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Which books have shaped these big shots?
Transferred from: China Entrepreneurs
By | China Entrepreneurs reporter Cui Xiaoyan
Collected by | Li Yanyan, Tan Liping, Yan Junwen, Deng Shuanglin, Zhao Dongshan, Ren Yafei
Dear readers of China Entrepreneurs:
Hello.
I think you still remember that in early April, I launched a call for submissions, asking you to send me the books you’ve read until they’re worn out. You probably didn’t expect that your “worn-out book” photos would pile up layer upon layer, almost overflowing the screen.
Now, I want to tell you something else. In fact, while I was asking you to submit your “worn-out books,” I was also secretly preparing a gift for you—we compiled reading lists from several weighty entrepreneurs, scholars, and founders. The books they submitted had a huge impact on them, and they often revisit them—some even to the point of being worn out.
I turned these books into a curated reading list. This extremely valuable “worn-out books” list is my World Book Day gift to you.
Yu Minhong loves reading tremendously. He’s also generous with recommendations. The Story of the Romans and Don’t Let Me Be Heartless are the books he has recommended many times.
The Story of the Romans is a very easy-to-read history of Rome that fulfills everyone’s curiosity about Rome. In the eyes of the world, the Romans were less intelligent than the Greeks, less physically strong than the Gauls, less technologically advanced than the Etruscans, and less economically strong than the Carthaginians—but they still managed to defeat their rivals one by one and build a vast Roman Empire. How did they do it?
Japanese novelist Shionono Shichibei settled in Rome for thirty years to explore the “secret” of the Romans, and spent fifteen years to write this masterpiece, restoring an empire that shone for 1,300 years.
The Story of the Romans has won award after award, including the 24th “Daily Publishing Culture Award,” the 30th “Kikuchi Kan Award,” the 27th “Women’s Literature Award,” the 6th “New Wave Literary Award,” the 2nd “Shiba Ryotaro Award,” the 41st “Bookstore New Wind Award,” and more.
Don’t Let Me Be Heartless is Yu Minhong’s collection of essays. It records the story, insights, and reflections from his nearly thirty years of entrepreneurship. From a rural boy sowing seedlings and harvesting rice, to an insecure young man who entered Peking University three times through the gaokao, to the “old man” who had become wildly popular as a “Chinese Partners,” and then managed to turn things around in the midst of sudden storms—why does Yu Minhong always manage to reverse the situation?
The answer is in the book Don’t Let Me Be Heartless. In the book, Yu Minhong proposes his “Six Principles for the Heart” for facing life directly—original intention, sincerity, painstaking effort, wholeheartedness, from the heart, and uprightness of heart. His painstaking explanations of the “Six Hearts” are, in fact, teaching readers how to succeed step by step.
Don’t Let Me Be Heartless is a life inspiration book for those who refuse to be ordinary, written by Yu Minhong starting from “the heart.”
Kazuo Inamori’s The Living Way is one of the books that has influenced Zhang Yiming the most. This book was recommended to him by Wang Xing, the founder of Meituan. Even his first copy of The Living Way was bought by him at a street stall. He strongly agreed with one idea in the book—that working hard is a way of self-cultivation.
The Living Way is a best-selling book that became popular around the world, and also one of the most famous works by Kazuo Inamori, Japan’s “saint of management.” The book records Inamori’s views on life and work. In it, he answers a question that everyone wants to figure out: “What is the key to achieving career success and happiness in life?”
Regarding The Living Way, Inamori said, “These are unshakable beliefs gained from more than 70 years of my personal firsthand experience, and they have been proven correct through practice.”
Mr. Xu Zhuoyun favors history books. The books he strongly wants to recommend to you are three: Xu Zhuoyun on America, Giants, and The Downfall Era.
He said: “A few years ago I wrote a book, Sixty Years of America (mainland China edition title: Xu Zhuoyun on America). I experienced the rise and decline of America over sixty years, and in the book I said, ‘America has declined, gone bankrupt, the wheels are broken, the machines are broken and rusted.’ Looking at it today, the more I read, the more it seems right.
“Recently, there are two books published in America that can be introduced. One is Giants by Neil Ferguson, discussing ‘unfinished emperor’—the unfinished empire. Another is The Downfall Era by George Parker—the era of collapse, the era of decline.
“I hope we Chinese people, my fellow countrymen, when facing the serious issues I discuss, will take a rational, objective, and calm attitude. The world is one body—we cannot forget that. If a huge ship of a hundred thousand tons sinks in the ocean, its whirlpool can drag dozens or even hundreds of smaller boats nearby down with it to sink too. The world is that big. If we get swept under by such a huge tide together, and end up in the same fate, it would be too much of a pity. When we are at important checkpoints, helping them, supporting them, and easing the world’s decline could help them understand that they should not act selfishly, should not be arrogant or go against the rules, and perhaps things would be better. We should not argue with them, and we should not fight against them. Let’s not ‘challenge each other to spar.’
“Saving them is saving ourselves. If China does this, others will be grateful, and people in the future will also be grateful.”
“The single book that has influenced me the most is The Tao Te Ching. In the process of moving from youth to middle age, Laozi’s The Tao Te Ching is one of the rare books that gave me confidence. I wrote A Biography of Laozi, and later I also compiled a book collecting famous people at home and abroad who read The Tao Te Ching. From knowing this book when I was young, to now being able to recall passages or lines from it in daily life every day—it can be said that The Tao Te Ching provides me with coordinates and methods for finding my place in life and living purposefully.”
“Knowledge can help a person shape their own ‘hardware structure.’ Instructors who can pass on knowledge are an organization’s important wealth. I want to recommend to readers of China Enterprises a book I previously sent to the national lecturers of the Shell Huqiao School—The Lecture Notes on Wang Liming’s Evolutionary Theory. For an individual, the process of finding a goal and achieving it is new life; for an organization, helping employees establish goals and giving them the meaning to inspire themselves to become even better is comparable to evolution. It’s a proud thing to value the power within each organization that drives ‘the evolution of people.’”
In Li Guoqing’s reading list, there are two books that are both new and excellent.
The first is Believe. The author, Cai Lei, is the former vice president of JD Group and also a fighter against ALS. When Cai Lei was 41 years old, he was diagnosed with ALS, and his life was split into two halves from that moment: one half is a successful career, a happy family, and becoming a father for the first time; the other half is a rare terminal illness, no one can save him, and there’s no cure.
This year is the fourth year of Cai Lei’s fight against ALS. Believe fully records the four years he suffered under his illness. There is pain, confusion, and despair, but more than that, there is fearlessness, reflection, and hope. Reading Believe, you can feel a kind of strength between the lines—no matter what situation you’re in, there is the power and courage to change the world. This power allows you and me to find hope beyond despair.
After Yu Minhong read Believe, he said, “My vision is blurred with tears.” Cai Lei’s story can move anyone who works hard to live, and it will definitely move you too.
The other very new book in Li Guoqing’s reading list is Credible. It is the latest work by Hou Xiaoqiang, the former chairman of Qidian Chinese and the “#1 IP person in China.” Throughout his more than twenty-year professional career, Hou Xiaoqiang has been observing and summarizing what kinds of people can always earn their leaders’ trust, what kinds of people can get promoted faster, and what kinds of people can keep breaking through career and life bottlenecks. Now he finally has the answer—only credible people can achieve all of the above.
As the title suggests, the book’s greatest value is that it teaches us what we need to do to become the kind of person others see as credible. In the book, Hou Xiaoqiang provides 132 methods—methods that can solve almost all the problems you face in your workplace. For example, how to help your boss increase your pay and get a raise; how to report bad news to your leaders; how to keep secrets; what to do when your year-end bonus is not as high as expected; and when is the true time to change jobs, and so on.
In short, with a book in hand, no need to worry about credibility.
You think that’s it? NO, NO, NO. The two books above are just a small part of the iceberg in Li Guoqing’s reading list. Scroll down to unlock Li Guoqing’s hidden reading list!
Erik Jorgensen Naval Handbook
“Earn money with your mind, not with your time.”
Zhou Hongyi Beyond Curiosity
“What ‘beyond’ means is that you keep experimenting and overturning the ideas you love.”
Zhou Ling Cognitive Awakening
“Change stubborn thinking in the brain through metacognition, and improve focus, learning ability, and self-control.”
Baiyang Baiyang’s Plain Explanations of Comprehensive Governance (Zi Zhi Tong Jian)
“A beginner’s book that modern Chinese people can’t get around when reading Comprehensive Governance (Zi Zhi Tong Jian).”
Li Shuo Jian Shang (Cutting Merchants)
“From Xia to Zhou destroying Shang—a span of more than a thousand years—recounting the emergence and transformation of Chinese civilization.”
Yang Tianzhen Clear-Seeing Through
“Live as a sober-minded adult in the world—starting by understanding human nature.”
Lan Xiaohuan To Be In the Middle of the Matter
“Analyzing the interlocking of various elements behind phenomena such as urbanization, housing prices, income and wealth inequality, debt, and the ecosystems of domestic and foreign trade.”
Uncle Jin Gun Leverage
“Every sentence is worth money—reading it is equivalent to earning.”
Romain Rolland Jean-Christophe
“There is only one kind of heroism in the world: to recognize the truth of life and still love it.”
Deborah Mankoff A Brief History of Humankind in the British Museum
“Improve your artistic and aesthetic abilities, and profoundly understand human society.”
Reid Hastings No Rules
“Increase talent density—only hire adults.”
Wang Di Quietly Doing Something
“The text version of Along the River During the Qingming Festival.”
Sanaya Hiroharu A Complete History of Business Models
“In the past, you made money through products, marketing, and management. Now, you make money through models, financing, and attracting investments.”
Ray Dalio Principles
“Stay extremely open, extremely transparent, and extremely committed to truth.”
Chen Xiangdong has read countless times. There are four books—The Effective Manager, Greatness Will Prevail, From Good to Great, and Winning. These four are management classics that have been reissued many times.
The Effective Manager has been ranked No. 1 for years on Douban’s “Hot Management Books” list, with more than 17,000 people scoring 8.7. That result is rare among management books. This book makes clear two things: first, what kind of manager can be called an “effective manager”; second, how managers can become truly effective.
Greatness Will Prevail solves one of the most important questions entrepreneurs and founders care about: how to build a great company that lasts and never declines. Many ideas in the book are regarded by entrepreneurs as immutable principles. For example, “Outsizing timekeeping is better than reporting the time.” The power of an organization is always greater than that of an individual. Leaders need to position themselves as someone who builds the clock—to construct a perfect organization for the company, so that the company can run healthy and orderly at all times within this model, instead of letting the organization and employees always rely on the leader themselves.
From Good to Great and Greatness Will Prevail are both written by the same person—Jim Collins. In Greatness Will Prevail, Collins studies how companies can last and never decline; while in From Good to Great, he studies what kind of team can make a company become excellent and last and never decline.
He has long tracked and studied the development and operations of the world’s Fortune 500 companies. He found the common traits of excellence, and distilled the “excellence gene.” He believes that an excellent team must have three key factors: first, well-trained people; second, well-trained thinking; and third, well-trained behavior. As for how to have and cultivate these three factors, you need to find the answers in the book.
Winning is the management wisdom of Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric. It is a summary and refinement of his leadership art during his 21 years at GE. He understands the responsibilities of leaders and managers very thoroughly. He said, “Before you become a leader, success is only related to your own growth; after you become a leader, success is related to other people’s growth.”
Over the past decade-plus, not only corporate executives have benefited from this book. Anyone who expects something from themselves and wants to win can benefit from it as well. Even Buffett praises this book, saying, “With Winning, people no longer need to read other business and management books.”
What Wang Jianguo has read until they’re worn out are two old books—When Men of Stars Shine and Refresh.
He said, “The greatest good fortune in life is to discover your mission when you’re still in your prime. The greatest misfortune in life is to give up your ideals and pursuits before you get old. Mission is the greatest driving force. After finishing When Men of Stars Shine, you will come to recognize the power of mission again.”
As for why he read Refresh over and over again, Wang Jianguo said: “Every person, every organization, and even every society, when reaching a certain point, should click refresh—to inject fresh vitality again, to reignite life force again, to reorganize and rethink the meaning of their existence again. It’s just like clicking the refresh button on a browser—to start anew and search for new goals. If you don’t forget the past, there will be a future. Combining my own entrepreneurial experience, I also need to refresh every so often.”
“I recommend The Art of the Way of Su-Shu. It’s a book that I studied every day for a period of time and kept flipping through again and again. It stays fresh with constant reading. The Art of the Way of Su-Shu teaches people to set their heart right, cultivate themselves, manage the family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world through a five-in-one approach—‘the way of the master, virtue, benevolence, righteousness, and rites.’ Fundamentally, it is a core system and a thought system for operating an enterprise, managing life, and transforming the world.”
“My biggest hobby outside of work is reading and exercise. Today I’m recommending two books: Extend and 30 Years of Contemporary Residential Complexes in China.
“Extend is a popular management book summarized by Scott Sonansaing, a PhD in management, based on years of work and teaching experience. For an individual and for a company to achieve goals, it doesn’t necessarily depend on more resources. Those who are good at discovering and leveraging the potential of existing resources will try to use unconventional methods to make use of the limited resources at hand, so as to utilize limited resources, solve problems exceptionally well, and achieve their goals.
“Another book, 30 Years of Contemporary Residential Complexes in China, is co-written and compiled by Everything Cloud and the College of Architecture and Planning at Hunan University. From a property management perspective, the book studies changes in the architectural forms of residential communities. It also reflects the progress of China’s economic reform and the penetration of consumer culture. It reflects changes in social forces and everyday livelihood issues of the general public, and, on the other hand, it carefully and intricately embodies the image of the nation.”
In Wu Gansha’s reading list, there is a keyword hidden—innovation. The two books he recommends, The Innovator’s Dilemma and Crossing the Chasm, are fundamentally related to “innovation.”
The Innovator’s Dilemma is the timeless management classic by “the father of innovation,” Clayton Christensen. It’s a book about failure, but what it writes about is not the failure of ordinary companies—it’s the collapse of great companies.
In the book, Christensen proposes two important concepts that determine a company’s fate: sustaining technologies and disruptive technologies. Sustaining technologies refer to technologies that continuously extend or reinforce product performance according to the needs of mainstream customers. Disruptive technologies refer to technologies that have not yet entered mainstream markets for the time being, or technologies developed for new markets.
Tweaking and upgrading the original technologies obsessively, investing in and developing according to the needs of mainstream customers—this may eventually destroy an outstanding company. Meanwhile, those key, breakthrough technologies that are temporarily rejected by mainstream customers instead become the “disruptive innovations” that lead new markets.
Crossing the Chasm is a must-read book for every investor, founder, and product manager. A new product—especially an innovative one—faces particularly large obstacles in the marketing process. It’s hard for these products to enter mainstream markets smoothly and quickly from early markets. Many products even disappear forever because they never manage to cross that obstacle.
The true value of Crossing the Chasm is that it explains one thing: how new products and new technologies cross the “chasm” from early markets to mainstream markets.
This book Let’s Talk More About Problems recommended by Gao Yixuan is especially suitable for friends who like to read by using fragmented time. It’s a compilation consisting of 9 long-form interviews: Xu Zhiyuan, Guo Yujie, Bai Lin, and other authors, who discuss issues on the internet such as psychological polarization, confusion in the minds of ordinary people, unfairness in elite education, and the worsening ecological environment, with scholars and practitioners from different fields.
Gao Yixuan said: “This in-depth interview collection produced by the team is suitable for all kinds of reading scenarios. It’s like watching the mid-length videos on Bilibili that aren’t very long but are full of meaningful content. In an era where people’s awareness enters the silicium-based world but their bodies are still in the carbon-based world, these deep interviews help us see, from different perspectives, some of the causes and underlying logic behind the various challenges of today’s society. You may not agree with every viewpoint in the interviews, but thought is always accompanied by the posing of questions.”
“For many people who like detective novels, reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is an extraordinary experience—and I’m one of them.
“The protagonist, Sherlock Holmes, has an extremely high IQ and a steadfast sense of justice. He has a very strong personality and great personal charm. I like the author Arthur Conan Doyle’s immersive way of storytelling. Each case in the book is perplexing and constantly reversed, making you want to participate in the reasoning. You just can’t let go. Through Conan Doyle’s descriptions, you can touch the day-to-day lives of people from all different social classes at the time.
“This is a classic that has shone brightly for a hundred years and still does today. Whether or not you like detective novels, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is not to be missed.”
Dear readers, this reading list is the gift I’m giving you on World Book Day. I hope it can heal all the days when you feel stuck without anything to read. If it’s not enough for you, please scan the code to sign up for the World Book Day activity we’re launching, “A Deal of ‘Worn-Out Books’”. On April 23, dozens of guests including Song Zhiping, Li Guoqing, Zhou Hongqi, Chen Xiangdong, and others will join together to “enjoy” this feast of books.
Now you get a 60-yuan bonus red envelope. Withdraw directly—no gimmicks!!! Come join the event!
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