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  1. In a company, some things can be said but not done (e.g., "employee interests first"); some things can be done but not said (e.g., layoffs and pay cuts). Understanding this can save you a lot of detours.
  2. Promotion, wealth, learning, and growth are the most genuine dreams of every marketing professional.
  3. The best system is one tied to money.
  4. Choice matters more than effort; I've seen countless mediocre people rise rapidly, and many talented people suffer misfortune, feeling that fate plays tricks.
  5. If your ideal is to be a professional manager, it's better to go to a large enterprise, which offers a big platform and resources to achieve great things.
  6. Political struggles in large enterprises are often fierce; be mentally prepared.
  7. Infighting is sometimes tolerated and even encouraged by the boss.
  8. Knowledge of professional managers in large enterprises tends to be "narrow but deep," while in small enterprises it's "broad but shallow."
  9. Believing that effort alone guarantees success, or that success can come without effort, are both signs of immaturity. As Zeng Guofan said, self-cultivation is up to oneself, but success depends on heaven.
  10. If you think you can, you can; if you think you can't, you definitely can't.
  11. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
  12. Having connections in high places makes things easier.
  13. The downside of good companies is that they often make incompetent people in high positions think too highly of themselves. The upside of bad companies is that they force grassroots marketers to develop solid skills without relying on a platform.
  14. If you have a strong desire to get rich, the only way is to start your own business. It's nearly impossible for marketers to get rich on a normal salary, unless through gray income.
  15. Few marketers can resist the temptation of gray income, just as few can resist the temptation of beauty.
  16. Marketing has patterns but no fixed rules.
  17. Marketing is a one-way road; becoming a marketing director is already the end of a career. The ultimate destination is either entrepreneurship or manager shareholding. Entrepreneurship can be hoped for, but manager shareholding is desirable but not always attainable.
  18. A colleague asked me how to interpret the boss's words, "Work hard, and I won't treat you unfairly." I said, if you're still young, maybe you can give it a try.
  19. Marketing is a young person's game; some things can't wait. Money is recognition of one's value and ability; incentives detached from money are the most ineffective.
  20. Books often tell inspirational stories about working for ideals, not money. I'm often puzzled: working for ideals is natural, but why can't we work for money?
  21. Stick to one industry, one company, and one profession, and you'll eventually succeed. If you must change, you can change companies; if you must change again, you can change industries; but never change your profession lightly.
  22. Men should be tough on themselves (in career) and kind to themselves (in hobbies).
  23. Marketing matters often lie outside marketing itself, such as your knowledge reserves and learning.
  24. In a company, everyone is both a chess player and a chess piece.
  25. Heaven rewards the diligent; that's not a lie.
  26. At the annual meeting, when the boss talks about the hardships of entrepreneurship, I ponder; when employees raise their hands to pledge loyalty, I become wary; when someone "cries bitterly," I smile.
  27. No one can defeat you except yourself.
  28. I truly hope good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil.
  29. Endure a word and the wind is calm; take a step back and the sky is wide.
  30. Things you can't figure out are only because you lack perspective.
  31. In the marketing community, a person with great ambitions and a pursuit of success is often surrounded by a mob.
  32. Thank those who helped me; they are my benefactors. Thank those who framed or looked down on me; they are also my benefactors—they inspired me to achieve.
  33. Benefactors are those who inspire you to strive for progress and fight harder.
  34. Corporate political struggles are purely like dung beetles fighting over dung.
  35. Power tactics are a double-edged sword: harming others begins, and harming oneself ends.
  36. Marketing is essentially three things: speaking well, writing well, and doing well. "Speaking well" means communication and presentation skills; "writing well" means the ability to write summaries and reports; "doing well" means execution.
  37. The best motivation is self-motivation, and the best self-motivation is a habit of correct thinking and action.
  38. The best motivation for team management is just four words: promotion and wealth.
  39. Managing teams and distributors ultimately comes down to four phrases and sixteen characters: convince with reason, move with emotion, entice with benefits, and deter with consequences.
  40. "Read classics, watch news." In today's flood of information, calming down to read a few classics will benefit you immensely.
  41. Marketers often have worldly stereotypes, like "eating, drinking, whoring, gambling" or "glib tongues." In reality, these are just packaged images. True marketers are those with ideals, pursuits, who are grounded and insightful, and who are "learned, thoughtful, questioning, discerning, and diligent."
  42. In this materialistic and deceitful society, a marketer without firm beliefs and persistent pursuits can easily lose themselves and go with the flow.
  43. Management is nothing more than setting people, time, quantity, goals, standards, and rewards and punishments.
  44. If there's a chance to be lazy, one will be lazy; if there's a chance to be corrupt, one will be corrupt.
  45. Marketers only do what is rewarded or punished, not easily what is expected.
  46. Paratroopers (external hires) have the highest casualty rate, simply because they are often "appointed in times of crisis."
  47. If you love someone, let them do marketing; if you hate someone, let them do marketing.
  48. How to allocate sales targets? It's usually "GDP + growth rate + completion rate + others (market level, competition, gut feeling)." This isn't entirely scientific. My method is to allocate based on the above indicators, then retain 5-10% flexibility for regional adjustments later. How to adjust? Look at process indicators (key tasks, channel development and maintenance, terminals) and result indicators.
  49. Branding is actually very simple, so simple that everyone understands it. It's also the most complex, so complex that some "brand experts" make a living from it.
  50. Better to violate heavenly rules than to incur public wrath.
  51. There is only disclosure, no truth.
  52. Packaging is more important than reality. Marketing resumes often have water; perhaps a manager worth a million to bosses was only earning two or three hundred thousand before.
  53. The root of conflicts between manufacturers and distributors is unequal distribution of profits, because the final consumer price cannot be infinitely expanded; it's governed by market laws. Therefore, in the profit chain, both sides want to squeeze more profit from the other.
  54. One of the greatest qualities for salespeople is: not playing by the rules.
  55. The front line is always the source of innovation.
  56. Beware of marketers who are sweet-talking and flashy but not substantial.
  57. Marketers who are submissive and groveling are pitiful, pathetic, and lamentable!
  58. Data can reveal the truth, but it can also conceal it.
  59. Marketers sometimes need a bit of dominance, heroism, and a "who else but me" spirit, a spirit of "even if thousands oppose me, I'll go."
  60. Without responsibility (job duties), where does a sense of responsibility come from?
  61. Laissez-faire management harms and helps: it harms those without direction and helps those who are proactive.
  62. In reports, use tables, data, formulas, or models; you'll benefit immensely.
  63. Even if it's fake, data is better than pure narrative.
  64. The wise accomplish things; those with simple hearts and firm ideals accomplish great things.
  65. It's undeniable that flattery is a good communication tool.
  66. Be a righteous person, but manage the petty.
  67. Negative incentives for process indicators, positive incentives for result indicators.
  68. In a company, you don't necessarily have to start from the bottom.
  69. To see if a company is worth joining, check if its toilets are clean and if its employees look sunny.
  70. When you don't need favors, you're equal to anyone; when resigning, you can sit on equal footing with the boss.
  71. Being humble before the boss means either you need something from him, or you admire him, or both.
  72. The essence and core of management were already explained by the ancients: "If you can win hearts, opposition will disappear; from ancient times, those who know war are not warlike. If you don't assess the situation, both leniency and strictness will be wrong; later rulers of Shu should think deeply."
  73. If you thoroughly understand how religions manage believers and how governments manage people, you'll be the most brilliant management expert.
  74. Try a few times to manage from the bottom up: go to the front line and work as a salesperson or promoter.
  75. Bamboo shoots become bamboo only after falling to the ground; fish become dragons only after swimming.
  76. It's undeniable that showing off has some use; if you show off long enough, you become awesome.
  77. Some companies or people do unjust things under the banner of justice.
  78. Companies and employees should put themselves in each other's shoes; both benefit greatly.
  79. We are all ordinary people controlled by invisible powerful forces; either join them or adapt to them.
  80. The scene of decline is within fullness; the mechanism of growth is within decline. Therefore, a gentleman in peace should be cautious and prepare for danger; in times of change, he should endure with patience to achieve success.
  81. Civilize the mind, and make savage the body.
  82. In this materialistic, deceitful, and complex society, calming down to read a few books will benefit you immensely.
  83. When far from home, food and sex are natural desires, but don't forget to manage your time well.
  84. Those who wait long will fly high; those who bloom early will wither early.
  85. Most marketing trainers are people who have never done sales; it's an industry where outsiders train insiders.
  86. Training is like cooking—the highest level is to have both color, aroma, taste, and nutrition. But in reality, most marketers still value color, aroma, and taste; lively atmosphere matters more than knowledge.
  87. In some industries, the main role of a regional manager is to be the operator for agents and the marketing consultant for small accounts.
  88. Great wealth depends on fate; small wealth depends on diligence.
  89. Learn to have a grateful heart.
  90. Warm heart, cold eyes; proud bones, humble mind.
  91. The truth is in my heart; no need to seek outside.
  92. Excellent performance requires full effort and heavy pressure.
  93. Don't be afraid, don't regret, don't torment yourself, and don't cry over spilled milk.
  94. Paranoids either succeed or die.
  95. When talking to others, only say three-tenths of what you think; don't reveal your whole heart.
  96. Drink to slight intoxication, view flowers at half bloom; excess is as bad as deficiency. Getting drunk hurts both body and heart.
  97. "Alcohol capacity reflects sales, and drinking behavior reflects character"—that's pure nonsense.
  98. Corporate culture is about figuring out the boss's mind.
  99. Report level by level, but complain by skipping levels.
  100. As long as your thinking doesn't slide, methods will always be more than difficulties.
  101. When there's work, do it; when there's no work, plan for it.
  102. Focus on work during work hours; think about work outside work hours.
  103. Goal—Plan—Action—Review—Feedback—Improvement.
  104. Think carefully—act quickly—communicate frequently.
  105. Action is the key to success.
  106. Those who waste time waiting for perfect cooperation will accomplish nothing.
  107. There are at least three ways to achieve anything.
  108. Effectiveness matters more than being right.
  109. With heart (full effort) and brain (scientific methods), nothing fails.
  110. Not knowing what to do is the beginning of being fired.
  111. Excellent performance requires full effort and heavy pressure.
  112. Improvement is endless.
  113. Find problems, analyze problems, solve problems.
  114. If I'm told to do it, nothing gets done; if I want to do it, nothing fails.
  115. The meaning of communication is to find ways to achieve your own goals.
  116. Details determine success or failure.
  117. Be loyal to the company and loyal to the leader.
  118. Have weekly plans and daily arrangements.
  119. All behaviors at work affect and determine your personality, and personality determines destiny.