Baidu’s founder Robin Li recently published an open letter within the company to eliminate petty bourgeois and advocate wolfishness.
According to him, the young petty bourgeois feature privileged background, English fluency and solid incomes, but they “believe that work is just a part of their life, and are so unambitious that they are focused on personal comforts”; in contrary, the wolfish young “have a keen sense of smell and teamwork spirit, are indomitable, dedicated and aggressive”, and can bring the company maximum profits.
Robin Li said, “You have to suffer. Otherwise, you will be nothing.” For the young who have just graduated and begin their career, the corporate culture like this leaves them only two choices, in terms of Robin Li, of becoming a petty bourgeois or a wolf. Some people portray the choice more starkly as being a sheep or a wolf. The logic behind this is the popular formula for success in career: the law of the jungle.
Under the wolfish culture advocated in some companies, employees overwork until late at night; such slogans as “die to survive” and “self-criticism” are everywhere; sudden deaths and suicide occur as a result of mental stress. But this controversial culture is highly admired by the companies as it can bring quick returns.
An encyclopedia website characterizes wolfishness as “greedy”, “cruel”, “wild” and “violent”, and states that in an era of competition, absence of this nature will bleed and lose.
But is there a direct logical relation between the animal characteristics and creativity? Employees that disagree on the corporate culture are at liberty to go. But when the “wolfish culture” has penetrated from the commercial civilization to every corner of the society, quitting will not be that easy.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Chen Jianhua had mentioned in a speech that books and audiovisual products using a wolf as the cultural symbol have been popular since the beginning of the new century. The wolf that once was cunning, insidious and cruel in people’s impression now is worshiped by the public, which surprised him very much. Chen analyzed that it is because that people hope to use the aggressive nature of animals to arm themselves in the competitive environment of the law of the jungle.
It is an era of competing with time, opponents and oneself. Although people have accumulated enormous wealth in a short period, the accompanying negative effect cannot be ignored. The enterprise organization originally belongs to a social group, but relationships between people have become the food chain of animals in an environment stressing competition, and finally people lost themselves in the competition of animal world. This should not be a value pursued by young people just going out into the world.
There are many roads besides making a choice between wolf, sheep and petty bourgeoisie. A diversified society should encourage young people to become better, rather than shaping them the same products. Although the employees in a healthy business organization are defined as a sheep without aggressive nature or petty bourgeoisie greedy for enjoyment, they can also realize their value.
In recent times that the “wolf culture” is the most praised, a professor said meaningfully in a MBA class, “We should not to become a wolf or a sheep, but a person.”
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