Neville Isdell, the 12th Chairman and CEO of the world beverage giant Coca-Cola, held the position for only three years, yet he put an end to the declining trend in both Coca-Cola's market influence and brand influence. More importantly, before becoming the 'helmsman' of Coca-Cola, Isdell had already worked for the company for over 30 years, with work locations spanning the globe, from Zambia and South Africa in Africa, to the Philippines in Asia, and then to Latin America and Europe. This enabled him to well understand the importance of adapting corporate strategy to different markets and cultures, and to find the entry points. 'Long-Term Value' is Isdell's memoir. This book offers enlightening value for practitioners in many industries beyond the soft drink industry. Unlike those entrepreneurs and managers whose growth trajectories are long confined to company headquarters, or who constantly 'cross over' in their careers without ever delving into the front lines of business, Isdell believes that a company's energy comes from the brand itself. But to bring all this to light, the frontline employees, including channel sales personnel, are the true unsung heroes. Therefore, the most fundamental and important task for leaders is to motivate employees and prevent the enthusiasm, role, and creativity of frontline staff from being shelved or ignored. This book introduces how Isdell led his sales personnel in different markets to wage 'channel wars' against competitors, such as quickly replenishing Coca-Cola to every effective terminal in the market even in hot weather, and making necessary displays to ensure promotional plans were fully implemented at the terminals. For Chinese business circles, another role of this book is that it well explains how to find practical solutions in a market environment full of misunderstandings and conflicting interests, promote problem-solving, and minimize contradictions as much as possible. Over the past decade or more, as Chinese enterprises have entered markets in Africa, South Asia, West Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, Japan, South Korea, and other countries and regions, cultural conflicts and contradictions among employees from different countries and regions due to salary, management methods, and other issues have often arisen. Coca-Cola's accumulated experience in this regard has strong reference value for Chinese enterprises. Isdell was born in Northern Ireland, UK, which allowed him to learn from an early age to view issues from both British and Irish (based on national identity) perspectives. At the age of 10 (1953), Isdell moved with his parents to Zambia, and later attended university in South Africa. This experience taught Isdell how to get along with people from different racial and cultural groups and how to listen. Entering the local Coca-Cola bottling plant in Zambia was the starting point of Isdell's career. The newly independent nation of Zambia was eager to develop, and Coca-Cola was expanding its market there. This was a valuable training opportunity for Isdell, and it was his outstanding performance during this period that earned him a promotion in Coca-Cola's African business region. Afterwards, Isdell was successively assigned to work in Coca-Cola's Australian and Philippine branches. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Coca-Cola began to face a serious business crisis, with competitor Pepsi-Cola being aggressive. In this situation, Coca-Cola attempted multiple measures to resolve the crisis, the most important being the launch of 'New Coke' with a sweeter taste. However, this backfired and triggered strong consumer dissatisfaction. As a result, Coca-Cola had to recall 'New Coke' and reintroduce the original formula and flavor products. During his time in the Philippines, Isdell faced even greater work pressure. Because Pepsi-Cola owned all the bottling companies there, while Coca-Cola's bottling companies had previously gone bankrupt one after another. The book describes how Isdell, by understanding the Philippines' national conditions, society, and cultural characteristics, recruited a localized management team, and then re-established localized bottling companies and brought their production quality up to international standards. The Philippines' Malay-based indigenous culture, combined with cultural influences from Spanish and American colonization, makes its national culture particularly rich. To boost the morale of his sales team, Isdell organized promotional rallies every weekend, using ethnic dances and stage performances to lift spirits, and led salespeople in sportswear to do push-ups on the field. In the book, Isdell reflects, 'Channel sales personnel are the true unsung heroes.' His efforts helped Coca-Cola in the Philippines go from being nearly driven out of the market to regaining its leading advantage. After this, Isdell took the helm of Coca-Cola's German division. He was already quite adept at fulfilling leadership missions in different cultural contexts. It's worth noting that the Philippines, where he previously worked, is a tropical country full of passion, while Germany is a temperate country known for rationality. Isdell methodically completed the adjustment of the leadership team of Coca-Cola Germany and reorganized the relationship with bottling plants. After that, Isdell began to serve as a regional headquarters leader spanning multiple countries and regions, leading the resolution of Coca-Cola's entry into new markets such as the former Soviet Union (Russia) and Egypt, and achieving reconciliation between Coca-Cola and Indian regulators. From 2004 to 2007, Isdell served as the 'helmsman' of Coca-Cola. The company was once again in trouble, with employees gradually losing confidence in the brand, and external capital institutions also pessimistic about Coca-Cola. At the same time, Coca-Cola's global resource development caused prominent problems such as excessive consumption of freshwater resources, triggering protests from environmental organizations. Isdell first straightened out the understanding of the company's leadership. Through in-depth discussions, he promoted the issuance of the 'Development Declaration', reaffirming Coca-Cola's basic principles, emphasizing that the company should value employees, improve relationships with manufacturers and customers, and actively fulfill social responsibilities. The first step to win back trust was to invest in supporting local public sectors in multiple overseas plant locations to protect water sources, build water treatment stations, and adjust bottling plant locations to avoid conflicts between corporate water use and residential water use as much as possible. Isdell also effectively unclogged the previously chaotic and closed channel sales links, settled accusations raised by the EU's antitrust department, and promoted the integration of the global bottling plant system, bringing some bottling plants under direct operation. These efforts allowed Coca-Cola to repair its public image and regain vitality. Source: China Securities Journal A reward of 400-2000 yuan will be paid once the tip is adopted.