Wang Shi offers entrepreneurship advice to post-80s students

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“Don’t rush for quick success, but do your best in every task at hand, and learn to make choices – especially knowing when to let go.” This was the advice given by Wang Shi, chairman of Vanke, to college students interested in starting businesses, during a lecture he gave on entrepreneurship, drawing on his own experiences. Regarding making choices, Wang Shi said that since there are many options in today’s society, if we fail to make choices, we tend to lose our direction and end up not knowing what to do. Especially the first thing to learn is letting go. He has been in Shenzhen since 1983, and over that time he has had to make three important decisions. The first was in 1983, when he moved from Guangzhou to Shenzhen to start a business. Wang Shi said that before going to the special economic zone, he worked as a translator at the Guangdong Provincial Foreign Economic Relations Commission. After arriving in Shenzhen, I felt it was an ideal place for starting a business, and I advised my university classmates the same. At that time, my classmates and comrades in the military all had various reasons; some said they were in the process of applying for professional titles, and it would be a shame to leave at that time ； Some say they are waiting to divide the house equally, and then they will leave after that. Another reason is children’s education – how to prepare them so that they can leave after going to college. Year after year passed; they got their own houses, were awarded senior professional titles, and their children went to university, but they missed out on their opportunities as well. I just can’t let it go; by the time I manage to do so, it will be too late. He said that for college graduates, many choices await them once they enter society after graduation. Our choices at this time often can’t take too many things into account. At that time, I had only one thought: if I don’t try, how can I know whether it will work or not? If I try and fail, I won’t regret it, because at least I tried; I know I’m not capable of it. So often, when we make decisions, it’s not about whether you have confidence or whether you are sure of success. Regarding the people born in the 1980s, Wang Shi admitted that he learned about their characteristics through the Super Girl competition. He has a daughter born in the 1980s in his own family, and he has always been concerned that only children tend to be too self-centered, spoiled, and lack a spirit of cooperation. But after Super Girl, it gave me some experience. The first to realize that their ability to mobilize people through modern technologies, mobile phones, and the Internet was the organizational skill of those born in the 1980s. The second thing is that I saw them write letters of failure beforehand before competing; after the face-to-face showdown, they would tear open those letters and read them out loud. I wasn’t upset – I kept striving. I find that this is completely unacceptable in our time. In our era, we mostly had PKs; after the PK, people would go to the backend and then disappear. Their openness to competition, the amount of pressure they can handle – in this era of commercialization, they are far stronger than us; they dare to speak, to love, to compete, and to fail. It’s truly inspiring. “Actually, for those born in the 1980s, what I want to say is that living in a society full of opportunities like yours, I have this rather old-fashioned suggestion: I advise you not to rush for success. I started my business at 33; you graduate from university at 23. Whether you pursue a master’s degree, a doctorate, or start a business is not important. ”He said that he himself didn’t start to love his hometown until two years ago, and he’s not sure what to do in the future either. But his experience is that one must do everything with seriousness, because one day one will realize that all that seriousness in the past was a form of accumulation. Students who are determined to start their own businesses need not rush and wonder what they should do right away; as long as they study hard and carry out earnestly whatever they want to do, this will bring about changes in their future. Even if you spend a year abroad, washing dishes or just wandering around, you will find that your knowledge will increase as well.