Click "Read Original" for details Achievements of FMCG professionals = Footwork X Eloquence X Brainpower; sustainable development is the product of the three, not the sum. If the first two are strong but brainpower is weak, the results will be unsatisfactory. Recently, I watched the "CCTV Host" competition, which mentioned that hosts need to practice four strengths: footwork, insight, brainpower, and writing. The general idea is that good hosts should go to the front line, listen to frontline voices, and be able to write and summarize, extracting viewpoints behind news events to convey to the audience. This reminds me of a senior colleague who, when I first entered the industry seven years ago, mentioned similar three strengths for FMCG professionals: footwork, brainpower, and eloquence. Apart from writing, the other three strengths have similar meanings, just applied in different contexts. A host's footwork means going out of the studio to the front line, while an FMCG professional's footwork means visiting markets and terminals. A host's insight is about having vision and perspective, while an FMCG professional's (insight) eloquence is about learning to look at shelves and inventory, communicating more with bosses, and pushing more stock. A host's brainpower is about thinking and summarizing more, while an FMCG professional's brainpower is about having a business mindset and helping bosses calculate accounts. Combining my own work experience and the growth experiences of frontline brothers around me, I increasingly feel that it is crucial for frontline brothers to practice "brainpower"! -01- Cultivate Linear Growth Thinking Whether in work habits or career development, it is necessary to cultivate linear thinking. Linear thinking gives you long-term systematic thinking ability, delivering work results that exceed expectations; linear growth thinking may help you outline your growth trajectory as an upward curve. Recently, I hired a subordinate with an FMCG background. Because he works in a regional position, he had to figure out work and life-related content on his own, with no one to guide him, and he took many detours. To avoid similar problems for future colleagues, I asked him to write a guide based on his one-month experience, both to summarize his work and help later colleagues avoid pitfalls. Two days later, he handed in a report that only mentioned trivial issues like attendance, clocking in, and business trips, along with solutions. I suggested he categorize the content, such as work and life sections, or other categories, and try to be more exhaustive with the key points. He came back after a while with a little addition, but it was still unsatisfactory. The whole process was like squeezing toothpaste, with high communication costs. This situation is very common in work. Some FMCG colleagues are similar to this one; they prefer handling single-point issues but lack systematic thinking. If you patiently use classification and synthesis methods on complex matters, they become clear. FMCG colleagues around me tend to prefer single-point thinking, saying one thing when they think of it, doing one thing when they think of it. But whether there are connections behind many things, whether multiple market activities are linked, and whether related KPI indicators can be improved synergistically, it is especially important to connect scattered points, extend the time dimension, or consider a matter from a global perspective, sort out messy points, and think systematically and linearly. When changing jobs, many people ask: "Are you still doing the XX position?" My answer is always the same: Yes! Obviously, shouldn't it be affirmative? Once you have a clear direction, shouldn't your career be a long-term commitment? If your career path is clear enough, developing step by step, your career trajectory will look like a rising stock K-line. If you are just marking time, this K-line will remain flat or even decline in the long run. So when planning your career, you should also invest in yourself with a long-term perspective, like a K-line. Do not make frequent job changes for quick gains, nor practice changing industries without direction. I have changed jobs four times so far, but I have always been in training positions within the retail industry. This way, my experience and resources can be transferred and quickly applied. Each step seems to pave the way for the next, helping me move to a better stage. -02- Do the Right Things, Not the Easy Ones Easy things bring short-term happiness, while right things bring long-term growth and rewards. When choosing my fourth job, I was very conflicted. It was also a training position, but the work content was quite different. My previous work was more as a training lecturer, where I could stand on stage and teach, enjoying attention and applause. The new position was more about system building and training management. But the new position had good industry prospects. After hesitation, I switched to the new position with some trepidation. At first, it was very painful. My previous strengths in lecturing were not showcased, and I was immersed in numerous proposals and team management. Set strategies, build systems, promote transformation. When I persisted, I found this was also a kind of growth. Originally, I focused on training organization and implementation, relying on footwork and eloquence. Now this painful process has greatly enhanced my brainpower, allowing me to think more systematically about the "why" behind projects. I no longer focus on the quality of a single course but systematically consider learners' learning outcomes and practical transformation. The initial process was painful, but I knew it was the right direction—breaking out of my comfort zone to build a new knowledge system and create new capability barriers. Do the right things in the long run, not the easy ones, and enhance your ability to build systems. Recently, a former FMCG buddy sent me a WeChat message saying he was about to join a new company in a BD position, full of excitement. But the next day, he told me he had resigned. He is still young, born in 1994, a bachelor's degree holder. My advice was to consider more growth-oriented positions and development opportunities. Even if the starting point is lower, "position determines mindset," and different positions bring vastly different value and growth potential. In my first year after graduation, when I transitioned from a sales management trainee to a training assistant, my salary was halved, and this lasted for over a year. But when I look back at that choice, I am still grateful. I am grateful to my then-leader for giving me the opportunity to transition, and to myself for persisting, finding a position I liked through exploration. It was an unfamiliar position with not-so-easy work content, but it was more challenging and had more development space. I once helped a BD colleague transition to a procurement and sales role. When HR discussed compensation, he was unwilling. I told him my personal experience, and he made the transition. After two years in the procurement and sales role, he jumped to a major company in Hangzhou, with a direct salary increase of over 50%. Do not only do easy things; do things that are right in the long run. These things may offer less compensation in the short term, or require you to give up some original advantages, or require you to learn a lot of knowledge like a "primary school student." But the more complex and irreplaceable the work, the higher its value, and the stronger your irreplaceability. In frontline terminal FMCG positions, if there is an opportunity to transfer, strive to move from sales representative to marketing promotion! If you are on a retail manufacturer platform, after accumulating relevant procurement or operations knowledge, try to move from BD to procurement and operations positions! These positions will appreciate in value with experience and age, while long-term BD or market representative work will depreciate to some extent with age. -03- Enhance Self-Learning and Self-Checking Ability People are prone to laziness, especially in long-term development in a position. This laziness includes not only physical but also mental, such as unwillingness to self-learn and self-check. If you ask an FMCG veteran to sit down and read a 10-minute document, it will make him very "irritable." Colleagues who have been visiting customers for a long time need to improve their ability to self-learn and self-check knowledge. Many simple things are made into ready-made content and placed in front of them, but they still do not look or care. Even for very basic content, they are willing to ask but not willing to read it themselves. Quickly self-checking and self-learning new knowledge, and establishing your own work or life knowledge system, will make you more efficient. Diligence is very important; FMCG people all have the trait of hard work and endurance. But diligence without "using the brain" is not advisable. Effort also needs to be directed correctly. Tencent's strategy experts shared the secret of corporate longevity: Sustainable corporate success = Corporate strategy X Organizational capability. These two are in a multiplicative relationship; if either lags, the result is reduced by multiples. For the career development of FMCG professionals, I think there is a similar model based on the above: Achievements of FMCG professionals = Brainpower X Footwork X Eloquence; the three are also a product, not a sum. If the first two are strong but brainpower is weak, the results will be unsatisfactory. Strengthen "brainpower," think systematically, do the right things in the long run, improve your self-learning ability, find your life strategy, and let your growth enter the fast lane. May every hardworking FMCG professional have a happy life.