Click the image for details The phrase in the title was casually mentioned by one of the two bosses I accompanied on a market inspection trip. Whether it was his original saying is unknown. Although it wasn't my original phrase, it resonated with me immediately, and it expressed what I had been thinking. 01 When I give lectures to companies, I often hear bosses tell me that their employees have problems and need proper training. Generally, I take time to understand the company's situation during training. If the problem lies with the boss, training only the employees is useless. Usually, I believe that the ones who most need training are actually the bosses (general managers). This is exactly why I resonated with the phrase "When leaders fall ill, employees take the medicine." I recall that Liu Jiren, the boss of Neusoft Group, said over a decade ago (paraphrased): Some companies find that the more they train, the higher their employee turnover rate. If they don't train, employees think the company is okay. But if they train only employees without leaders present, after training, employees might say, 'I understand now, but the leaders don't. This company has no future, so I'd better resign quickly.' 02 Trainers must have a sense of responsibility. Because companies request training only when they perceive problems. Some trainers keep the same content regardless of the company's ailment. As someone said about the chaos in the consulting industry: if you only have a hammer, you treat every problem as a nail. I believe a good doctor should do two things: if you can cure the disease, cure it; if you can't, refer the patient to a doctor who can. Not long ago, I spoke with a young and promising hospital leader. He said that nowadays, doctors admit patients regardless of whether they can cure them. Moreover, doctors don't study for years, and when patients come, they always prescribe the same few common medicines. Isn't the consulting and training industry the same? 03 There is a company that frequently invites experts for training. The boss told me that now employees don't know what to do. Brand experts say there are brand problems, channel experts say there are channel problems, and terminal experts say there are terminal problems. Everyone says something different, and employees are confused about what to do. I said, the biggest problem is that the people who invite the experts have a problem. Experts are supposed to be specialized; you should invite the right expert based on your specific problem. If you invite the wrong expert, it shows you not only have a disease, but your most important disease is the "inability to recognize people." This is like a patient going to the hospital: the first step is triage, deciding which department to go to. If you go to the wrong department, you might get the wrong diagnosis. 04 When I give lectures to companies, some give me a specific topic, which I appreciate. Others say, "Just teach whatever you know." I usually respond in two ways: one is to decline, because if they don't know what they need, they might be dissatisfied with anything I teach; the other is to first understand the situation and then teach accordingly—like prescribing medicine based on the disease. Years ago, Coca-Cola invited me to give a lecture, but I didn't dare, because I didn't know what problems Coca-Cola had. At that time, Coca-Cola was my idol, and I didn't know what was wrong with it. 05 Actually, I admire a Taiwanese boss. Someone recommended me to him, and he flew all the way from Guangdong to Renmin University to listen to me for half an hour before deciding to invite me. After the PPT was ready, he communicated with the company's senior management about the meaning of each sentence. Later, because I was on a business trip in Wuhan, he flew there to communicate with me in person. Such a company is not just training; it is using training to implement the company's will, letting a third party say what the company wants to say. So, during pre-training communication, I often ask: What exactly do you want to achieve? 06 I have had two of the most enjoyable training experiences. In both cases, the general managers were present at the training site. ▲ "It is appropriate to open your ears to all advice, to glorify the legacy of the late emperor, and to inspire the spirit of the ambitious. Do not belittle yourself, or use inappropriate analogies that block the path of loyal advice." One general manager, after I lectured for a day, summarized my content into two sentences that were both highly concise and practical, and then required employees to follow them. I was amazed at the time—this was a truly capable person. Another general manager, after I finished, asked the senior executives present if it was applicable. They said yes. Then the general manager required everyone present to pass it down level by level, all the way to the distributors. Two months later, a regional general manager invited me to train employees, and I found that it had already been communicated down to the distributor level. According to their feedback, sales increased by 40% the following year. This is the kind of training I want. 07 Some people think training is about increasing knowledge, which is certainly not wrong. I believe training is the first step in turning knowledge into behavior; only when it becomes behavior is the goal achieved. How to turn it into behavior? The key is not the employees, but the leaders. Only leaders have the authority and the ability to discern. If leaders don't participate, 90% of training is wasted, because what's the use of employees knowing? Anyway, whenever leaders are not present, I think to myself, today's training money is wasted again. 08 Training itself is not a necessary task, just as taking medicine is not a necessity of life. Who wants to take medicine when they're not sick? But in the human resources department, training itself is a job, with annual targets. Whether sick or not, they have to take medicine. Taking medicine indiscriminately or taking the wrong medicine can make taking medicine a detestable thing. This is exactly why training is disliked by the grassroots. The correct logic is: when another department has a need, the HR department organizes training. But it has become: the HR department needs to complete its tasks, and other departments reluctantly cooperate. 09 Finally, let me summarize in three sentences: First, if you are sick, you must take medicine; Second, take the right medicine for the disease—don't take the wrong one; Third, leaders should take the medicine first, from the top down, not the other way around. -END-