Great people are great because of their extraordinary insight, decisiveness, and execution.

First, allow me to share a short story: A fisherman went out in his boat one day to catch fish. As he rowed, he carefully observed the bubbles on the water's surface. His father had told him that if there were many bubbles, it meant there was a school of fish below. Suddenly, he spotted a patch of bubbles that looked just like the carp school his father often described. So, he picked up his net and prepared to cast it. But just as he was about to cast, he began to hesitate. He thought it was unwise to cast his net before he was sure whether there were actually fish in the water.

But how could he truly know if there were carp in the water? To find out, he decided to jump into the water to see for himself. When he dove to the bottom, he saw that there was indeed a large school of fish. He immediately climbed back into the boat and cast his net. But strangely, when he pulled the net up, it was empty—not even a single small fish. He was puzzled, unable to understand why such a carefully cast net had caught nothing.

The secret, I believe, is clear to all of you smart readers. In fact, while he was jumping into the water and climbing back, the fish had already been frightened away. This ridiculous fisherman didn't realize that he could have simply cast his net to find out if there were fish, but instead he had to jump in to check. His tragedy was not knowing that in ambiguous situations, one must boldly try based on intuition, and the result of the attempt is the best evidence to verify whether the initial feeling was correct.

When you urge such people to act, they always reply, "Let's wait until we understand" or "Let's wait until conditions are ripe." Their common phrases include, "You're right, but it's hard in practice" and "What you say is true, but it depends on conditions." They like to use these seemingly reasonable and logical excuses to justify not taking immediate action. As a result, they always miss good opportunities. They don't realize that although action depends on conditions, conditions are constantly changing and gradually maturing. If you insist on waiting until conditions are ripe, then by the time everything is clear, you will have lost your chance.

How many great figures in history have acted boldly when conditions were not yet mature and the outlook was unclear! If you wait until conditions are fully ripe, the prospects are clear, and everyone can see it, then is it still remarkable or great? Will you still have a chance?

If you invite someone to partner with you, some will immediately join with a good feeling after grasping the basic situation. These people can be said to have courage and prospects. Although they may not necessarily win, they know that in business, an opportunity with 100% certainty is no opportunity at all.

So, they always invest bravely as long as there is a glimmer of hope. For these brave souls, their success is due more to their drive than to their superior ability.

When Ding Lei founded NetEase, did he already see everything clearly?

Although they also try to grasp as much information as possible and hope for more favorable conditions, they know better than to wait for conditions to mature.

For the Autumn Harvest Uprising, the ideal condition would be that the enemy is unaware, and when the revolutionary forces charge, the enemy is still sound asleep. But is that possible? It's like doing business together: if you don't join when the situation is unclear, but wait until you're sure you'll make money, is there such a good thing in the world?

In fact, some conditions will never mature if you don't act actively; only when you keep fighting will they gradually mature and become favorable to you.

So, great people are great because of their extraordinary insight, decisiveness, and execution.

And ordinary people are ordinary because they always wait until they understand and conditions are ripe before acting.

To raise a child, parents must feed them countless meals and help them walk countless steps. Similarly, for a company to grow, people must do countless things! And some of these things absolutely cannot wait until the company grows; they must be done first, and then the company will develop as a result.

This is like a young man looking for a partner: can he wait until he has a partner before he starts practicing hygiene? But some people think the opposite. They believe that advanced concepts only apply to large enterprises or famous brands, not realizing that it is not because they are large or famous that they have these concepts, but precisely because they used these concepts that they gradually grew from unknown small enterprises into famous large ones.

When Huawei was just founded, it is said there were only seven people, and they all slept on the office floor. Under such conditions, Ren Zhengfei still accomplished one extraordinary thing after another.

That is why Ren Zhengfei qualifies as a business star. What about Ningbo's Bird? Did Bird start with hundreds of millions in assets? Was it a nationally renowned brand from the start? No, it developed step by step from small to large. How many of today's popular big brands and enterprises started from family workshops! They became tycoons because they dared to try, dared to lead, and dared to be first. And you are still stuck in your family workshop, not getting rich, because you dare not take any risks, insisting on waiting until you understand and conditions are ripe.

In fact, any famous brand is built by accumulating many "firsts." It's like a comprehensive exam: the more subjects you rank first in, the greater your chance of ranking first overall.

Similarly, a company can only gradually become a famous large enterprise after creating many "firsts." For example, either be the first to invest or the first to withdraw; have the best quality or the best price; have the most goods or the most outlets; be the first in production or the first in sales. Even being the first in a small region for a single product can make you a wealthy boss. And to strive for first place, you must take certain risks.

The great leader Deng Xiaoping once said, "Cross the river by feeling the stones." Because no one has ever crossed this river before; everyone is crossing for the first time, no one knows the depth, and no one has experience, but the enemy is catching up, so we have to cross by feeling the stones. Crossing the river by feeling the stones is risky; if you don't do it well, you might be wiped out like Shi Dakai. But can you wait until the water recedes or until everything is measured accurately before crossing? Obviously, you can't wait.

So, crossing the river by feeling the stones requires wisdom and courage! Deng Xiaoping's intention was to encourage everyone to try boldly when the situation is unclear, the outlook is uncertain, and conditions are not yet mature. The key points are "feeling" and "crossing." Whether you can feel and feel accurately is a technical issue that requires wisdom; whether you dare to cross is a matter of courage!

Of course, not everything can be done with courage alone, nor does it mean you can act boldly at any time without waiting for conditions. If you act recklessly without regard for anything, that's not "crossing the river by feeling the stones" but "crossing the river with a stone in your arms." You must first grasp when to wait patiently and when to act boldly. How to master the balance? You need to draw on your own past experience and even the lessons of others from ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. For things that, based on the information you have and your rich experience, feel like they should be acted on immediately, I advise you not to wait or hesitate—act immediately. Of course, as I said, immediate action may not guarantee victory, but at least we will have one more chance. Moreover, perhaps because of your bold move, the situation may develop favorably! But if you always wait, you will hardly have opportunities for development.

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