Chapter 669: Tengda Corporation’s Slogan

September 27th, Tuesday…

Pei Qian felt like going to the office today. He checked the results of the most recent Tengda Spirit compatibility test on his computer.

Ever since the recruitment method for Tengda’s various departments was changed to one common examination, two large-scale recruitment drives had already been conducted in November and May.

The most recently-hired employees had already been converted to Tengda’s official employees.

Of course, the administrative and HR departments were in charge of related arrangements like expanding offices, assigning seats, shopping for office supplies, distributing salaries and various benefits, and so on. Apart from asking if the departments could spend more money, Pei Qian avoided questioning those processes.

That was because he no longer had any energy to take care of such matters, and there was no need for him to do so.

Still, Pei Qian thought of something today out of nowhere.

Why hadn’t the Tengda Spirit compatibility test eliminated anyone so far?

The test did not seem that useful.

Pei Qian flipped through the records and found that the earliest batch of employees had met with some trouble during the test. In the beginning, the pass rate had been low. However, people still ended up barely passing and not getting eliminated.

For the most recent test held in May, every employee passed on their first try!

That was very ridiculous!

Pei Qian had wrecked his brains to think about the questions and set countless traps within the test before.

Any employee who had a little knowledge about the ordinary working world would find it difficult to pass the test.

What’s more, the question bank was ever-changing, and only Pei Qian had the right answers. Every time a candidate finished a test—even if they passed, they would not know which questions they answered correctly and which ones they answered wrongly.

How were these new people managing to pass on their first tries now?

Assuming that none of the questions had been leaked, Pei Qian thought that there were two possible explanations:

First, all the people that they had recruited just so happened to be slackers.

That was too optimistic, and the chances of that being true were nearly zero. Pei Qian would not lie to himself.

Second, the people that they recruited had not been slackers, but the departments had influenced and nurtured them into slackers.

The chances of that being true were slightly higher.

However, therein lay the problem. Since the departments were filled with slackers now, and the new employees were being turned into slackers as well, why was Tengda Corporation still scaling new heights and achieving great successes?

Could it be that Tengda Corporation had reached a miraculous state where, even while everyone was slacking and working casually, the company could still continue to survive and improve?

That sounded ridiculous, but not completely unreasonable.

After all, that was what the Matthew Effect was about.

He had to think it through.

Pei Qian spent two hours updating the question bank, including a few questions inside. He changed a few words and ended up changing the meaning of the entire question.

Once he was done, he handed the question bank over.

He did not have many hopes of dissuading people from joining the company using the Tengda Spirit compatibility test now. However, he could not give up so easily.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the door, and Assistant Xin entered.

“Boss Pei, the Financial Observation segment of CCTV wants to do an episode on our company.

“The program wants to make use of Tengda Corporation’s slogan as its title, and so they’re asking me for permission. However, we don’t seem to have a slogan.

“Why don’t you think of one?”

Pei Qian, who had just finished uploading the questions for the Tengda Spirit compatibility test, turned to look at Assistant Xin. At once, his mind filled with question marks.

?

The Financial Observation segment?

Another television channel?!

It was bad enough that they had appeared on Jingzhou’s television program, but a central television program?

Wouldn’t that be the death of Pei Qian?

His expression darkened. “Turn them down!”

“Er…” Assistant Xin hesitated. “Boss Pei, perhaps you misunderstood me. The Financial Observation segment is an analytical program and not an interviewing program. You and Tengda’s employees would not have to make an appearance. Even if we don’t provide a slogan for them to use as a title, they can still give the episode their own title.

Pei Qian was stunned.

They could do that?

They could act before seeking permission?

Didn’t that mean that the episode would air regardless of whether Pei Qian cooperated or not?

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment, and then asked, “Well… can we discuss with them and persuade them not to do an episode on us?”

Assistant Xin grinned. “I’m afraid not.”

Pei Qian leaned back in his chair, feeling sorrowful.

This did not look like a discussion, but a notification.

Alright. You want a slogan? I’ll give one to you.

I’ll create a ridiculous slogan for Tengda Corporation. If you dare to use it, I’ll give your program due credit.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and then said, “Tengda Corporation’s slogan is ‘always believe that strange things are about to happen’.”

Even Assistant Xin, who had seen all sorts of things before, subconsciously stared.

A slogan could be understood as a written or spoken one, but translating it to Mandarin would not fully encapsulate the meaning of the word.

Specifically, it would be difficult to convey the company’s philosophy, emphasize the company and products’ prominent features, establish the brand’s characteristics, and attract customers with a short and condensed text.

If one compared this to an account on social media, a logo was akin to a profile picture, the brand’s name was akin to the nickname, and a slogan was akin to a personalized signature.

A good slogan had to be closely connected to a company’s and products’ characteristics. At the same time, it had to be simple, easy to read, understand, and memorize and would remind customers of the brand’s core value at first glance.

Its purpose was more than just marketing—it was to embody the company’s core spirit.

For example, ‘just do it’ was an excellent slogan.

Until now, Tengda Corporation had many businesses with different unique characteristics, but it did not have a clear slogan.

Yet, Boss Pei’s slogan…

‘Always believe that strange things are about to happen’?

That sentence made Assistant Xin feel as weird as what it was attempting to describe.

“Boss Pei, are you sure about that?”

The slogan sounded slightly outrageous, and so Assistant Xin sought confirmation from Boss Pei although she rarely did so.

Pei Qian nodded. “That’s right, I’m sure!”

Without asking further questions, Assistant Xin nodded and walked out.

She expected those from the Financial Observation segment to be as shocked as she had been when she first heard the slogan.

…

At Zhongdian Chinese Network…

Ma Yiqun welcomed Wu Bin, Cui Geng, and Lu Mingliang and then quickly closed his office door.

Then, he retrieved a couple of books from his otherwise locked drawer and distributed them to everyone.

There were a few words written on the cover: ‘A Preliminary Study of the Tengda Spirit’!

Preliminary studies were normally indicative of initial explorations. Ordinarily, such words were used in theses to express one’s humility.

However, the words ‘preliminary study’ were being used here to emphasize how vast and deep the Tengda Spirit was. The book only contained preliminary findings of the Tengda Spirit, but there was more to be discovered beyond it.

The title was a reminder to readers to take the book as a form of inspiration and not dogma.

Wu Bin reached out and took hold of it, looking elated. “It’s been printed? That’s quick!”

He happily stroked the cover. He had been working hard on this over the past few months! Finally, he could see a physical copy of the book!

Ma Yiqun nodded. “Yes, a lot of time was saved because it has not been published. Like we agreed earlier, I’ve only printed two hundred copies to be distributed to core members in the company, as well as good friends of Boss Pei’s, like Boss Li.

“If we have leftover copies, I will lock them away and prevent outsiders from getting their hands on it.”

The book did not contain much, and there were no violations. However, according to ordinary regulations, one needed a permit to print something in bulk. Otherwise, they would be violating management regulations.

Many people secretly printed books without getting prior approval. Even if they were the only ones reading it, they were technically still in breach.

Thus, after discussing with Wu Bin, Ma Yiqun decided that it would be best to publish the book through formal channels and at their own cost… as opposed to trying to obtain proper permits.

There were three main stages involved in producing self-financed books: compilation, publication, and distribution. The so-called ‘distribution’ stage was where they would sell the books to end-users and directly deal with customers through proper channels. At this stage, they needed to take care of promoting and delivering the books.

However, they were not hoping to profit from publishing ‘A Preliminary Study on the Tengda Spirit’. In fact, they were not even hoping to disseminate the book to a wide audience. They were only hoping to send it to core employees of the company who could learn from it. Thus, they had only published the book without seeking to distribute it.

There were three points worth mentioning about the book:

Written very clearly on the first page was the fact that the book only contained a preliminary study on the Tengda spirit. It could only be used for inspirational purposes, and readers should avoid falling into dogmatic thinking. Instead, they should continually seek more and deeper understanding while working.

The three ‘famous portraits’ of Boss Pei—’Back View of the Countercurrent’, ‘Boss Pei’s Lunch’, and ‘Boss Pei, Deep in Thought’—had all been printed in the book as illustrations.

On the last page of the book was a long list of Boss Pei’s titles in small words. One could easily miss it if they were not paying attention.

Ma Yiqun said, “All the printed books are in Lu Mingliang’s warehouse. Take as many copies as you require, but you must record to whom each book is given.”

Wu Bin added, “I want to emphasize something else.

“There’s a limited number of copies, not because we’re afraid of leaks, but because we want to encourage everyone to think about the Tengda Spirit independently.

“One aspect of the Tengda Spirit is to think independently without following blindly. If everyone stops thinking about the Tengda Spirit after getting this book, another kind of blind obedience would be cultivated. We have to guard against that.

“The more valuable part of this book is the part about Boss Pei’s behavior and anecdotes.

“As for the content on several aspects of the Tengda Spirit, we don’t have to purposely keep it a secret.”

The meaning of Wu Bin’s words was simple. If the ‘Tengda Spirit’ was a secret manual, the few sentences after the general principles could only be considered the names of each move at best.

Knowing the name of the moves without understanding the mental techniques was meaningless.

On the contrary, passing the generalized content down through unofficial methods would be more helpful and would be an important part of the spread of Tengda’s corporate culture.

Everyone nodded. “Understood!”

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