The Rich Man's Life Begins with a Comeback

Chapter 218 [The Sect Leader Plan] (3k)

As Gu Heng finished speaking, a sharp glint suddenly flashed in Xie Jianlin's eyes.

Yanjing!

Regional Director of Yanjing!
Although Gu Heng didn't say it explicitly, everyone knew that this was what he meant.

If the position of regional manager in a first-tier city is slightly inferior to that of a group vice president, then the position of regional manager in a super first-tier city has more power than that of a group vice president.

Yanjing, right under the emperor's nose.

That is the core of the northern market. As long as Zhencui Group can open up the market in Yanjing, it will definitely continue to increase its investment there.

Take the brand effect that Gu Heng just mentioned. Restaurants like Zhenhai, Yuanzhi, and Chaoyu are deeply rooted in Beichun and have a strong brand effect. However, once they leave Beichun and leave Jilin Province, their brand effect instantly becomes almost non-existent.

However, Yanjing is different. If the numerous catering brands under Zhencui Group can create a brand effect in Yanjing, even if Zhencui Group expands southward in the future, it will still have a strong brand effect.

Looking at the long term, once Zhencui Group's comprehensive expansion plan in the northern market is fully implemented, it is highly likely that several more regional general managers will emerge from the 12 regional general managers in the north.

For example, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, or the three northeastern provinces.

If a regional governor is like a powerful official in charge of a territory, then a regional general is like a feudal lord, whose power far surpasses that of an ordinary deputy general manager.

Now that Xie Jianlin has taken over as the regional manager of Jinshi, if the market expansion in Jinshi goes smoothly, according to the message just conveyed by Gu Heng, he should be sent to Yanjing to take on the task of expanding the Yanjing market.

If everything goes smoothly, Xie Jianlin, with his qualifications, will have the position of general manager of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in his pocket.

Bright!

Xie Jianlin, who had previously felt uncertain about his future, suddenly felt that his future had brightened again.

Although he knew that Gu Heng's words were somewhat empty promises, he had to admit that having such a promise hanging over him gave him a lot of motivation.

What Xie Jianlin could understand, the other senior executives of the group present could naturally understand as well. At this moment, many people looked at Xie Jianlin with a hint of envy.

First Tianjin, then Yanjing.

It can be said that Gu Heng left the two toughest challenges in the comprehensive expansion plan in the northern market to Xie Jianlin.

is it hard?

It's really difficult!
Extremely difficult!
But as difficult as it is, the difficulty and the reward are proportional.

If Xie Jianlin can overcome these two tough challenges, then it's almost a certainty that he will become the regional general manager of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, thus becoming the group's most powerful executive after Qi Min at this stage.

The road to success is right in front of him. Now Xie Jianlin just needs to overcome all obstacles and sprint towards the finish line with all his might.

In contrast, the four vice presidents of the group who had just secured their positions are now truly facing an uncertain future. Despite their current high positions, they may be exiled to remote areas or directly laid off by the group for various reasons tomorrow.

After all, they were all disloyal to the group and backed down in the face of the great Chairman Gu's test. It is perfectly reasonable to optimize and eliminate them.

Gu Heng would naturally not be stingy with his praise for loyal ministers and generals.

The meeting is about to conclude, and the group meeting will now officially enter the second phase, which is the trial implementation phase.

The so-called fierce generals and elite troops are now in demand. We have fierce generals who can expand our territory, so naturally we should also equip them with elite troops. Otherwise, it would be like a skilled cook trying to cook without rice.

After preliminary research and decision-making by Gu Heng, Qi Min, Zhuang Hanyu, and others, each second-tier city will be staffed according to a "1+3+5" team model.

[1] The city area general manager is a senior store general manager such as Chen Zhifeng and Guo Jiahui;

[3] is the deputy general manager of the city area. Three positions are allocated to each second-tier city. The candidates will be selected from the group’s existing middle-level leaders, with priority given to those with store management experience.
[5] is the head of the city area department. Five positions are allocated to each second-tier city. The candidates will be selected from the departments directly under the group headquarters. There is one position each in the finance department, human resources department, operations department, marketing department and customer service department.

The above is the team configuration for second-tier cities.

For first-tier cities, a "1+5+9" team configuration is adopted, with two additional positions for regional vice presidents and four additional positions for personnel dispatched from departments directly under the group headquarters.

After the team configuration was finalized, the next step was to select the right members.

This time, however, the people in charge of selecting the generals changed from Gu Heng to Xie Jianlin and Chen Zhifeng, among others.

Soon, the list and resumes of the group's middle-level leaders, as well as the list and resumes of the lower-level leaders and outstanding employees of the group's various directly affiliated departments, appeared in the hands of Xie Jianlin and others.

As the former vice president of the group, Xie Jianlin was going to the only first-tier city among the four target cities, so he naturally had the right to choose first.

Chen Zhifeng and the others could only watch helplessly as Xie Jianlin made his selections before it was their turn to choose.

In the past, as the elder brother, Chen Zhifeng was always treated with great courtesy and respect by Guo Jiahui. But things are different now, and this is no longer the time for politeness and deference.

Expanding into new markets is not a solo endeavor; teamwork is crucial.

Good teammates make things twice as easy, while bad teammates make things half as easy.

Chen Zhifeng and his colleagues are all veterans of the group. Even though Guo Jiahui is not as senior as Chen Zhifeng, he has worked in the group for over ten years, so they are very familiar with the internal workings of the group. They know who the hard workers are and who the slick old hands are.

Who has real skills, and who is just a jack-of-all-trades?

Who has the best alcohol tolerance, and who has the most skillful tactics.

Such information was not exactly second nature to Chen Zhifeng and his colleagues, but at least they could easily grasp the general situation and reputation of these individuals just by glancing at their resumes.

Different leaders, different strategies.

Chen Zhifeng himself is a pragmatist, and he naturally likes pragmatic subordinates. However, having served in leadership positions for so many years, he also understands very well that the power a great team can unleash depends not on how high its strengths are, but on how low its weaknesses are.

Because Chen Zhifeng is a pragmatist, he has never really liked drinking culture, but sometimes he has no choice but to do so because some people just like to discuss business over drinks.

In light of this situation, Chen Zhifeng might want a vice president who is good at drinking, tactful, and sociable when building his team, in order to compensate for his weaknesses in these areas.

Conversely, someone like Guo Jiahui, who has a high alcohol tolerance, is tactful, and good at socializing, can easily handle all kinds of drinking parties and social engagements on his own. Naturally, his team would no longer need such a person, and he would prefer a pragmatic vice president with strong execution capabilities.

From this perspective, Chen Zhifeng and Guo Jiahui seem to have no conflict because they have different preferences in choosing people. However, in reality, the three of them argued fiercely over who should take the person.

the reason is simple……

Outstanding talents are often multi-skilled individuals.

Being a hard worker and having a high alcohol tolerance are not mutually exclusive.

Being quick-witted and tactful are not mutually exclusive.

If we compare personal strengths to labels, some people may only have one label, while others may have four or even more.

In this situation, everyone would naturally want to be a versatile talent with more labels, which would lead to disputes and competition.

From middle management to lower-level management, and finally to outstanding employees.

They are meticulous and unwilling to yield an inch.

In response, Gu Heng could only use his Great Balancing Technique to coordinate. In the end, Xie Jianlin only took ten minutes to configure the team list he had selected, while it took Chen Zhifeng and the other two more than half an hour.

"Personnel Department".

After Xie Jianlin and his three colleagues finalized the team list, Gu Heng glanced at it casually and then directly instructed, "Take the list that President Xie and the others provided and contact the people on the list now to talk to them and see if they are willing to accept overseas assignments."

"Yes, Mr. Gu."

The HR director immediately stood up and agreed.

"in addition--"

"Starting today, the Group will officially launch the [Leadership Program]."

"In the future, as the comprehensive expansion plan in the northern market continues to advance, the group will urgently need to cultivate a group of store managers who can work independently. Therefore, this plan will be implemented for all loyal and capable grassroots employees of the group."

As Gu Heng spoke these words, the LED screen behind him changed, displaying a detailed explanation of the "Sect Leader Plan".

First, to apply for this program, you must have worked for Zhencui Group for at least two years and have received the title of Outstanding Employee at least once.

Secondly, after meeting the above two conditions, it is also necessary to sign an agreement with the group, indicating that you will obey the group's decision to send you to work in other city branches.

Finally, the group's eight directly operated restaurants will change from the current one-man-three-deputy-managers model to a one-man-five-deputy-managers model, meaning that each restaurant will be equipped with five deputy general managers in the future.

Meanwhile, outstanding employees who choose to participate in the "Manager Program" will be directly assigned to various stores as deputy general managers after undergoing core business training within the group. They will then rotate through all the stores every three months until all the catering brands under the Zhencui Group have been rotated through.

During this period, the group will conduct various assessments and spot checks.

If a candidate fails multiple times, they will be removed from the "Master Program".

After reading the "Leadership Plan" in detail, the many senior executives present all had a general understanding of it.

The so-called "Leadership Program" is actually a disguised management trainee program, which aims to select and cultivate a group of outstanding management talents with leadership, strategic vision and innovative thinking for the group.

"Um……"

"That's all for today regarding Zhencui Group's comprehensive expansion plan in the northern market. Everyone, please go to the restaurant for lunch and come back here in half an hour. At that time, I will announce another major decision of the group."

Gu Heng glanced at the time and realized it was already past noon. After giving instructions to the group's senior executives, he stood up from his seat and, accompanied by Qi Min and Zhuang Hanyu, quickly walked out of the group's main conference room.

Are there any major group decisions to announce later?
As the group's senior executives watched Gu Heng and his two companions depart, they exchanged bewildered glances, their expressions slightly shocked...

(End of this chapter)