This is an article about the master of Shanghai Chengyi Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd. The master is a big liar, and the apprentice is a little liar!
Not long ago, the group organized a famous event Training for “President’s Practical Management”. In fact, this 3-day training costing NT$10,000 was promoted. A trainer came to the company and passionately gave us a free lecture on "Practical Implementation", and finally successfully sold this training course.
How does a management crosstalk actor perform and promote?
The lecturer who teaches "President Practical Training" is in his 30s and is the boss of the company. According to the lecturer with a high school degree, he has a lot of experience and even served as the "president" of a large company. He describes himself as "the top Chinese CEO mentor." Throughout the training process, his training company obviously used the "ABC rule" commonly used by MLM companies. Every time he appeared, he had to play the music of "Shanghai Beach". The audience needed to stand up and applaud, and the lecturer acted like a star. Walking in from the gate of the venue and being invited to the stage by the adoring host, it felt like acting. What’s even more funny is that every time he is accompanied by two attendants, like the best groomsmen at a wedding.
There are countless short stories throughout the training, which was also one of the tricks of MLM companies back then. These short stories probably consume at least two-thirds of the lecture time. There are many tidbits here about how the lecturer broke up with his love, how he went to work in Guangdong, and how he founded a training company. It has nothing to do with the so-called "President's Practical Management" theme. But you have to admit that the stories are good to listen to and often cause laughter in the audience, but as for their usefulness to management, that is another matter. Of course the lecturer will also talk about some management content, but those contents are basically the most superficial things in management. When I was doing induction training for a foreign company more than 10 years ago, the depth of those contents was far more than what he talked about. I can only regretfully call what he said "management quotations". From my personal perspective, he didn't read much and had very little management experience, but he still had some "worlds" and was quite capable. Sensational.
In the three days of training, I calculated that the actual time spent on "Management Quotations" was only about two or three hours. In addition to short stories, there are many ways to "kill" time. One is a small game led by their "teaching assistant". Naturally, the company management here rarely have the opportunity to come into contact with these old-fashioned training games, and they play them with relish. The second is to play some videos made by the training company themselves. These videos are very sensational and completely package them into a Fortune 500 company. Of course, so does their own so-called "vision" of the company. In the afternoon of the second day, the venue almost turned into an ordering meeting. The instructor personally came on stage to show off their training course menu, and what followed was an almost crazy sales pitch. Everyone in this company is staring at the person with the red sling sign (in order to distinguish who is the decision-maker, they even issued a red sling sign to the decision-maker, while others have blue signs), the way of sales It's so powerful that many people actually signed orders half-heartedly. Training courses are sold like membership cards, starting from 100,000 and going up to 1.5 million. You have to say that this is indeed a kind of "product innovation". However, it seems that these orders are not an ideal performance, which can be seen from the frustrated expression of the lecturer. On the last day, perhaps due to the poor performance of the previous day, this ridiculous "training" ended hastily before 5 o'clock. The lecturer who claimed to "use his life to speak" even sent a message to the students. The reason was that some students thought his course was like a pyramid scheme to deceive people and protested.
In the past few years, in addition to company training, I have also participated in several external trainings. Both Philip Kotler and John Kotler's courses left a deep impression on me. As the world's top marketing and leadership masters, in fact, their eloquence is not first-rate, but their teaching content is indeed very solid. They don't like to tell short stories, but they can tell many cases. Moreover, the contents of their lectures are also strictly logical. The lecturer claimed that he could answer all the questions asked by the president within a few seconds, but Kotler and Kurt, as top experts, never made such a promise. They will also listen carefully to the questions raised by students and then express their own opinions. These two masters are very humble and polite, respect their students, and do not require students to stand up and applaud them for their entrance. Of course, they will not rely on the music of "Shanghai Beach" to package themselves as Xu Wenqiang to gain idol worship.
Manage the origins and harm of cross talk
The training industry is a mixed bag, but if we briefly divide it, one type sells "technology" and the other type sells eloquence. People who sell "technology" are usually not professionals in training. They may be executives of leading companies in the industry, or they may be accomplished industry experts. Their training courses are usually very rational and have strict logic between the contents. They do not specifically develop courses. These contents come from daily practice and research experience.
Those lecturers who sell their eloquence are all top-notch in eloquence. Their courses are characterized by being very nice and full of short stories. However, students will only find out when they really take notes carefully. In addition to the fact that most of those stories are things they have never heard before. , but there is very little that can really be learned.
However, it is these eloquent lecturers that have become popular in recent years. I gave their course a name: Management Crosstalk. Their charges do not seem to be lower than those of Guo Degang and Zhou Libo, and their styles are even very similar. But Guo Zhou is a person in the entertainment industry, and these management crosstalk "masters" sell entertainment as knowledge.
Then why has management crosstalk become so popular in recent years? Every time I go to the airport, there will be those CDs that manage cross talk played on the TV. Every lecturer is "the first" and "top". Although Yu Shiwei, who was quite popular in the past few years, was exposed as not being a "postdoc", his cross talk programs are still very popular.
After nearly 20 years of development of market economy, China's business community has gradually entered an era that relies on management and strategic competition from the golden era. At this time, some entrepreneurs have problems with their knowledge base. Almost every entrepreneur needs to learn, but they often don’t know how to learn systematically. The popularity of EMBA classes, fast-food management books, and management crosstalk that are expensive but only serve a social function are products of this background.
Most entrepreneurs and corporate executives are busy with trivial matters, and it is difficult to read boring management books when they have free time. So, they unanimously chose the "easy" way. Entrepreneurs often have their own theories, and their previous successes often reinforce their belief in these self-theories. At the same time, they also really hope to hear some enlightening words that can "wake up the dreamer with just one word". And management crosstalk precisely meets their needs.
The deeper reason is the common lack of security and low self-esteem among entrepreneurs. This subconscious mind is often the strongest driving force for success, but it is also a common weakness among entrepreneurs. The lack of security is related to the environment. Putting aside "policies", the intensifying competitive environment forces entrepreneurs to constantly learn new things to enrich themselves. But being "busy" and impetuous often makes them hope to get through a few classes quickly. Inferiority is a common crux deep in the hearts of grassroots entrepreneurs. Most of them come from poor backgrounds and have limited education. They can't help but respect those who can stand on the stage and call themselves "teachers". Moreover, in order to increase the box office, these management crosstalk actors packaged themselves as "masters" one by one, making entrepreneurs believe it and thought they had found spiritual sustenance.
A careful analysis of the market for crosstalk actors will reveal that their business is best in township enterprises in second- and third-tier markets. Because companies in the first-tier market have broad knowledge and fierce competition among training companies, companies will naturally become suspicious of them if they have seen too much. In addition, even if entrepreneurs do not have high academic qualifications, corporate executives often have high academic qualifications and naturally have the ability to distinguish. Needless to say, the new generation of entrepreneurs, especially those in the Internet industry, are true elites and will not be fooled by them. Therefore, the local bosses of township enterprises in the second and third tier markets are their best customers to attract money. These bosses want to save face. Seeing these so-called "masters", they also want to build some relationships to show others that their current "knowledge" is different from before. Although some people feel a little cheated after listening to the class, but often refuse to say it out of shame, the "cross talk actors" have already made a lot of money.
Management cross talk is a special product of this impetuous society. Scholars became people in the entertainment industry, and people in the entertainment industry came to become scholars. Their goal is money, but the problem is that professionalism cannot be achieved quickly. No matter how management crosstalk is packaged, it is just an entertainment program, but it is never considered knowledge.
Management crosstalk actually originated from MLM more than 10 years ago. MLM training generally adopts a brainwashing approach to success. Shouting and crying are common tactics. This cult-like setting and atmosphere can be very confusing. Some entrepreneurs are really confused by these atmospheres and really use the success theory of MLM in their enterprises. But the problem is that these mental opium can only numb people for a while, but it is difficult to last long. Because the science of success is bending human nature, making people crazy and forgetting themselves. But people eventually wake up. At this time, spiritual opium loses its effect of confusing people, and what is left is opium's harm to people.
This article was written in August 2010 and published in the October issue of "China-Europe Business Review"