so I would wait for him at his ofce’s entrance. I clearly knew he was inside yet his secretary said that he was out or asked me to wait. It came to the point that I knew his home address and caught him on his way home in the evening. In the morning, he’d wake up and look out of the window. When he saw me waiting downstairs, he would rather stay at home to avoid having to face me. Tis went on for a while. I ran back and forth dozens of times. But in the end, he did not grant me that loan. So I set myself a target: I want my company to be big, to be the best in the world! Secondly, success is a process of ongoing improvement, and the key to it is nothing but perseverance. Without ap- propriate planning, we encountered many detours from 2000 – when we had just expanded into the commercial property market – to 2004. During this period, we were named as a defendant in 222 lawsuits, which made it virtually impossible for us to focus on and grow our business. Some of my col- leagues were under extreme pressure from public opinion. I was asked at that time why we had to enter the commercial property business since we had seen such great success in the residential property sector. In the face of all this, I wavered 33 The Wanda Way many times. I then set a goal for my team and myself: we will keep going till the fve-year mark, and if we are still struggling at the end of 2005, we will exit the commercial property mar- ket. It was our perseverance during those times that enabled us to successfully launch our third-generation Wanda Plaza. Given the opening and success of the Shanghai Wujiaochang Plaza, Ningbo Yinzhou Plaza and Beijing CBD Plaza, we ful- ly established our confdence in continuing to be an active player in the commercial property sector. By the end of 2014, we expected to own 20 million square meters of commercial real estate. It is likely that we will over- take the world’s No.1 real estate developer, the US-based Si- mon Company, in terms of commercial space. It took us 15 years to get there, as compared to more than 100 years for the Simon Company. We have to realize that without perse- verance and ongoing pursuit of our desired goal, there would be no way for us to leave those struggles and failures behind. Another story that I’d like share with you is about the She- nyang Taiyuan Street Wanda Plaza. At that time, we engaged two commercial property experts in China to help design a pedestrian street to bring in customer fow. However, sever- al hundred clients who purchased our retail spaces brought a class action against us because only 3–5% of them registered satisfactory returns, and most of them recorded extremely low or virtually non-existent returns.