Sany is a company known to everyone in China's construction machinery industry—legendary and brilliant, yet also highly controversial. In 2006, Mr. He Zhenlin joined Sany and worked there until the end of 2012. During his seven years at Sany, Mr. He focused mainly on brand building, image enhancement, and cultural communication.

　　Due to work connections, I met Mr. He on a few brief occasions, and he left a deep impression on me—somewhat like a scholar-strategist with a feather fan and silk headdress, speaking with wide-ranging references and an inexhaustible flow of words. In 2013, Mr. He's book Liang Wengen and I: The Richest Man—Unveiling Sany was published, in which he discussed six reflections on Sany's development.

　　After the high-speed development of its "golden decade," China's construction machinery industry has shifted into a stage of moderate, low-to-medium-speed growth. Especially in the current market environment of economic downturn, this change in growth rate has exposed many problems. Mr. He's six reflections on Sany's development also have a certain universality for the development of China's construction machinery industry, including local enterprises. Therefore, I have selected and share them below—

　　1. Reflection on the industry

　　Sany's brilliance benefited from its choice of industry, but this industry is too "hard" and too closely tied to the macroeconomy. To sustain Sany's century-long foundation, there should be a "soft" industry to hedge and stabilize it!

　　2. Reflection on speed

　　Nearly 10 years of breakneck expansion made Sany feel that it could hardly keep up, not only in talent but even in management. The likely reason Sany's Six Sigma progressed slowly and even died halfway was that its basic management could not keep pace.

　　3. Reflection on atmosphere

　　In the leadership style of many at Sany, commands outnumber consultation; in several reports I also felt a sense of "a rank higher crushes you to death." I remember that each time I reported work to Liang Wengen, he would joke, "What brilliant ideas do you have this time?"—making one feel as if bathed in a spring breeze. Should other Sany leaders emulate this harmonious atmosphere more?

　　4. Reflection on culture

　　Sany's cultural concepts are lofty, full of tension, and inspiring, but there is still a long way to go before they truly flow in the blood of every employee. As for the conflict between the regional mainstream culture and Sany's subculture, this is particularly prominent in Shanghai and Shenyang. How will it be handled in the future process of globalization?

　　5. Reflection on the board of directors and the workers' congress

　　In my days running a state-owned enterprise, because I attached great importance to the role of the workers' congress, public opinion was able to be expressed and many thorny, difficult decisions were eased. As a private enterprise, Sany certainly needs the authority of the board of directors, but if it drew on the state-owned enterprise practice of paying attention to the opinions of the workers' congress, might it achieve twice the result with half the effort?

　　6. Reflection on emphasizing the field of creating material wealth while neglecting the field of creating non-material wealth

　　Looking back on my seven years at Sany, the company's rewards for creating material wealth were real gold and silver, heavy punches that landed with force, while its rewards for creating non-material wealth paled in comparison, with a huge gap. This seems somewhat inconsistent with Sany's great emphasis on corporate cultural concepts!