woman wearing irish linen shirt

I decided to take a gamble.

"Do I need to answer now?" I looked at her, and unlike her relaxed, I could say the exact opposite of her, "This is not such a simple question, there are many aspects to consider."

She suddenly smiled: "No, of course not. I just want to chat with you casually, you know, sometimes you can see a lot of new things from a different angle... It would be great if you could write it down, but it might be hard to find Time to do this job. So I thought, it would be nice for us to talk briefly. Do you mind?"

"No." I knew in my heart that this was my job for BCG.

In fact, it doesn't hurt to talk to her.This kind of hostility between us is very subtle. We were so rigid with Kevin before. When foreign enemies came, we cooperated without saying that we cooperated. No one is an eternal enemy.The big boss also told me to follow the trend. If BCG's will is really the trend, it is right to follow the trend.

It's just that I think the company can still compete with it, and it's inevitable that I have different views with the big boss.

"When dealing with floods, blindly blocking them is very inefficient and sometimes counterproductive." I said, "If I were a decision maker, I would consider building communication channels while also providing mutual checks and balances. 'Balance' is the desire of both sides, which is determined by the position. I don't think it is realistic to simply rely on methodology to avoid it."

Miss Pan De was thoughtful and asked, "Do you have any specific ideas?"

"It's simple. Let the parent company manage the money."

Miss Pan De narrowed her eyes and smiled again: "Then they will quarrel for a long time every time they have a meeting. A company that is not financially independent is not considered a company."

"It doesn't have to be in the form of a subsidiary. An independent financial institution is established, and more than half of the decision-makers are controlled by the HR of the parent company..." I didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was already there.I continued: "It's more like finding a forum for arbitration between the two companies. New communication channels. Communication, communication, I think this is one of the things we are most happy to see."

"It's wild," she says with gusto, "but it's constructive."

"Just a casual chat, like you asked." I shrugged.

"How does the subsidiary achieve a balance with the parent company?"

I didn't expect her to ask that.In my opinion, splitting up the company is just a stopgap measure to get rid of the founder faction headed by the big boss. Sooner or later, the subsidiary company will swallow up the dismembered shell and become a new generation of crab shells.

But because there was nothing I couldn’t say, I answered her casually: “The subsidiary’s business itself can act as a check and balance. This new company is mainly centered on two departments, right? Business development directly affects the future. The layout, although the overall goal may be determined by the two parties, but the executive level has always controlled great autonomy. Without employees, the board is nothing.”

She listened clearly and nodded, "Let me think about it."

"Okay." I waited obediently.

There is a breathtaking beauty in her thinking.Most people are unconsciously attracted to beautiful things, and the long evolution has made the instinct of pursuing beauty a constant rule in the world.I didn't feel impatient at all—rather, out of the context of the confrontation, I actually had the illusion of enjoying the time a little bit.

She would brush her hair once in a while, even if it didn't fall out, maybe it was her habit.A focused woman has the ultimate charm, I don't know how long I stayed there, and not even a single distracting thought flashed through my mind.

All eyes are on her.

"I kept you waiting for so long." She came back to her senses, as if she was also surprised that it took so long, and she was a little shy when she laughed, "Well, your plan is actually very simple...but the more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes , there should be a lot of room for digging in actual implementation, and I—I can’t even think of a better alternative. Is the truth in simplicity that only those who work on the front line can grasp?"

"Wow. Thank you." She praised very sincerely, I was dumbfounded, and said with a smile, "I think that different jobs, different business experience, especially across regions, bring more A difference in perspective. Positions are sometimes blinding and sometimes indispensable.”

"Indispensable at all times," she added. "You inspire me a lot. Thank you."

I had a flash of inspiration and said, "I want to thank you too. You inspired my training work the day after tomorrow."

With a look of disbelief, she asked a bit playfully, "Isn't Thursday Vesak Day?"

I laughed. "It's past midnight, Sonia, and it's Wednesday."

She was startled, and then smiled: "Should we say 'good night'?"

"Okay." The atmosphere was just right, I couldn't bear to pull away abruptly, and said good night to her.

I was in a daze until the video hung up.The brain that was still working at midnight was exhausted and excited, and there was an inexplicable jump of joy, like a primary school student after school on Friday, bouncing around with his schoolbag on his shoulders, as if that kind of pure happiness was at your fingertips, as if my briskness was a matter of course should.

I didn't work overtime, but I didn't dare to sleep either.

My jump is just a bubble.

But I want to stay in there a little longer.

Today is a training session for colleagues promoted to managers in the new year.Because it is closer to the form of experience sharing and question-and-answer meetings, I did not make too much preparation. I connected the tablet to display it on the main interface, and occasionally wrote and drew, saving the effort of making slides.

"Does anyone know what the Fermi problem is?" Because the main screen was my tablet demo, I habitually took a sip of water after speaking.I had lingering fears from being ill before, and when I was busy working from home, I often couldn't get a drop of water, which was not good for my skin.

"It's an estimation method." Someone said, "When facing a problem with an unknown result, split it into smaller problems with known results, so as to get a relatively accurate guess. Through Fermi estimation, We can easily come up with seemingly impossible ranges of answers."

"Perfect answer, thank you." I deliberately remained silent for two seconds, and said, "Everyone—quick question and answer: How many Starbucks are there in Singapore? Ten seconds."

Suddenly, a lot of quite layered chair pulling sounds came from the earphones, and I laughed secretly in my heart, I want you to be distracted, it's all right now.Of course, there are not no people who listen carefully, but passive acceptance is one thing, and active use of the brain is another.I didn't intend to embarrass them. Even if they are not good at this kind of estimation work, if they think more flexibly, they can open the official website and count them to get results.

Unexpectedly, someone answered the call soon: "If you don't count the outer islands, there are about thirty."

I glanced at the name in the lower right corner, Passerby C.Turns out he was a manager.

"Excellent conjecture, Mr. Wang." His name is spelled in Hokkien, I couldn't pronounce it, so I didn't mention it at all, "Time is running, hurry up, what else is the answer?"

"32."

"33."

A few people began to report random numbers next to passerby C's guess—of course, whether it was a random guess or not, it was a free testimony.A bold one reported forty, which made the latecomers quiet for a while.Ten seconds had passed, and I didn't let them go any further, so I said, "Here is a small organization. When you think about it, you should not only be aware of the general situation, but also Starbucks' store strategy, Singapore's population and office area, etc. etc. These can be applied to Singapore, but also to Tokyo or Shanghai.

"But what's so special about Singapore? Compared with Shanghai or Tokyo, the land area of ​​Singapore's main island is much smaller. In addition, Changi Airport should also be considered - interesting little knowledge, there are four Starbucks, large and small, in the airport, And you can’t even find them all on the official Starbucks website.”

"What's the correct answer?" someone asked.

"Let me say 'forty' is the closest number." I turned off the demo. "You can find out the exact answer yourself. Whoever guesses correctly can join me for a working lunch when they return to normal work, My treat—oh, of course, the first colleague to make a guess can also win a reward, but we must ensure that each person's consumption does not exceed fifty Singapore dollars."

Everyone smiled cooperatively.

I asked my colleague who answered "forty" and passer-by C to talk about my own estimation ideas respectively, and made some supplements, and then said: "There is one thing, I hope you can pay attention to it. Look at the problem Different perspectives are very important. I know that the colleagues who participated in this event come from many departments, we have different divisions of labor, and we may not have even met in the past work. pale.

"But that doesn't mean that the communication between us has no constructive meaning, and it can't help the usual business. People's positions are always present. Remember this, experience it with your heart, and I believe you will get something you have never seen before. New perspectives—now is question time."

The colleagues who participated in the training were more enthusiastic, and I didn’t do it next time, so I extended the questioning session for another half an hour.Afterwards, I was not surprised to receive separate news from the two "winners". This was my goal, and now that it has been achieved, there is nothing surprising.

Passerby C introduced himself and said that his name was written as "Wang Wenbin" and explained how to pronounce it.He was very meticulous. Before I could say anything more, he typed to express his thanks for today's training, which made people feel a little better about him unconsciously.Originally, I was hesitant about how to get on this line, but passer-by C rushed to deliver it, saving me the time and effort.

But the reason why he did so is hard to say.

After all, the Fermi estimate does not apply to the human heart.

HR is present during the training.Online work has standardized everything, and Hui Lin and I have no room to chat.Although people can always create opportunities, when everything becomes deliberate, communication is like a meeting, and every sentence is recorded.And when you know it...

Hui Lin's call request came over.