Connections?
Everyone was somewhat puzzled.
Li Shi couldn’t help but quietly sigh.
His employees were generally quite satisfactory—hardworking and diligent.
But when it came to divergent thinking and deep reflection, they were far behind Tenda’s employees, not even on the same level.
This couldn’t be helped. After all, Fuhui Capital and Tenda Group were different, and Li Shi himself was different from Mr. Pei.
This couldn’t be rushed; he could only teach and guide them slowly.
Li Shi explained: “What’s most important in investment? The vision to evaluate projects.”
“What does this vision rely on? Your understanding and insight into the latest business models, and the people you know.”
“If you know a business genius, then communicating with them more, learning from them, or simply directly investing in their projects—this is also part of your investment ability.”
“I’ve always emphasized that you shouldn’t just bury yourselves in repetitive work. You need to think more, reflect more, and expanding your network is also something you must do.”
“But where can you casually meet such talents?”
“Now let me ask you, who were the participants in the first and second sessions of the Suffering Journey?”
Everyone looked at each other, as most of them actually didn’t know.
The Suffering Journey hadn’t deliberately publicized this information. So far, everyone’s understanding of the Suffering Journey came from three sources: the promotional video and documentary that Meng Chang had filmed earlier, and Qiao Laoshi’s livestreams.
The members of the first two sessions did appear on camera, but their identities weren’t labeled. Many people didn’t investigate this point further, assuming they were just ordinary Tenda employees.
But there were some who knew.
The employee who had been following the Suffering Journey at Li Shi’s request raised his hand and said: “All participants in the first Suffering Journey were heads of various Tenda departments. The second Suffering Journey included department heads as well as external individuals who had made significant contributions to Tenda and were selected through a lottery, like Ruan Guangjian and Qiao Laoshi.”
Li Shi nodded: “So, do you understand now?”
After a moment of blankness, everyone suddenly realized.
So that was it!
This was the “connection” Mr. Li was talking about!
Mr. Pei was a business genius, and Mr. Li’s most successful investments were all following Mr. Pei’s lead. So according to the “connection” theory, Mr. Pei was Mr. Li’s biggest connection.
But Mr. Pei’s level wasn’t something ordinary people could access.
So many people envied Mr. Li for being connected to Mr. Pei, and some said that with Mr. Li’s mindless follow-investment approach, anyone could do the same job.
But Li Shi’s words today were enlightening, making everyone in the conference room realize the huge misconception they had fallen into.
Finding useful connections was itself part of investment ability!
Everyone only saw Mr. Li mindlessly following Mr. Pei’s investments, but who saw his foresight in recognizing Tenda’s potential and establishing a deep friendship with Mr. Pei before Tenda had fully developed?
Ordinary people indeed couldn’t reach Mr. Pei’s level, but what if they could connect with the heads of various Tenda departments?
These department heads could all stand on their own, making their departments thrive, and they had earned Mr. Pei’s trust.
Although one couldn’t directly invest in them, chatting with them, understanding their thinking patterns, discussing their views on current popular business models—wouldn’t that be immensely beneficial?
Under normal circumstances, these people from Fuhui Capital would absolutely not be able to connect with the heads of Tenda’s departments because there was no direct business interaction.
Private contact would be even less likely—who are you, and why would they want to chat with you?
But the Suffering Journey was different.
Everyone would suffer together for two months, training together, suffering together, unable to use phones. During rest times, they could only chat. With enough common topics, they would naturally become familiar with each other.
Moreover, the Suffering Journey announcement also mentioned that they would create group chats for sufferers to provide more channels for communication.
Over time, wouldn’t they get acquainted? And this wouldn’t be just nodding acquaintances or casual contacts. Everyone had suffered together, so the friendship would be relatively enduring.
If one could establish such connections with the heads of Tenda’s departments, that would certainly be a great thing!
Although many department heads had already suffered in the first session, Mr. Pei might arrange for them to participate in the Suffering Journey a second time—this was entirely possible.
Of course, it might also be just a one-time thing.
But judging from the current situation, even if all the heads of Tenda’s departments had been arranged, the next batch would certainly include department head candidates and key employees. Connecting with these people would also be valuable.
With Tenda’s departments changing personnel so quickly, who knew when a potential star might become a department head?
Thinking more deeply, the earlier one registered, the more likely they would be to interact with higher-level, more core Tenda employees. If one registered late, they might only meet ordinary employees.
Although that still had some networking value, compared to these first few sessions, the networking value would be greatly reduced, making it less cost-effective.
Many people finally understood Li Shi’s foresight.
This was undoubtedly a kind of benefit and cultivation for the company’s key employees!
Of course, after these key employees grew, they could also bring tangible benefits to Fuhui Capital, and Li Shi would have to worry less.
But no matter what, as a boss willing to pay for two months of paid leave and twenty thousand yuan per person, this was indeed a generous and considerate gesture. Mr. Li wasn’t wrong—this was indeed for everyone’s benefit.
After understanding this, those present immediately raised their hands one after another.
“I’ll go!”
“I’m willing to go too!”
Not to mention the company providing paid leave and subsidies—even if the company didn’t provide subsidies, as long as they allowed two months of leave, there would still be people willing to go.
After all, suffering was secondary, and mental training was secondary. The key was connections, for future career development!
From this perspective, fifty thousand yuan wasn’t expensive for these investment company employees, because connections were priceless and couldn’t be bought with money.
Seeing everyone eagerly raising their hands, Li Shi couldn’t help but smile.
Good, these were indeed the backbone employees of Fuhui Capital. None of them were too stupid; they understood with just a hint.
“Good, since that’s the case, the HR department should quickly compile a list and register. The earlier you register, the more value you get from this fifty thousand yuan.”
…
Meanwhile, at the Suffering Journey special training base.
The group that had just finished training was given a brief rest period. Yao Bo, having won first place in rock climbing, earned the privilege of using his phone.
This was understandable, given that he was the most professional among everyone. If he hadn’t deliberately let others win, he would probably have claimed the phone privilege every time.
Watching Yao Bo use his phone, everyone else revealed envious glances.
Yao Bo scrolled through his messages and suddenly perked up: “Bao Xu left earlier to take care of business, and indeed, the Suffering Journey has finally opened for registration!”
“I’ll send a message to our HR department right away, asking them to arrange for our company’s employees to come to the Suffering Journey for team building!”
As soon as he said this, Yao Bo noticed that Zhu Xiaocai, Hao Yun, and other Tenda employees were looking at him strangely.
Qiao Liang, clearly still having a conscience, coughed lightly and said: “Mr. Yao, do unto others as you would have them do unto you! Would you have the heart to send your subordinates to such a place of suffering?”
Yao Bo was very surprised: “How is this suffering? I think this place is quite good!”
“Although I’ve been rock climbing for many years, this place teaches quite professionally, and the training schedule is arranged very reasonably.”
“My Jinding Group’s main business is fitness apparel and beverages, yet our employees one by one don’t exercise or stay fit. How can that be acceptable? We should organize more activities like this!”
“I’ve calculated that rock climbing courses are quite expensive on their own. A one-hour private lesson costs at least two to three hundred yuan. Coming to the Suffering Journey, not only can you learn rock climbing, but there are also various outdoor survival activities for training, which helps cultivate a spirit of hard work and perseverance. It’s quite cost-effective!”
“Besides, I’ve already set an example myself. What reason do they have not to come?”
After hearing Yao Bo’s words, Qiao Liang was speechless.
Indeed, Yao Bo had set an example himself and was even enjoying his time at the Suffering Journey. His arranging for his company’s employees to come was with completely different motives from Bao Xu’s…
Yao Bo continued: “And the Suffering Journey has so many officially certified contents. Even if we let our employees sign up voluntarily, there should be people who want to come. Look.”
As Yao Bo spoke, he showed the Suffering Journey’s announcement to Qiao Liang.
Qiao Liang was stunned: “The ‘Sufferer’ title? And all kinds of benefits? Wow…”
He suddenly felt that the Suffering Journey might not be so much about suffering after all.
As a gamer, if you tell me about suffering, I might not be interested; but if you talk about achievements and leveling up, then I’m all ears!
Qiao Liang felt that as a gamer, the genes in his bones had reawakened, and he was suddenly full of motivation.
The “Sufferer” title seemed to be tailor-made for him, didn’t it?
But seeing that there was a clause about recording achievements for this session, Qiao Liang became anxious.
Would they add a small line like “Bottom performer of the second session” after his Sufferer title?!
That wouldn’t be an honor at all; it would be completely embarrassing!
Of course, the announcement didn’t provide detailed explanations about “recording achievements.” Recording the ranking counted as a record, and evaluations like “excellent” or “outstanding” also counted as records. The latter was more psychologically acceptable.
But regardless, Qiao Liang felt he had to work hard.
Coming all the way to the Suffering Journey, he couldn’t end up at the bottom!
While Qiao Liang was giving himself a pep talk, he heard Yao Bo say with frustration: “Oh no! Registration is already full!”
“Jinding Group has only registered a dozen people, and it’s already full?”
“I didn’t expect that netizens would complain about this and that, but when it came to actually registering, they would be more eager than each other.”
“Well, we’ll have to wait for the next session. I’ll tell the HR department to pay attention and register as many as possible next time.”
Yao Bo felt very regretful that the 200 spots had filled up in just a few hours, demonstrating the popularity of the Suffering Journey.
He had been too slow!
“Already fully booked?” Not only Yao Bo but also others, including Qiao Liang, were very surprised.
Especially people like Zhu Xiaocai, who felt their worldview had been shaken.
Most people at Tenda believed that this Suffering Journey was purely something Bao Xu had created to torture people. If it were truly open for registration, would anyone come, even if it were free, let alone charging fifty thousand yuan?
Mr. Pei had most likely supported this venture out of indulgence and tolerance for Bao Xu.
But now it seemed that outsiders were extremely eager to register?
Could it be… that Mr. Pei had truly seen the commercial value behind the Suffering Journey? Had he turned Bao Xu’s project for torturing people into a brand new business model?
Was this the charm of the business god?