Fourth Cohort, Session 1 · Introduction

Theme of this sessionMentoring apprentices and making choices, the wisdom of letting children go, and big-picture thinking in entrepreneurship

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Key Quotes at a Glance

Management

• "Choosing the right people matters more than effort. If an idiot can't be taught, replace them."
• "Replace employment with partnership, and incentivize based on revenue."
• "People have their own fate; genes determine their potential."

Education

• "Parents only need to develop one ability: the ability to let go."
• "Don't take on your child's karma; let them shape their own destiny."
• "The sooner you leave home, the sooner you'll succeed."

Entrepreneurship

• "Starting a business requires big-picture thinking; working for someone else is limited in scope."
• "One person is a company in their own right."
• "Master the core functions; outsource the rest."

Teams

• "A skilled leader commands the troops; the strategist brings together the people at the top."
• "Middle managers pass on knowledge and provide guidance; junior staff are developed."
• "Entrepreneurship is military-style management."

Emotional hurdles

• "Getting past emotional hurdles means not believing in feelings, but believing in interests."
• "Sincerity for sincerity exists only at the bottom of the pyramid."
• "Those at the top believe only in interests."

Livestreaming

• "The big spender is on an undercover mission; you can't get emotionally involved."
• "Rob from the rich to help the poor; carry out justice in Heaven's name."
• "Build a platform, don't become dependent on one."

The Way of Heaven

• "The Way of Heaven is balance; the human way is expansion."
• "Overcorrect, then find dynamic balance."
• "Those who uphold the Great Way must be merchants, compassionate and concerned for all."

Core Models Quick Reference

Apprenticeship model

雇佣制 → 合伙制
    ↓
营业额刺激 + 分润
    ↓
培养内驱力

Letting-go model

0-3岁：陪伴
    ↓
3-12岁：逐渐放权
    ↓
12-18岁：基本独立
    ↓
18岁：完全放生

Entrepreneurial hierarchy

螺丝钉（局部）→ 全局思维 → 创业（全局掌控）
    ↓
一人公司 → 团队协作 → 平台搭建

Team hierarchy

王（谋局者）→ 帅（子公司）→ 将（中层）→ 兵（执行）

Break through the barrier of emotional attachment

相信感情 → 受伤 → 不相信感情 → 相信利益 → 破情关

The Way of Heaven and the human way

天道：损有余补不足（平衡）
人道：损不足奉有余（扩张）
    ↓
矫枉过正 → 动态平衡

Key Action Checklist

Do This Now

• ☐ Assess employees: worth developing or should they be replaced?
• ☐ Reflect: how much freedom to give your children
• ☐ Check: do you have a big-picture mindset?
• ☐ Assess: is the team hierarchy clear?
• ☐ Recognize: do you still believe in feelings?

Short-term goals

• ☐ Establish a partnership system
• ☐ Gradually give your children more authority
• ☐ Learn to think about the big picture
• ☐ Establish a team hierarchy
• ☐ Get past emotional hurdles and develop an interest-based mindset

Long-term goals

• ☐ Become the one in control of the big picture
• ☐ Build a platform rather than become dependent on one
• ☐ Achieve balance between the Way of Heaven and the human way
• ☐ Become one who upholds the Great Way

Recommended reading list

Study Recommendations

Step 1: Manage your mindset (1 week)

• Choices matter more than effort
• Establish a partnership model
• Stop trying to change idiots

Step 2: Adopt an attitude of letting go (2 weeks)

• Set your children free
• Do not take responsibility for cause and effect
• Independent individuals

Step 3: Prepare for entrepreneurship (1–3 months)

• Develop a global perspective
• Master core capabilities
• Start as a one-person company

Step 4: Break through the emotional barrier (3–6 months)

• Do not believe in emotions
• Develop an interest-based mindset
• Adopt the mindset of a person in power

Important Reminder

1. Choices matter more than effort: Idiots cannot be taught; replace them
2. Do not take responsibility for cause and effect: Children are independent individuals
3. Global perspective: Essential for entrepreneurship
4. Believe in interests: The key to breaking through the emotional barrier
5. Dynamic balance: The ultimate outcome of the laws of heaven and human nature
6. Those who uphold the Great Way must become merchants: compassion for all

Knowledge Graph

📺 Topic: mentoring apprentices, letting go, entrepreneurship, teams, emotional trials, the way of heaven and the way of humanity

Module 1: Mentoring Apprentices and Making Choices

Core questions

• What should you do when an employee just can't be taught and has a bad temper, too?
• Choices matter more than effort
• Replace them or change the system

The logic of a fool

• Traits of a fool:
  • It's determined by genes
  • Rigid thinking
  • Lack of inner drive
  • Simple-mindedness
  • Difficult to Change
• Why they can't be taught:
  • Lack of motivation
  • No competitive pressure
  • No shared stake
  • No survival crisis

Solution

1. Choices matter more than effort

• Choose smart people
• Choose people who are quick to understand
• Choose people with ambition
• Don't try to change stupid people

1. Replace employment with a partnership model

• They're not employees, but partners
• Revenue incentives
• Profit-sharing mechanism
• Aligning interests

1. Programming-style development

• What to do first
• What to do second
• What rewards are there for getting the job done?
• A clear path

Module 2: The Wisdom of Letting Children Go

Key insights

家长只需要一种能力：放生的能力
    ↓
让孩子独立操作自己的命运

Letting go in stages

• Ages 0–3: The companionship stage
  • Build a sense of security
  • Meet basic needs
  • Intimate relationships
• Ages 3–12: The stage of giving them more freedom
  • Gradually become independent
  • Do things on their own
  • Accept the consequences
  • Learn responsibility
• Ages 12–18: The independence stage
  • Basic autonomy
  • Life choices
  • Forming values
  • Get ready to leave
• Ages 18+: Let them go completely
  • Live independently
  • Make their own choices
  • Accept the consequences of their actions
  • Don't interfere

Don't take on the consequences

• A Child’s Destiny:
  • Independent individuals
  • An Independent Destiny
  • Their Own Cause and Effect
  • Parents Cannot Change It
• Parents’ Mistakes:
  • Controlling the Child
  • Making Choices for the Child
  • Bearing the Child’s Consequences
  • Resulting in the Child’s Inability
• The right approach:
  • Teaching Them to Read and Write
  • Teaching Money-Making Skills
  • Letting Them Go Directly
  • Letting Them Make Their Own Way

Module Three: Entrepreneurial Big-Picture Thinking

Employment vs. Entrepreneurship

• Employment (Local Thinking):
  • Doing Only One Part
  • A Cog in the Machine
  • Not Seeing the Big Picture
  • Relying on the System
• Entrepreneurship (Big-Picture Thinking):
  • Seeing the Full Picture
  • Taking Control of the Overall Situation
  • Completing Everything Independently
  • Build a system

A One-Person Company

• One Person Is an Entire Company:
  • Traffic Generation (Content/Livestreaming)
  • Conversion (Sales)
  • Delivery (Products/Services)
  • Viral Expansion (Team)
  • After-Sales Service (Maintenance)
• Personally Handle the Core Areas:
  • Find the most profitable segment
  • Keep it in-house
  • Outsource other functions
  • Travel light
• Examples:
  • Social media: handle customer acquisition in-house
  • Social commerce: handle viral growth in-house
  • Retail stores: handle customer acquisition in-house
  • Outsource everything else

Preparing to start a business

• Start preparing while you're still employed:
  • Learn through job rotations
  • Work in every function
  • Build experience over 2-3 years
  • Learn the ins and outs
  • Then start your own business
• Essential requirement:
  • Be able to complete all tasks independently
  • Global perspective
  • Core capabilities
  • Otherwise, failure is inevitable

Module Four: Militarized Management and Hierarchy

The King, Marshal, and Generals Lead the Troops

• King (the strategist):
  • Oversee the big picture
  • Set strategy
  • Personnel and financial authority
  • Allocation authority
  • Investor's perspective
• Marshal (subsidiaries/senior management):
  • Execute the strategy
  • Lead the troops into battle
  • Select middle managers
  • Meet performance targets
• General (middle management):
  • Pass on knowledge, coach, and mentor
  • Develop subordinates
  • Coordinate resources
  • Relay information between higher and lower levels
• Soldiers (frontline):
  • Carry out tasks
  • Learn and grow
  • Be trained
  • Basic work

Military-style management

• Starting a business means military-style management:
  • Clear hierarchy
  • Clear orders
  • Execute effectively
  • No resting
  • Fight continuously
• Training process:
  • Beginner → Proficient
  • Proficient → Core team member
  • Core team member → Manager
  • Manager → Senior leadership
  • Advance step by step
• Competition mechanism:
  • Internal competition
  • Survival of the fittest
  • Driven by pressure
  • Unlock potential

Module 5: The Truth About Overcoming Emotional Attachments

The essence of emotional attachment

• Not yet over emotional attachment:
  • Believe in feelings
  • Give sincerity in return for sincerity
  • Expect true love
  • Easily hurt
  • A Ground-Level Mindset
• Over the Heartbreak:
  • Do not believe in emotions
  • Believe in interests
  • Value is all that matters
  • No Longer Getting Hurt
  • The Mindset of Those at the Top

The Limits of Sincerity in Return for Sincerity

• Only those at the bottom talk about sincerity:
  • The bottom of the pyramid
  • Scarce resources
  • Keeping each other warm
  • Pitiful and pathetic
• Those at the top talk about interests:
  • Their hearts have long since gone numb
  • Fought their way up from the bottom
  • Kindness cannot command an army; righteousness cannot build wealth
  • Decisive and ruthless
• Historical examples:
  • The Chairman: If we had talked about sincerity, we would have perished long ago
  • Entrepreneurs: Sincerity can't get you investment
  • Those at the top: They only look at value exchanges
  • Relationships are a luxury

How to overcome emotional attachment

• Step 1: Face reality
  • Feelings are intangible
  • Interests are tangible
  • Trust interests, not feelings
  • Praising each other on the surface, exchanging interests at the core
• Step 2: Develop an interest-based mindset
  • All relationships are exchanges
  • Value determines relationships
  • There are no forever friends, only forever interests
  • Stop giving without getting anything in return
• Step 3: Adopt the mindset of those at the top
  • Let others come to you to make exchanges
  • Keep the initiative in your own hands
  • Don't depend on anyone
  • A strong mindset

Module Six: Nurturing Top Donors on Livestreams

An undercover mindset

• What is a top donor?
  • The target
  • The undercover mission
  • Don't catch feelings
  • A work necessity
• The right mindset:
  • Rob from the rich to help the poor
  • Act in the name of justice
  • A top donor's money isn't clean
  • It's only right to make money from him
  • Don't develop real feelings

Avoid fizzling out when you meet in person

• Why shouldn't you meet a top donor?
  • The relationship may fizzle when you meet in person
  • Lose your air of mystery
  • You could be deceived
  • It could be dangerous
  • Your earning potential gets capped
• The right approach:
  • Stay mysterious
  • Feed their fantasies
  • Screen for genuine top donors
  • Interact without meeting in person
  • Protecting yourself

Build a platform rather than depend on someone

• What not to do:
  • Go weak in the knees when you meet a top donor
  • Run away with a top donor
  • Depend on a top donor
  • Lose your independence
  • Become a plaything
• The right approach:
  • Treat top donors as clients
  • Accumulate resources
  • Start an MCN agency
  • Have other women make money for you
  • Become the leader
  • Keeping the initiative

Module 7: Balancing the Way of Heaven and the Way of Humanity

The relationship between the Way of Heaven and the Way of Humanity

• The Way of Heaven: Reduce what is excessive and replenish what is lacking
  • Dynamic balance
  • Regulatory mechanism
  • The ultimate law
  • Cannot be violated
• The Way of Humanity: Take from the lacking and give to the abundant
  • Uncontrolled expansion
  • The strong grow stronger
  • Selfish motives and distracting thoughts
  • Chaotic growth
• Relationship:
  • The Way of Humanity is part of the Way of Heaven
  • Imbalance in the Way of Humanity → Regulation by the Way of Heaven
  • Overcorrection → Achieve balance
  • Cycle repeating again and again

Historical Examples

• Li Linfu of the Tang Dynasty:
  • Financial monopoly
  • Banks spread throughout the country
  • Exploitation of the common people
  • Infighting within the military
  • Regulation by the Way of Heaven: The An Lushan Rebellion
• Overcorrection:
  • Powerful elites were killed
  • The common people rebelled
  • New elites came to power
  • Even more greedy or even more incompetent
  • Regulation again
• Ultimately:
  • Dynamic balance
  • Swaying from side to side
  • The middle path
  • Attaining the Way of Heaven

Applying it to the individual

• Family balance:
  • When the husband becomes too strong → Rein it in
  • When the wife becomes too strong → Rein it in
  • Achieve yin-yang balance
  • Harmony at home brings prosperity in all things
• Personal cultivation:
  • Too strong → Show weakness
  • Too weak → Become stronger
  • Dynamic adjustment
  • Draw closer to the Way of Heaven
• Those who uphold the Great Way:
  • Must become merchants
  • Compassion for suffering humanity
  • Draw infinitely close to the Way
  • The art of balance

Core principle

• Teaching apprentices: Choice is more important than effort; partnership replaces employment
• Letting go: Parents should cultivate only one ability—the ability to let go
• Entrepreneurship: Think globally, build a one-person company, and control the core
• Hierarchy: The king leads the commanders, military-style management, passing on knowledge and support
• The emotional hurdle: Do not believe in feelings; believe in interests; think like someone at the top
• Livestreaming: An undercover mindset, taking from the rich to help the poor, and building a platform
• The Way of Heaven: Dynamic balance, overcorrecting, and compassion for suffering humanity
• Those who uphold the Great Way must become merchants · Kindness cannot sustain an army · Righteousness cannot sustain wealth