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Nowadays, many managers think and act more and more indirectly, resulting in a growing distance between themselves and the problems they need to solve. But in reality, the answer lies within the problem itself.

Therefore, we should learn "integrated thinking." What is integrated thinking? It means placing yourself within the problem, merging yourself with it. Instead of sitting in your office, scratching your head and thinking, "How do I solve this problem?" you should first look at where you are. If you are outside the problem, no amount of thinking will help; the answer will disappoint you. If you go to the scene where the problem occurs to find causes and solutions, the answer will naturally emerge without much deliberation.

For example, some bosses constantly talk about solving issues like shipping, retaining staff, and motivation. I ask them, "How much time do you spend immersed in the problem?" The result is that they spend almost no time at all. Their approach to problems is to spend money to hire people—"paying to eliminate disasters"—but this cannot truly solve the problem.

I have had this personal experience myself.

Oubo once had three vice presidents, and I paid them a monthly salary that was not low at the time. My idea was "paying to eliminate disasters." At that time, Oubo had only about twenty projects running simultaneously. I arranged for each vice president to be responsible for 6-7 projects, at most 8, thinking this would ensure the smooth operation of all twenty-plus projects. But the results were disappointing.

Why? Because I took an indirect approach to solving problems—spending money to hire people to solve them. Thus, between me and the problem stood three executives, and between them and the problem stood Oubo's teachers and others. At that time, the problems and troubles were far more numerous than now. Later, I realized I had made a mistake—I wanted to "cut corners," spend money to save effort, stay out of it, and delegate problems I didn't fully understand to others, causing me to be separated from the problem. This way, I couldn't do Oubo well, nor could I be responsible to the enterprises we served. So I asked the three vice presidents to leave.

Many enterprises today are the same. Bosses find problems a headache, often because they are also in the dark about the problems existing in their companies—like a monk scratching his head, unable to grasp the situation.

My point is not to require all bosses to grasp every detail from start to finish, "grabbing eyebrows and beards all at once." Rather, we should first be divers, dive down, understand the underwater conditions, and then talk about how to deploy troops to solve the problem. This is what Buddhism calls "walking deep at the bottom of the water, standing tall on the mountain top." Only by walking through deep water can you stand tall on the mountain top. So, ultimately, the power to solve problems should be "handed over" to suitable people to take charge, but before that, we must personally lead people to explore and understand the problem clearly. This "handover" has two meanings: one is "teach" (jiao), meaning I teach them how to do it; the other is "hand over" (jiao), meaning to delegate it to them. The two must be combined. This is how I now manage Oubo's projects and teachers.

Some might say, "Professor, what you're talking about is not how big bosses do things" (implying that big bosses don't do small things).

Then look at how Zhang Ruimin, Chairman of Haier, does it.

Haier's basic management is OEC, which simply means "finish each day's work each day, and improve each day." This was developed by Zhang Ruimin himself, step by step, with Haier people. So today he can let go of his subordinates—he has handed over. Zhang Ruimin is very busy now, but every Saturday he returns to Haier University to communicate with his middle and senior managers. This way, he can grasp Haier's operations and management and make correct decisions. Many enterprise bosses lack this down-to-earth spirit and action; they only talk empty theories or pressure their subordinates, which is useless.

Therefore, we must go deep into reality, place ourselves within the problem, and only then can we find solutions. Enterprise bosses should lead all employees to cultivate a meticulous "craftsman spirit," laying this foundation and development momentum for the enterprise, and only then can they comfortably be hands-off bosses.

I do not advocate thinking too much away from the problem. You should place yourself within the problem and not do "brainstorming" away from it. Only then can you truly find solutions. This is "integrated thinking," and this way you can achieve what the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: "How wonderful that our self-nature can give rise to all phenomena."

Why can placing yourself within the problem lead to discovering solutions? Because problems arise from the split between people and the problem.

For example, many production problems in enterprises occur because when small anomalies appear, no one solves them, causing these small anomalies to drag on and become serious, eventually turning into big problems. In fact, if we discover these small anomalies and solve them immediately, putting ourselves together with the problem, frequently checking and promptly resolving, we can effectively avoid the formation of big problems.

So, problems arise precisely because we do not frequently "merge" ourselves with the problem, and we do not quickly go into the problem. Therefore, the best way to solve a problem is not to think about how to solve it, but to immediately go into the problem.

When we truly "merge" ourselves with the problem, the wisdom of emptiness arises. In fact, the "integrated thinking" I talk about is "empty thinking." Because Buddhism considers the "door of non-duality" as the highest door; "non-dual" means "one," which is emptiness. Why? We can treat the problem as a "negative number" and the action of going to the scene to solve it as a "positive number." Then, merging action and problem at the scene is adding the "positive" and "negative" numbers until they "return to zero" (problem solved).

So, managers should go to the scene of the problem, "merge" themselves with the problem to "return to zero," and this will produce the annihilation phenomenon when positive and negative electrons meet, generating energy—the solution to the problem. This is exactly what Buddhism says: afflictions give rise to bodhi (wisdom).

Believe it: the answer lies within the problem.

Excerpted from "Good Management Depends on Practice"

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