36 Strategies Vernacular Full Translation

32 Chapter 2: Introducing Bricks and Attracting Jade ([-])
Hans is the manager of a canned food company in the United States.In order to expand the company's reputation, one year he took the company's products to participate in the National Exposition held in Chicago, USA. Unexpectedly, his products were arranged in the most remote attic in the exhibition hall.Originally, he wanted to expand his influence and increase his company's reputation, but this arrangement was obviously difficult to achieve.So, Hans approached the organizer of the conference and asked for a change of location.The organizer said: "You see, these are brand-name products of big companies, and we must put them in the most suitable position. Mr. Hans, your product position is also the most suitable."

Hans took a look, no, the products placed in prominent positions are all the best products in the country.Although their own products are good, they are much less famous in comparison.But if you spend money to participate in the exhibition, you can't get nothing and return empty-handed!Hans had to bide his time and act accordingly.

A day passed, and there was an endless stream of visitors, but very few people patronized Hans's counter.Seeing that the time for the exhibition was running out, Hans was very anxious, thinking hard even lying in bed at night.The next day, he finally came up with an ingenious solution.Today, he didn't go to the exhibition.

On the third day, many small bronze medals suddenly appeared on the ground of the venue, and a line of words was engraved on the back of the bronze medals: "Whoever picks up the small bronze medals can go to the Hans Food Company display on the attic of the exhibition hall to exchange for a souvenir." So people picked up the bronze medal one after another and rushed to Hans' attic.The small attic, which had no one to patronize, was suddenly crowded.People have told each other new things about "Hans' Little Bronze Medal". For this reason, some reporters have made reports on Hans' little attic.Now, Hans's products became famous, and he earned 55 US dollars in this exhibition alone.

It turned out that Hans just used the clever trick of "throwing bricks to attract jade" and promoting products.When no one was interested in the products, he asked someone to make many small bronze medals overnight, and sent people to spread the exhibition hall to attract customers to his counter. In addition, his products were of good quality, and they sold at a good price quickly.Although the small bronze medal made by Hans allowed him to send some souvenirs, it was nothing compared to the benefits it brought. The ingenuity of "throwing bricks to attract jade" allowed Hans to gain more fame and fortune at a small price.

Walmart's unique Saturday routine
Expressing superficial and immature opinions and eliciting brilliant or perfect opinions from others is often called "throwing bricks to attract jade".In daily life, this phenomenon is very common.As a leader, he often uses superficial and unformed opinions to elicit brilliant and mature opinions from others to show humility.In addition, "throwing bricks to attract jade" also means that the leader takes the lead and serves as an example to inspire his subordinates to display their intelligence and wisdom.

The large supermarket chain Wal-Mart has a unique meeting habit - "Saturday regular meeting": every Saturday morning at 07:30, nearly a thousand people from the company's senior executives, branch managers and colleagues at all levels gather together, and the company president takes the lead in shouting slogans, Then everyone brainstormed and talked freely about the company's business philosophy and management strategies.

Company founder Sam Walton has always believed that brainstorming is the driving force for business development.The successful operation of Wal-Mart should first be attributed to the company's employees. It is they who make suggestions for the company and make the company develop.As a result, attendees often spend a long time talking about innovative ideas that seem impossible to achieve, and others don't immediately reject these ideas, but seriously think about how to make the impossible possible.

At the same time, employees who have made excellent performance will also be invited to the Bentonville headquarters to participate in the Saturday regular meeting and receive praise.Sam Walton knows that everyone likes to be praised, so he looks for every opportunity he can to find heroes among his store employees and publicly praises them at meetings.

This regular meeting is seen as the core of Wal-Mart's corporate culture.Everyone at the meeting smiled, and the relaxed atmosphere shortened the distance between each other. Communication is no longer a difficult task here.More importantly, colleagues at all levels of the company also fully understand the latest work progress of each branch and department through such meetings, which is convenient for further overall planning.

However, Sam Walton didn't like to hear only the good side at the meeting. He also wanted to hear where Wal-Mart's weaknesses were, what areas Wal-Mart still fell short of, and why.Thus, the Saturday morning meeting is where Wal-Mart discusses and debates business ideas and management strategies, where all of Wal-Mart's efforts and actions are focused, and where Sam Walton absorbs ideas from all sides.This is often the best place for Walmart to decide to try something that seems impossible.And Wal-Mart is used to not denying the plan in a crowd, but trying to find out its feasibility.

Of course, in order to create a pleasant meeting atmosphere, entertainment is essential.It was during a Saturday morning meeting that Sam Walton made a bet and had to go to Wall Street to dance the hula.As embarrassing as it was to Sam Walton, Wal-Mart did make more than 8 percent pre-tax profits that year, while most of the rest of the American retail industry averaged half that.Crazy for this achievement, Sam Walton thinks it's totally worth it.

Sam Walton knew that without the entertainment and the unexpected, he would never have been able to get most of the managers and employees at the Bentonville headquarters to attend meetings with smiles on their faces every Saturday morning.If there are only monotonous and lengthy comparative data in the meeting, and serious speeches on business issues one after another, people may be dozing off, and the atmosphere will not be lively.No matter how important he felt such a meeting was, if everyone would find it annoying, it would be meaningless to hold it.

One of Sam Walton's managers once said that the main feature of the Saturday morning meeting is its spontaneity.There was never a specific agenda, and the chairman scribbled only what needed to be discussed in the yellow notebook he carried with him.What's also interesting is that before the meeting, Sam Walton will randomly designate someone, and he will be the host of the meeting.Since there is no fixed pre-arrangement, people always have some kind of anticipation, guess what might happen, or who will make a hilarious show again.

Others say Saturday morning meetings leave you completely in the dark.Not knowing what's going to happen next is part of its charm.Sometimes it may be very embarrassing to someone. If his work is not ideal, he will not be punished in public, but only mild criticism, or some form of advice.Al Miles was repeatedly urged by Sam Walton to sing "Red River Valley" in front of everyone at the meeting, and finally passed with the help of a group of people singing in chorus.Al believed that the main purpose of Sam Walton telling him to do things that he couldn't do in front of everyone was to remind him to be humble and cautious.So Al Myers thought the Saturday morning meeting was a lot of fun.And Sam Walton should have thought it through carefully. He knew when to make the meeting lively and when to make it serious, but in the end the main purpose was to exchange information, lighten everyone's burden, and unite.Therefore, for the vast majority of corporate executives, Saturday morning meetings should not be missed.

Wal-Mart's "Saturday Regular Meeting" can be described as unique and ingenious.We can see the relaxed, casual, united and high-efficiency of Wal-Mart's corporate culture. In these popular and even slightly exaggerated cultural activities, the cohesion and participation awareness of managers have been greatly enhanced, and the boring impression of meetings in people's minds Changes have taken place, which is the characteristic of Wal-Mart's corporate culture that is different from other companies.

Sam Walton took so much pains to bring forth the old and bring forth the new, "throwing bricks to attract jade", throwing out a comfortable and relaxed meeting atmosphere, will definitely lead to better and more valuable development suggestions from his subordinates, so as to provide a good basis for the leadership's work decisions, it is really wise!
Yao Chongzhi fights Zhang said
When using the timing of "throwing bricks to attract jade", although "throwing bricks" is easy to understand, when actually throwing, it is necessary to think about how to throw, where to throw, what kind of "bricks" are appropriate to throw, and so on.This requires the "brick thrower" to use their brains, be good at observing the opponent, and accurately grasp the opponent's weaknesses in order to ensure success.

Yao Chong
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Yao Chong and Zhang Shuo were prime ministers in the same dynasty.The two were jealous of each other and often fought openly and secretly, and sometimes even the emperor couldn't mediate.

This year, Yao Chong was seriously ill, and it got worse day by day. Seeing that he was about to die, he called his sons to his bedside and said, "As a father, I am going to die. Looking back on my life, I have done a great career. There is nothing to regret. It’s just that there is something behind me that I really worry about. Prime Minister Zhang and I have been officials in the same court for many years. I will definitely fabricate crimes and ruin my reputation. If I die, nothing will happen to me, but you are implicated. If I am convicted, I will definitely implicate you. Do you have any good ways to deal with it?"

The sons looked at each other, lost in thought.Yao Chong went on to say: "To control people, it is necessary to borrow people's hands because of human nature. How about this, after I die, Prime Minister Zhang will come to pay respects as usual. Before he comes, you play with the jade ornaments I have collected in my life. Put it all on the confession case, and give it to him when the opportunity arises. When he accepts it, I will implore him to write an inscription for me. Once I get the inscription, I will immediately report it to the emperor for approval. This way, the evil will be turned into good fortune."

After Yao Chong died, there was a funeral, and Zhang said that he really came to express his condolences.As soon as he entered the mourning hall, he stared closely at the jade treasures placed on the mourning case.Even when saluting, he was absent-minded and kept staring.Yao Chong's sons were secretly happy.According to his father's instructions before his death, he sent all the Baowan jade wares to Zhang Shuo.Zhang said he pretended to decline a few times, but finally accepted happily.

Baowan was brought to Zhang Shuo's house, but before Zhang Shuo had time to read it all, the eldest son of Yao Chong came to see him.When I asked, it turned out that I came to ask to write an inscription for my father.Taking other people's things, such a small matter, of course cannot be shirked.Zhang said he didn't think much about it, so he agreed.Yao Chong's eldest son left with gratitude.

The inscriptions of the dead are urgently waiting to be used, and they must be written as soon as they are written.Besides, Zhang Shuo also wanted to deal with the matter quickly so that he could savor the batch of rare treasures carefully.So I immediately asked my servants to grind the ink, and brushed the brush.According to the fashion of writing inscriptions at that time, Zhang said a lot of words in praise of Yao Chong.As soon as the inscription was finished, Yao Chong's sons hurriedly followed their father's instructions and presented it to the emperor.The emperor approved "Yes", and quickly asked someone to engrave it on the stone tablet.

After two days, Zhang said that he calmed down from the ecstasy of playing Ou Debao, and after careful recollection, he felt that the matter was a bit strange.Why did Yao Chong's family give him such a precious treasure for no reason?Thinking about the inscription he wrote again, he shouted "I was fooled", and hurriedly sent someone to Yao's mansion, saying that there was something wrong with the inscription written a few days ago, and asked to take it back and modify it.The family reported that "the inscription has been played by the emperor and has been engraved on the stele." Zhang said that he sat down on the chair and lamented: "Yao Chong is plotting again!"

In fact, Yao Chong knew Zhang Shuo's nature of being greedy for treasures and playing with jade articles, so he bribed because of his nature.Yao Chong "throwing bricks to attract jade" confuses his political opponents with some treasured jade wares, makes them speak well for him, and seizes the opportunity to avoid the opponent's repentance.Zhang said that he could not attack Yao Chong after his death, and saved Yao Chong's descendants from a catastrophe.

(End of this chapter)