October 20th, Sunday.
Nameless Restaurant.
Today was Tenda Group’s private booking day. Department heads gathered together, snacking and drinking tea while waiting for Mr. Pei to arrive.
Although the 20th of each month was the fixed date for group dinners, today’s gathering of department heads carried a slightly unusual atmosphere.
Yu Fei, being the most junior among these department heads, wasn’t particularly familiar with the current situation, so he turned to ask Huang Sibo who was sitting beside him.
“Brother Huang, everyone’s saying Mr. Pei might have something important to announce. Why? Isn’t this just a regular dinner?”
Since the great success of the game and film “The Future You Choose,” Yu Fei’s novel of the same name had also gained considerable popularity.
For readers, Yu Fei’s transformation from a novelist to a game developer was considered a very successful career shift. Many even urged him to give up writing novels and focus on making more good games!
This left Yu Fei in a rather conflicted state. He felt that his ability to create such a successful game was mainly due to Mr. Pei’s guidance—he didn’t have much skill himself. On the other hand, he had gradually begun to enjoy the process of game development and thought that continuing as a game developer while occasionally writing novels might not be so bad.
Especially given the unique working atmosphere at Tenda Group, being able to grow rapidly under Mr. Pei’s guidance made him feel that his current situation was quite good!
But this seemingly routine department head dinner made him sense something unusual, which was why he sought answers from Huang Sibo.
As one of Tenda Group’s veterans and among the earliest batch of employees to follow Mr. Pei, Huang Sibo’s grasp of the situation was obviously more sensitive than Yu Fei’s.
He took a sip of tea and said, “Actually, since the success of ‘The Future You Choose’ game and film, Mr. Pei hasn’t come to the company much for about half a month.”
“Even when he did come, he just stayed quietly alone in the CEO’s office, rarely calling department heads over to assign work or raise questions.”
“Although this seems like a routine dinner, since Mr. Pei is making an appearance, he must have something very important to announce.”
Yu Fei suddenly understood: “Oh, is this what you all call ‘Mr. Pei in favorable circumstances’?”
“So does that mean Mr. Pei is going to find ways to expand into new business areas or implement deep company reforms in the coming period?”
Huang Sibo shook his head slightly: “I don’t think it’s that simple.”
“Indeed, Mr. Pei tends to anticipate the next stage of problems when things are going well, but his reaction this time is somewhat unusual.”
“After previous successes, Mr. Pei would quickly provide plans for the next phase. But this time, he’s been thinking for a long time without seeking input from department heads. This suggests that what he’s considering might not be business-related issues, but rather something more profound and complex.”
“And at this department head dinner, Mr. Pei might announce plans for the next phase.”
“These plans could be extremely bizarre and unexpected—we should prepare ourselves mentally.”
Yu Fei nodded, gaining a clearer understanding of the current situation.
He carefully reviewed Tenda Games department’s work over the past few months while trying to guess what kind of new plans Mr. Pei might present.
As they were talking, Mr. Pei arrived.
The department heads all stood up in greeting, while Mr. Pei waved his hand, gesturing for them to sit down.
Yu Fei carefully observed Mr. Pei and noticed his expression seemed serious. Also, after not seeing him for some time, Mr. Pei appeared somewhat haggard—though this might have been his imagination.
Perhaps Mr. Pei was indeed contemplating extremely complex issues, which had consumed so much of his energy?
Pei Qian looked around at everyone and said, “I’ve invited everyone to dinner today to mention two small matters. They don’t have much to do with company business, just something for everyone to know.”
All the department heads listened attentively. Though Mr. Pei called them small matters, everyone knew these matters couldn’t be small! Otherwise, why not just send out a notice? There was no need for such a grand setup.
Pei Qian said, “First matter: Over the next two months, until the end of December, each department will conduct a ‘negative profit’ activity.”
“That means doing everything possible through methods like giving users benefits, expanding production scale, developing new industries, and so on, to turn your department’s profits negative.”
“Without affecting the company’s cash flow, try to push profits as low as possible and turnover rate as high as possible!”
“From now on, we’ll conduct this kind of activity at the end of every year. Everyone must always remember that Tenda doesn’t need so much useless capital sitting in its accounts!”
“Because money lying in accounts represents a huge waste of resources, and all departments must keep this in mind.”
“In the future, each department must not only be able to make money, but more importantly, know how to spend it!”
“Second matter: Starting today, you all need to try getting accustomed to advancing all work smoothly without me. Ensure that Tenda Group can continue developing along its previous path.”
“Because I won’t be coming to the company for these two months.”
“And starting from January next year, I’ll be leaving Jingzhou.”
“I might go anywhere in the world for a period of one year, though I may not necessarily return even after that year.”
“So you need to get used to the company existing without me.”
When these words were spoken, the department heads erupted in commotion.
Many department heads had already mentally prepared themselves, believing Mr. Pei would surely announce something significant, but no amount of preparation could have led them to anticipate such a statement!
While the negative profit activity seemed somewhat strange, it was still understandable given Tenda Group’s corporate culture and values. The department heads themselves could think of many explanations.
For instance, it emphasized social responsibility, returning wealth to society, maintaining high capital turnover rate, and ensuring the company’s development speed, and so on.
For department heads, how much money departments spent and earned was originally coordinated by Mr. Pei. Now changing to departments spending money themselves might cause some inconvenience in coordination and efficiency. But for department heads, this clearly granted them more authority and made handling their department’s affairs more manageable.
The key issue was the second point.
Mr. Pei was actually leaving Tenda Group!
First, he wouldn’t come to the company for two months, then he’d leave Jingzhou for a year, and might not even return after that year.
How could this be acceptable?
Although Tenda Group had now become a giant corporation with businesses spanning various fields, extending across the country and even developing overseas, the department heads still felt that the company had grown under Mr. Pei’s wings. Without Mr. Pei, wouldn’t the company lose its cornerstone?
It presented a situation where the great edifice seemed about to collapse.
Although currently all work at Tenda Group was implemented by the departments themselves, and no one knew whether Mr. Pei actually read the work reports they submitted, at critical moments, Mr. Pei would always appear, overriding objections and turning the tide, guiding Tenda Group onto the correct path.
Mr. Pei performed the work of a decision-maker—the most important work.
Everyone in the company could be replaced, except for Mr. Pei!
It was like an empire flourishing, only for the emperor in his prime to suddenly announce that henceforth he would not attend to state affairs but instead focus on spiritual cultivation—no loyal minister could accept this.
Huang Sibo was particularly bewildered. He raised his hand and asked in confusion, “Mr. Pei, do you mean you’re retiring?”
He barely believed his own words.
It wasn’t uncommon for company founders in their twenties to achieve financial freedom and decide to retire, but such founders generally chose to sell their companies before retiring.
But that was mostly because these people felt the company could no longer advance under their leadership and couldn’t achieve greater development, so they might as well retire at the height of their success, achieve financial freedom early, and seek meaning in life in other directions.
If a company had already developed into a massive conglomerate, victorious in every field, invincible in every aspect, and deeply supported by all customers—what founder would retire in such circumstances?
The company was the founder’s lifelong effort! Given the premise of broad development prospects, how could the founder feel comfortable handing the company over to someone else to operate?
Moreover, the idea of achieving financial freedom and then retiring clearly separated work and life completely.
Only those who believed work was for making money for money’s sake, for better enjoying life, would think this way.
For those who viewed work as a lifelong goal, even as the highest meaning of their existence, they would continue working until they couldn’t work anymore—even after officially retiring, they would maintain control over the company behind the scenes.
From any perspective, Mr. Pei’s desire to retire now seemed extremely unreasonable!
Pei Qian shook his head: “It’s not exactly retirement, just that I won’t interfere with the company’s specific business unless absolutely necessary.”
To put it bluntly, he would hold the position but neglect the duties—still sitting in the CEO’s chair but not doing the CEO’s job.
Hearing this, the department heads relaxed a little.
That was better—as long as Mr. Pei remained Tenda Group’s CEO, everyone would still have a cornerstone in their hearts, feeling that someone would have their backs when encountering key issues.
Yu Fei was the most confused. He slowly raised his hand and asked, “But, Mr. Pei, if you’re not in Jingzhou, what should I do if I encounter problems with department business in the future?”
Pei Qian smiled slightly: “You can ask Huang Sibo or other department heads. If you encounter any truly difficult problems, hold a department head meeting to discuss them. You’ll always be able to discuss a relatively reliable conclusion.”
“There’s no need to pursue perfection in everything. For Tenda at its current scale, while aggressive advancement is important, what’s more important is not forgetting our original intention!”
“Maybe without my meddling, you might even help Tenda Group develop better?”