Chapter 1288 Is Tengda's Spirit About to Be Updated Again?

Wu Bin was silent for a moment, then tentatively asked, "President Pei, I have a question."

"You said that the statements in this booklet have certain 'merits.' Where exactly do those lie?"

Pei Qian fell silent.

This was a very good question, very sharp, and it hit the core of the issue at once.

I really want to tell you where its merits lie, but I can't say it directly!

Pei Qian thought for a moment and asked, "Then what do you think are the shortcomings of this booklet?"

Wu Bin replied, "I think the main problem is with the grasp of the core of Tengda's spirit!"

"If you look at these more superficial details, like these specific choices, they seem quite right."

"But the interpretation of the core of Tengda's spirit is too far off."

"In my understanding, the spirit of Tengda should be an uplifting spirit of striving, not a salted fish (someone who is unmotivated and does not try hard) spirit of indulging in pleasure."

"If there's a problem with the most fundamental understanding, then naturally completely wrong conclusions will be drawn, and the final results will naturally be vastly different."

Pei Qian chuckled inwardly.

This is exactly the result I want!

Your kind of uplifting interpretation is the one that's gone astray, okay?

Pei Qian had been wanting to say for a while that there might be something wrong with the way the people below were interpreting Tengda's spirit. Now it was completely confirmed that there was indeed a problem, and a big one at that!

This was a good opportunity to correct it slightly.

Before, without this booklet, even if Pei Qian wanted to correct it, he wouldn't have a suitable opportunity.

Because there were some things he couldn't say too clearly. Suddenly doing something like this would seem abrupt and arouse suspicion.

Moreover, Pei Qian had never caught any solid evidence to prove that everyone's understanding of Tengda's spirit had gone astray, so naturally, he didn't know where to start.

But this was a very good opportunity.

Although he still couldn't say it too clearly, he could at least take this opportunity to make some indirect remarks and nudge everyone's understanding of Tengda's spirit in a relatively correct direction.

Pei Qian asked, "Is a salted fish spirit necessarily wrong? Why do you have such a prejudice against the salted fish spirit?"

"I think there's nothing wrong with the salted fish spirit. Not only should we not oppose it, but we should vigorously promote it."

"Taking pride in work and being ashamed of enjoyment, on the surface, this seems like an absolutely correct thing, but if you think about it carefully, is it really absolutely correct?"

"Why has enjoyment become something shameful and difficult to talk about?"

Wu Bin: "Huh?"

Vigorously promote the salted fish spirit?

That doesn't sound right. The original meaning of "salted fish" is "What's the difference between a person and a salted fish if they lose their dreams?" It means that people must have dreams, have goals, and strive hard.

Promoting the salted fish spirit would be telling people to give up their dreams and goals, to stop striving, and to just muddle along?

How could such a thought come from President Pei's mouth?

Pei Qian continued, "Have you ever thought about why the starting point of this booklet seems wrong to you, but it arrives at the correct conclusion?"

"Shouldn't you reflect on yourself?"

Pei Qian felt that he couldn't have made it any clearer.

The meaning was, the statements in this booklet also interpreted the correct answer, so why don't you reflect on the fact that the answer you gave is actually a distortion? On the contrary, the answer in the booklet is the standard answer?

Think it over carefully. Have you overcomplicated things?

Wu Bin couldn't help but stare blankly.

He seemed to understand a little, but upon closer inspection, he didn't understand at all.

President Pei's words seemed very philosophical and profound, making him feel that his previous thoughts were too one-sided.

Pei Qian asked, "Do you understand?"

Wu Bin was a little ashamed, "President Pei, I... I seem to understand a little. I'll go back and comprehend it further."

Pei Qian was speechless.

Well, that was a waste of effort.

If he doesn't understand it on the spot, then what he comprehends afterward will only be even more outrageously wrong.

Actually, I'm just encouraging everyone to slack off, encouraging everyone not to work hard. Is that so difficult to understand?

"Don't think so complicatedly. Many principles are very simple. When thinking about problems, don't always float so high. Be more down-to-earth, understand?"

Wu Bin still understood vaguely, but he had a good memory. He wrote down all of President Pei's words and could slowly ponder them.

So he nodded, "Okay, President Pei. I've remembered everything."

Pei Qian sighed silently in his heart.

Sigh, where did I find all these treasure employees? One by one, their comprehension abilities have gone wrong.

Hopefully, this time the training institution's divine assistance can save the day a little.

...

Coming out of President Pei's office, Wu Bin felt genuinely confused.

His brainwaves seemed to be out of sync with President Pei's once again.

What's going on?

It must be that his understanding of Tengda's spirit is still lacking.

Wu Bin immediately returned to the Human Resources Department and secretly pulled out the manual hidden at the bottom of his drawer. He looked at the content on Tengda's spirit, compared it with the training institution's booklet, and combined it with what President Pei said today, earnestly reflecting.

It had to be said that the superficial interpretations of Tengda's spirit in these two booklets were still very close, but the interpretations of the deep inner meaning were vastly different.

Wu Bin's summary of Tengda's spirit ultimately encouraged everyone to work hard and strive hard. As for entertainment, it was just a kind of adjustment outside of work, a break and adjustment to allow everyone to work better.

But the training institution's booklet directly understood it as slacking off and enjoying oneself.

In terms of attitude, there was an essential difference between the two.

But what surprised Wu Bin was that President Pei did not deny this booklet at all. Instead, he denied Wu Bin's own views.

"What exactly does President Pei mean? Could it really be as this booklet says, that President Pei actually encourages slacking off and doing the bare minimum?"

"How could that be? If President Pei were really that kind of person, how could Tengda have developed to its current scale?"

"Am I missing something?"

Wu Bin wrote down all of President Pei's words and thought about them repeatedly.

"President Pei asked, is the salted fish spirit necessarily wrong? Why have a prejudice against the salted fish spirit?"

"Taking pride in work and being ashamed of enjoyment is not necessarily correct. Enjoyment shouldn't be something shameful."

"He also asked me, why is the starting point of this booklet wrong in my opinion, but it arrives at the correct conclusion? He told me to reflect on myself..."

"Hmm..."

"I think President Pei's interpretation of Tengda's spirit should be very broad and very tolerant. What this booklet says certainly can't be completely correct, but it just happened to notice a blind spot that I hadn't noticed before. And this blind spot is what President Pei emphasized, and it's also my shortcoming."

"In other words, President Pei expressed affirmation of the relatively novel interpretation in this booklet, telling me not to rush to deny it, but to seriously draw nourishment from it."

Wu Bin frowned and entered a state of deep thought.

If it came to understanding Tengda's spirit, Wu Bin believed that no one in the Tengda Group, other than President Pei, understood it more deeply.

But clearly, even for him, his understanding of Tengda's spirit was still incomplete.

"President Pei said that taking pride in work and being ashamed of enjoyment is not necessarily correct. Then where exactly is the mistake in this statement?"

"If you take these two sentences separately, of course, there's no problem with either of them."

"Could it be... that they have to be looked at together? Is President Pei actually implying that I shouldn't draw such a clear distinction between them in the first place?"

Wu Bin felt that judging from President Pei's workaholic constitution, President Pei certainly wasn't a person who indulged in pleasure. He should be very immersed in his work, striving to develop Tengda and change one industry after another.

Therefore, President Pei must not be a person who dislikes work and indulges in pleasure.

Since these two sentences are correct when taken separately, it can only mean that they're incorrect when taken together.

And the only explanation is that the two shouldn't be distinguished so clearly in the first place!

Wu Bin suddenly thought of a concept, which was "the alienation of labor."

Originally, labor should be something that brings happiness to people.

Because labor is the process of people using their intelligence to create value for the entire world.

Like sculptors sculpting works, painters painting, and craftsmen making tools. In this process, they turn raw materials into valuable works of art, condense their intelligence, and should feel very accomplished after completing them.

But for a long time, labor has become a kind of pain, a kind of exploitation. What people feel in labor is not the joy of creation, but the torment of the body and the devastation of the spirit.

It is precisely because of this that it has become common to emphasize: work itself is painful, but adults should strive to overcome this pain and should actively endure this pain.

And consumerism transforms this pain into the driving force of consumption.

You've worked so hard, why not buy some luxury goods to reward yourself?

Thus, a perfect "wage slave" closed loop is formed.

The pain caused by labor is due to the alienation of labor, and this alienation is in turn used, and work and entertainment are strictly separated, when they could have been one.

Wu Bin had seen this view before and thought it had some merit, but after all, habitual thinking is difficult to reverse.

And now, after careful consideration, he found that President Pei's statement had a similar effect!

This made him re-emphasize this view and substitute it into President Pei's theory.

"In other words, President Pei's praise for this booklet is mainly because it points out the rationality of entertainment itself?"

"Before, I divided work and entertainment into two distinct things, completely regarding entertainment as an adjustment and help to work."

"Ultimately, I still didn't correctly recognize the value of entertainment."

"But President Pei told me that entertainment is not just about pleasing the mind and body and adjusting the state of work. Sometimes, entertainment is labor itself!"

"Why is the starting point of the booklet wrong, but it arrives at the correct conclusion? It's because it misinterpreted President Pei's emphasis on entertainment and raised it to a higher position by accident."

"And although my direction is correct, it's precisely because it looks too correct that I naturally overlooked some equally important content."

"In that case... there's no need to clarify the content in this booklet!"

"After new employees join the company, as long as they combine the content in the booklet with the Tengda Spirit Manual, they can understand a more comprehensive Tengda Spirit, right?"

"This booklet is wrong, but it's wrong in a typical way, inspiring, and educational!"

Wu Bin suddenly understood President Pei's intention.

He thought that President Pei was emphasizing the promoting effect of entertainment on work, but now it seemed that it wasn't.

President Pei was thinking deeper. What he was thinking about was that entertainment and work might be one in the first place, wanting to change the alienated state of labor and return it to its most original form!

So that Tengda's work is no longer a simple, painful, and consuming job, but turns into the most original "creative" state of labor.

Without a doubt, this concept has been raised to another level.

It seems that the Tengda Spirit Manual is about to be completely overthrown and the content updated!