Source | Produced by Porridge Zuo Luo | Investor Says (touzirenshuo)
No matter how difficult the situation is now, or how difficult it will become, in the end, it will be fine.
On April 22, 2023, Lu Qi held a small-scale speech in Shanghai, and published his macro thinking on the era of large models, hoping to help Chinese entrepreneurs recognize this historic turning point, locate the coordinates of today's times, find Accurate own position.
Once the content of the speech is released, quickly refresh the screen! Many people were impressed by Lu Qi's foresight.
In fact, Lu Qi has hardly been in the limelight in recent years.
The former "Most Powerful Chinese IT Executive in the United States", one of the creators of Bing, was expected to be the president of Baidu in 2017, shouting "All in AI", but left suddenly a year and a half later, and rarely appear in the public eye on a large scale.
So many people may not be familiar with Lu Qi.
Lu Qi has always been a person I admire very much. He is good enough and charming enough. I have learned a lot from him in the past few years, and even some of his ideas have very direct inspiration for some of my business. Let me do something.
This article is Lu Qi's advice to young people at different stages.
If you don’t know Lu Qi yet, let’s get to know him first:
In the past few years, Lu Qi has received special attention. He was appointed as the president of Baidu on January 17, 2017.
The weight of this appointment is extremely high. Today, 23 years after Baidu was founded, Lu Qi is the only one who has been given such high power by Robin Li.
But Qi Lu was worth it.
Lu Qi is very famous in Silicon Valley, with good contacts and status in the world. When people who have contacted Lu Qi mentioned him, they almost praised him with one word.
Lu Qi joined Yahoo in 1998 and became executive vice president of Yahoo in 2007.
When he resigned in 2008, Jerry Yang shed tears on the spot. At the farewell meeting, all engineers wore uniform T-shirts with the words "I used to work with Lu Qi, how about you?" to commemorate Lu Qi's days at Yahoo! .
**Joined Microsoft in 2008 as global executive vice president, which is the highest position ever obtained by a Chinese in the field of technology.
When he left in September 2016, Bill Gates tried his best to retain him and even promised:
"What kind of business do you want, we will find a business for you. Or you take a leave of absence for a year or two, and then come back to be the chief technology officer, we just wait for you."
Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft, once told Microsoft employees:
"Five people have made great contributions to Microsoft. One is the founder Bill Gates, the second is CEO Steve Ballmer, the third is the chairman of the board of directors John Thompson, the fourth is the poet Oscar Wilde, and the last one is Lu Qi. "
In fact, as early as around 2005, Li Yanhong tried to persuade Lu Qi to join Baidu, but he failed at that time.
After Lu Qi joined Baidu in 2017, Robin Li publicly gave him a high evaluation:
Lu Qi is well-known from top to bottom, and everyone likes him very much. He has very strong technical ability and strong management ability, and he works extremely hard.
There are so many things we can learn from Lu Qi.
Someone once asked Lu Qi during an exchange:
What advice do you have for young people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s?
Lu Qi replied:
At the age of 20, you need to do things that allow you to go fast, learn fast, and fail fast.
At the age of 30 , you need to allow yourself to go far, and building a core support system will allow you to go very far.
This system includes your body, your strong family foundation, and a few like-minded friends you can trust.
When a person reaches the age of 35 , it is the prime time for building products. I have been paying attention to talents at this age, because he/she has made many mistakes, and he/she needs to make a good product to make his/her career There is an essential improvement in career.
After 40 , the ideal situation is to find a stage that allows you to perform to the fullest.
A person's talent and a company's talent can only realize its value when it is truly unleashed. If this stage is your own best.
This answer is very classic, I have read it many times.
But to really understand and see through, we must look at Lu Qi’s entire life system. I read all the important Chinese reports about Lu Qi in one go, and got a more complete and clear answer from it.
At the age of 20, do things that make you go fast
Lu Qi: "At the age of 20, you need to do things that allow you to go fast, learn fast, and fail fast."
1. What is the most important ability to acquire in your 20s?
Lu Qi thinks there are two:
1. Learning ability:
In this increasingly fast-changing world, having the ability to learn and continue to learn, and continuously improving one's cognitive ability in a certain professional field and developing products and businesses within the enterprise is the foundation.
The reason is simple, the world is changing faster and faster because of innovation.
The only way to deal with it is to run with it or even overtake it. The method is to learn, to learn continuously, so that you have more and deeper professional knowledge and skills, and a stronger ability to develop products and businesses within the enterprise.
2. Communication skills:
This is a world where people are increasingly connected. Through various digital communication services and tools, social networks, people can communicate with more people through text, pictures and even videos.
In the long run, the better a person is at meeting others, expressing themselves, forming relationships and friendships in which they learn from each other and accomplish certain ideals together, the better for that person.
2. In your 20s, should you go to a startup company or a big company?
Lu Qi believes that it depends on personal pursuit.
If your long-term ideal is to start your own company, then joining a startup company, or even starting a business directly, is the best choice.
Joining a startup or starting your own business will increasingly become an important way for young people to learn and become truly innovative.
Because in a start-up company, what we do every day is to fight for survival, and the test of a person's real combat ability comes very quickly.
Innovate or die, is the reality that startups face every day.
From the perspective of learning and talent development, it is very valuable for a person to have such a learning opportunity.
If your long-term ambition is to become an executive in a certain function of a company, go to a large company that can provide you with opportunities to learn and grow.
But Lu Qi believes that the above is limited to a small number of people who clearly know their long-term goals. He said to his daughter:
Before the age of 25, most people have only a vague feeling about what they want to do in life.
So, in your 20s, learn to fail fast, try, feedback, change.
Investing your own time in greater learning and development space opportunities may generate higher income for the future.
3. What is Lu Qi doing in his 20s?
Read, and keep reading.
In 1978, the national college entrance examination resumed. At the age of 17, Lu Qi studied hard for two years and was admitted to Fudan University majoring in computer science.
During his studies, Lu Qi worked very hard.
His classmates recalled:
"His thin and small figure walks between the classroom and the library every day. At night, when the library lights out, he walks through the farmland and returns to his dormitory in another area."
"He shuttled around the campus with a big schoolbag on his back, and repeatedly recited words on the boulevard. He was the thinnest boy in the whole grade, but he carried the biggest schoolbag in the whole grade."
With extraordinary efforts, Lu Qi successfully passed the postgraduate entrance examination at Fudan University. With excellent grades during his postgraduate study, he stayed on to teach after graduation.
Diligent study and solid professional knowledge brought Lu Qi not only a stable and decent job, but also more life options.
In 1989, Clark, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, went to Fudan to exchange and give lectures, and the lecture time was chosen on weekends.
Unfortunately, the weather that day was very bad, with torrential rain, and the bad weather on the weekend made it difficult for students to attend the lecture.
In order not to embarrass the professor, the school arranged for the teachers and students who stayed at the school on weekends to attend lectures. Lu Qi, who canceled his plan to go home because of the heavy rain, was one of them.
After Professor Clark finished speaking, he asked the teachers and students present to ask questions. Lu Qi seized this opportunity and asked the professor several professional questions one after another. After listening to Clark, he immediately admired the academic level of the Fudan teacher who asked the question.
After the lecture, he specifically read the thesis written by Lu Qi. After reading it, Clark invited Lu Qi to go to Carnegie Mellon University to study for a Ph.D.
Lu Qi was 28 years old that year, he was a little hesitant:
"Being a teacher in a university is already a very good career."
Clark only replied:
"You are an eagle and should not be confined to a cage."
Lu Qi went to the United States.
Stepping onto the larger platform of Carnegie Mellon University, Lu Qi has a deeper research and understanding of computer science, the acquaintance of Lu Qi and Li Kaifu, and the subsequent life of cheating.
4. The 62-year-old Lu Qi is still trying to reconstruct the knowledge system. How can he not learn in his 20s?
In 2016, Qi Lu said during an exchange in Silicon Valley:
"In recent years, I have reawakened—you have to relearn. What you learned before is not only outdated, but now you have a new understanding of many theories, including physics, so you have to fundamentally rebuild knowledge and understand the world. .”
One of the reasons for Lu Qi’s resignation from Microsoft was that he injured his leg when he practiced riding a bicycle backwards. That bicycle was modified by him and his colleagues to ride in reverse. When riding a bicycle, the reaction of people and the body are all upside down, so forget the past All lessons learned.
Even before choosing to join YC, one of the reasons is to learn:
I also want my job to not just draw on past experience, but to learn something new every day.
It's no fun if you don't learn something new.
In the past few years, Lu Qi has observed a very important macro trend in the talent market. The overall demand is shifting from skill-driven talents to knowledge- and innovation-driven talents.
Therefore, he believes that whether a person can learn quickly and apply the learned knowledge to create new value has become more and more important.
Now he still maintains the habit of learning English every day and reading cutting-edge papers in the computer field.
He said: "I imagine myself as a piece of software. Today's version must be better than yesterday's version, and tomorrow's version must be better than today's version."
Already 62 years old, Lu Qi is still trying to reconstruct the knowledge system, how can we in our 20s not learn?
At the age of 30, do things that allow you to go far: build a system
Lu Qi said: At the age of 30, you have to let yourself go far.
Building a core support system can get you a long way. This system includes your body, your strong family foundation and a few like-minded friends who you can trust.
Lu Qi is a person who seeks the optimal solution, and the way is to build a system.
He has a systematic and fixed way to solve any problem——
It is to turn it into a very rational equation that can be broken down into tasks.
For example, Lu Qi hardly takes risks in his life, because he only takes 8% of the opportunity cost to take risks. Even with this 8%, he will still establish a decision-making system, rational decision-quick feedback-if the direction is wrong , U-turn or even give up immediately .
For example, looking at his contribution to Microsoft, he doesn't care about the gains and losses of several products, and he still has to return to the system:
Compared with the success or failure of a product, helping companies build long-term innovative vitality is the most important thing.
Let's look again at the three systems he highlighted above.
1. Body system
Lu Qi is extremely self-disciplined, insisting on getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning for more than ten years.
Over the past ten years he has been like this:
"Get up at 4 o'clock to do email first, then run for 30 minutes, take a shower, and go to the office. First, running is a good exercise for the respiratory system, second, it can sweat, and third, I can run while running Listening to the book does not waste time, sometimes I will read the PPT on the treadmill."
He has changed since leaving Microsoft. He is now dissatisfied with his life efficiency. After breaking his leg while riding a reverse bike, he can’t run at all. Currently, he is looking for a way to make himself feel smooth every day.
However, he is still full of energy. During the Baidu period, his colleagues said that he worked long hours every day. No matter weekends, holidays, whether in Beijing or abroad, as long as there were meetings, he would always appear on time at the other end of the video conference.
He still has his own strict work and rest system, his own strict living habits, and very strict eating habits.
Lu Qi believes that everyone has different physical conditions, and his own practice does not recommend that others learn from it.
But he has a set of core methodology that he can introduce to everyone:
Find the core of the problem, that is: whether you start a business or work in a large company, how to manage time at work to maximize output and at the same time achieve self-satisfaction?
Then find the core solution , namely: design a "marathon brisk running" time management method and mentality.
Number one: realize this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Second: The speed of this marathon needs to be fast, because in the real world, anything of high value - startups, good jobs in large companies, etc. - will have very fierce competition, and you need to maintain speed and continue to lead.
Designing such a work rhythm and time management method is very similar to driving on the highway.
Lu Qi said: You need to maintain a uniform high speed, then accelerate from time to time, and then return to the previous uniform high speed.
You want to avoid excessive frequent acceleration and deceleration.
Just like a car, if it is always moving at high speed and only decelerates occasionally, the loss to a car is very low.
But if a car suddenly accelerates and decelerates too frequently, it will cause huge damage to the car, and the car may collapse in a short time.
Therefore, you need to design your own work and life rhythm. This rhythm is a high speed that you can maintain, and this high speed can bring you the greatest efficiency.
At the same time, you also need to design this schedule rhythm so that it can cope with sudden changes, and you can sprint from time to time, such as occasionally overtime to complete the work before the deadline, and then quickly return to the previous speed.
Constant overdrafts, constant scrambling to meet deadlines, and constant burnout must be avoided.
Occasional physical and mental overdrafts can be made up, but long-term overdrafts are not allowed.
The key is to run a marathon that is efficient, sustainable, and able to deal with temporary emergencies.
2. Family system
Lu Qi's family rarely appears in the media, and there is very little public information, but Lu Qi specifically mentioned "solid family foundation" when talking about building the system, which shows that his personal success is greatly supported by the "family system".
On May 8, 2018, Baidu announced that Qi Lu had left Baidu due to "personal and family reasons".
This is actually taking Lu Qi's most unlikely reason as the most common public relations talk. Lu Qi's family has always fully supported Lu Qi in the career he wants to do. A senior Baidu executive said that during Lu Qi's tenure at Microsoft, He has been working in Seattle, USA for a long time, and his family settled in Silicon Valley for Lu Qi. "He has already taken care of the family affairs."
After Lu Qi returned to China and joined Baidu, in order to take care of Lu Qi's daily life, Lu Qi's family moved to Beijing for a time, and Baidu also provided Lu Qi's wife with a certificate to enter and exit Baidu Building.
On August 16, 2018, at the YC media communication meeting, the host announced that Lu Qi joined YC as the first CEO of YC China. Lu Qi, his wife and daughter were all present.
Lu Qi's wife said:
"We spend half of our time in the United States, wherever he goes, we follow him."
At the end of Lu Qi's speech, he also thanked his wife and family.
He also said that he hopes to spend more time in the United States and China, for the sake of his family.
When writing this part, I suddenly remembered that Lu Qishi once asked such a question:
Do you often believe too much in your own strength?
Lu Qi said: Yes. My wife always thought I was too confident. She always thought I was self righteous.
This is the best support, even if you sometimes think your ideal is "unrealistic", but as long as you want to do it, I am willing to accompany you.
This is what Lu Qi said about the importance of a "solid family foundation" to a person's career. If your dreams and growth can be supported by the people closest to you, it should be the happiest thing.
3. Network system
How strong is Lu Qi's network?
How good is Lu Qi's network? I believe that in the introduction at the beginning, the evaluation of those top bosses is the best answer. Everyone who has been in contact with him is willing to help him, and those who have worked with him are willing to praise him.
Here are a few more points.
In 1996, Dr. Lu Qi graduated, and there were three options before him: returning to China, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley.
He didn't know how to choose, so he asked Li Kaifu where he should go and which company he should work for. Li Kaifu gave his own advice:
"Go to Silicon Valley and find a technology company."
So Lu Qi went to IBM's Almaden Research Laboratory and worked there for two years.
Afterwards, Lu Qi jumped to Yahoo, and Kai-fu Lee reminded him again:
"Yahoo's stock price is not going to stay at this level forever, it will either go up 5 times or it will go down 5 times."
At two critical moments in Lu Qi's career, Kai-fu Lee gave his own suggestions and judgments, once allowing him to see clearly his own strengths and development direction, and once allowing him to see clearly the development space of a company.
In 2008, Microsoft failed to acquire Yahoo. Shen Xiangyang, who was already working at Microsoft at the time, introduced Lu Qi to Ballmer, and then there was a six-hour meeting between Ballmer and Lu Qi.
In this way, Microsoft successfully recruited the first person in Yahoo's search engine business, and Lu Qi also started his career as an executive vice president at Microsoft.
Shen Xiangyang's recommendation made Lu Qi "the most powerful Chinese in Silicon Valley".
In 2019, YC withdrew from China, and Lu Qi independently operated a new fund, Qiji Chuangtan. Soon, the first US dollar fund raised about 100 million US dollars. Who are the investors?
Lu Qi's friends have a very luxurious lineup: Bill Gates, Masayoshi Son, Sequoia China, Hillhouse Capital, Northern Light Venture Capital, etc.
How does Lu Qi view connections?
The Chinese often say that to accomplish one thing is: the right time, the right place, and the right people. People and people are connections.
Lu Qi likes the phrase "opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared", but he likes the phrase "opportunities are reserved for those who make good friends."
Lu Qi said: In my personal experience, in addition to adequate preparation, the breadth and breadth of your network is also very important. To get to know more people through communication, it is best to have people with different professional backgrounds, and maintain relationships with them .
There is an American proverb that you don't get a job because of what you know, but because of who you know.
This sentence is actually very correct from a certain angle, at least in my personal experience, this sentence is very correct.
**Why does Lu Qi have such good network resources? **
According to Charlie Munger, of course Lu Qi is worthy of it.
What did he do to deserve it?
1. Lu Qi's character.
In an interview, I tried many times to get him to talk about Baidu , and we watched Lu Qi's performance.
For example, when asked "Looking back, was joining Baidu a wrong choice?", Lu Qi replied "Sorry, I really don't want to talk about Baidu."
The reporter asked, "You can talk about Microsoft, but avoid talking about Baidu, why?" Lu Qi replied, "It's professional ethics, and I don't want to bring any distraction (interference) to it."
Talking about his former club YC , Lu Qi said:
I'm personally grateful to YC, and I must stress that, for sending us as far as they can.
When talking about Yahoo , he was asked why he didn’t leave sooner as he watched Yahoo decline step by step?
Lu Qi replied: Because I promised Yang Zhiyuan to do it for 10 years.
At that time, Yahoo was in a crisis. Jerry Yang told me that there is a tradition in China that friends should not leave when they are in trouble. I said then I will not leave.
2. Lu Qi's EQ.
When asked "What does an excellent CEO look like in your mind? Who is your role model?"
Lu Qi replied: The strongest person is willing to come for you. This is the best CEO in my opinion. In China, I think Ma Yun has done a good job.
In a later question, he specifically mentioned Zhang Xiaolong, "Zhang Xiaolong is a person I admire very much. China's mobile ecology has gone a long way, and a big factor is WeChat, which may be the best product in contemporary times."
Praise Ali's organization and Tencent's products.
3. The quality of Lu Qi.
How can a person who shines with a luminous quality have no friends?
Like being on time.
Brother Hui, a self-media person, once worked with Lu Qi in Baidu. He said that during a business trip, they first waited in the lobby downstairs. When there was one minute before the scheduled departure time, he was a little anxious and asked if he wanted to call Lu Qi. a phone call.
Someone familiar with him said, "He will be on time." As soon as the words fell, the elevator door opened, and Lu Qi appeared. He was extremely punctual.
For example, every letter must be answered.
Whether it’s an email or WeChat, as long as you send it to him, he will definitely reply. The time is uncertain, sometimes it is 1-2 am, sometimes it is around 5-6 am.
For example, always positive.
Brother Hui said that it is inevitable that there will always be difficulties at work, but Lu Qi maintains a positive attitude at all times.
Whether it is a meeting in the company, or being the MC of a conference, or answering emails, it is always short and powerful, but full of strength and inspiring spirit.
When everyone was the most tired and most difficult, as long as Lu Qi waved his arms there, everyone suddenly felt like a chicken blood.
At the age of 40, find a stage that allows you to perform to the fullest
"After the age of 40, the ideal situation is to find a stage that allows you to play to the fullest. A person's talent and a company's talent can only realize its value when it is truly released. If this stage is your own best good."
Lu Qi said a widely circulated saying:
"Life is not linear, don't think that a bus can take you from where you are now to where you want to be."
What to do at what stage, after the age of 40, you must find a stage that allows you to perform to the fullest.
Why not 20 years old?
Lu Qi believes that when you are in your 20s, you have to consider some practical factors, such as financial aspects, work income needs to meet your own living needs, and other potential financial responsibilities, such as supporting parents, siblings, etc. Ideally, you can also have some savings.
In your 20s, you learn more, do more experiments, and you build systems in your 30s, just to have your own stage after 40.
Microsoft belonged to his stage, but it was not enough, so he left and returned to China to find a more suitable stage.
Bill Gates has been keeping him, saying: What Baidu can give you, I will give you.
Lu Qi said: You can't give me China.
China is a better stage for him now, a stage in a larger sense, and he needs to use a suitable platform to dance on this stage.
It's a pity that Baidu failed to become that suitable stage in the end.
Later he joined YC, but it is a pity that YC did not end up being the right stage.
Later Lu Qi thought:
A stage that belongs to oneself, if it really "belongs to oneself", that is the best.
"If you want to really change the world on a large scale, then you must be the founder of this enterprise, otherwise you will always be limited by your employer. When you build this platform yourself, then the energy and scope you can exert is the fullest .”
Lu Qi's signature is:
“Do more, know more, be more”。
This is probably the pursuit of "be more". After the age of 40, self is more important.
This is Lu Qi's life system.
Finally, I would like to send a passage from Lu Qi to young people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s as the end of this article:
A person's career and life achievements are determined by the combination of personal efforts, abilities and opportunities.
Personal effort is controllable, there is an old saying "opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared".
When a person is better prepared through his own efforts and develops stronger abilities, when an opportunity comes, the person is better able to seize it.
Opportunities are uncontrollable, but I think opportunities are like buses, if one is missed, there will always be another one.
I consider myself an eternal optimist, believing that things will always work out for the best.
No matter how difficult the situation is now, or how difficult it will become, in the end, it will be fine.