Dear Ping, It has been a few days since we said bye-bye to each other at Baiyun Airport . GLV has often come to my mind these days – the English-Only section, the SMT meeting, the classrooms, students speaking English strenuously, the laughter and joys on the roof garden, talking while eating in the cafeteria (it is said that talking while eating can help lose weight) and your vigorous and never-tired voice.

I know that I need to write you or your colleagues a trip report. But when I sit in front of my computer screen, I find it hard to start writing, as I do not know where to start and how to start. Sitting there blankly, I think it over and over and decide to write you a personal letter to share with you my experience and understanding of the “Southern Tour” to Zhuhai. Under no circumstance are the words below considered as an article or a professional report well thought or organized. I have no intent to constrain myself to any writing style or format. Instead, I prefer to record whatever comes to my mind during my writing. I do not know what the finished letter will look like. Let me just write and see.

Impression on GLV

School, Village and Club 

My trip to Zhuhai actually started before I had the idea and finally decided to make the trip. I am not sure if you still remember that we had a talk a little over two years ago. I was in Beijing at that time, as I remember, when either you called me or I called you after some exchanges of emails. It is then when I knew that you had built up an English school in Zhuhai and felt that you seemed to be doing well. Further before that, the only thing I knew was that you had left Phoenix and had a club.

In late September or early October this year, more than two years later since we last talked, accidentally, I received an email from you asking where I was and asking me to visit GLV's web site. No sooner had I opened the web site I realized that the club or school had become a village. Having read articles and reports on the web, I strongly felt that you had done a great job and become successful and famous. That was really something worth being celebrated and congratulated.

In the beginning, I felt that the village was nothing more than an extension of your club concept. GLV to me was a community, not really a school. However, the fact GLV was rated one of the top ten language schools nationwide changed my view. Despite being called a village, GLV was essentially a school as shown by having teachers and students and being rated as one of the top ten language schools in the country instead of being rated as one of the top villages or clubs. (I have no idea if there is any such rating for villages or clubs.) As a school, why was it called village? How was it associated with the club concept? I was trying to get answers.

I am afraid that even today, it is still hard for me to say exactly what GLV is. Nonetheless, my understanding of GLV has become clearer. GLV, no matter what name it bears, is a school, having students, teachers, curriculums, grades or levels and classrooms. Meanwhile, GLV is also a club that provides many activities for members who pay to obtain the membership. I do not think GLV is a village but village is what you are really seeking to build.

I have been unable to vision what the village that you are seeking to build looks like. You once told me, it would be a physically enclosed community like the tea plantation site, where students and teachers lived together. The language or dialect of the village would be English. All communication and exchange would be conducted in English, whether or not it would be listening, speaking, reading or writing. Everybody there would be a villager and every detail of their life would take place in the village. You would be the head of village. Very interesting indeed! Different from a natural village, some villagers would also be called students, who would have to pay the head of village in order to become the villagers. As the head of village, you would also have to pay salary to some villagers also known as teachers. I have no idea what people outside the village would call the village of yours. I would name it Xiuping Village rather than Gateway because it sounds more like a beautiful village.

Environment, Experience and Culture  

A closer look at GLV leads me to believe that GLV is as matter of fact an environment for using English language. This environment is unique although it is man-made. It reminds me of what Peter mentioned: a nearly perfect environment. I guess he said so because there is no absolute perfect environment in this world and it can only be a relatively perfect environment. How to judge an environment is a matter of attitude and way of thinking.

GLV's unique environment generates an atmosphere and a need. Foreigners going to GLV are able to use the language they use daily for working and communication and feel at home. Chinese students and employees at GLV have to be concerned about learning and using English the most popular language in China proficiently. Actually, I also felt that I could not use English as well and satisfactorily as I use Chinese when I was around at GLV. The Chinese can also experience foreigners and their cultures they've brought in a very intimate way. People feel needed and understood at GLV.

Different people are inevitably imprinted with their own culture backgrounds. Even among Chinese people, not everybody carries the same cultural characteristics or experiences the same cultural environment in a same way due to the differences in personal history of life, education level, family backgrounds, etc. It is even more so with the foreigners at GLV. Therefore, there must be some very lively and dynamic culture conflicts taking place at GLV, which enable the people to feel and experience the colorfulness of world cultures. Such feeling and experience in no way can be obtained from books. I guess this is what distinguishes GLV from other language schools. Being different attributes greatly to the success of GLV.

Talking about environment without mentioning environment protection seems incomplete. We need to protect our natural, humane, cultural and man-made environments. To protect, we first need to understand the environments we are trying to protect. In addition, we also need to love the environment we are trying to protect. GLV is filled with love and I felt it. I find deep-rooted love real love.

As time goes by, the culture conflicts experienced at GLV will evolve into some unique and specific characteristics of GLV. These characteristics will certainly be internationalized. The formation and evolution of such international culture characteristics will definitely reflect something common to all human beings. GLV will grow along with the evolution. I will wait and see.

Organizational Culture, Spirit and Systems

As an organization (I do not refer to it as a company, because I know you do not like to consider GLV as a company), GLV follows some laws and rules of organizations. GLV is an organization of people and it is impossible to close people and their minds. As an organization, GLV has its own culture. In China , such culture is normally referred to as Enterprise Culture. Actually, it should be called organizational culture because enterprise is just one kind of organization. There are many other non-enterprise organizations. You as the founder of GLV have contributed great many to the formation of GLV's culture. GLV is almost 5 years old and I believe that its culture has been shaped. Prior to my Zhuhai trip, I told you that one of my trip purposes was to learn about GLV's culture. I put whole lot emphasis on the culture of any organization because it is like a steering wheel for the organization. It is also like a powerful bonding agent as well as a life exciter. It functions as a pressure pump as well as a powerful heat radiant. It is also like a silent command and invisible control. In a word, success and failure of any organization can be traced into its organization culture.

I have the following views on organizational culture. Organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations. This system of shared meaning is a set of key characteristics that the organization values. Organizational culture consists of three different layers: surface, middle and deep. The surface layer is something people can see and hear and it is the visible appearance. The deep layer is metaphysical such as beliefs, ethics, values, principles of conducts that are precipitated in the deep hearts of people. It is not visible. The middle layer is in between the surface and deep layers and are reflected by organization's rules, procedures and structures. Among the three layers, the most important and difficult layer is the deep layer, the core that commands how organization and its employees behave and is the driving force of the surface and middle layers. Certainly, the surface and middle layers also interact with the deep layer and generate impacts on the cohesion of the organization.

Being around at GLV, I observed different situations, learned about different people, heard different touching stories. However, I find it very difficult when I try to write down what GLV's culture is about. Thinking it over again, I suddenly realized that GLV's culture is you and you are GLV's culture. You pursue spirit and the essence of GLV's culture is about spirit. Then, what is GLV's spirit? I think the answer is still you. I will talk more about you and your spirit later on. With this interpretation, I seem to understand why I could hear Ping's Story everywhere at GLV and why you lecture on Ping 's Story to every new student of GLV.

I always hold an opinion that an organizational culture is its system. System is culture. A system's parts must all be present for the system to carry out its purpose optimally. A system's parts must be arranged in a specific way for the system to carry outs its purpose. Systems have specific purpose within larger systems. Systems maintain their stability through fluctuations and adjustments. Systems have feedback. Feedback is not necessarily transmitted and returned through the same system component – or even though the same system. It may be through several intervening components within the system first, or return from an external system, before finally arriving again at the component where it started. All these characteristics of systems are interrelated with the different layers of organizational culture. The design, setting up, process and output of systems all reflect the cultural characteristics of an organization. There are many systems running at GLV. I feel that all these systems are you as well. You are GLV's systems.

As matter of fact, this is a very normal process. In initial stage of an organization, the founder largely represents the culture of the organization. The founder forms and provides the foundation of the organization culture but it is the constant improvement and optimization of systems that power the sustainable growth of the organization. GLV is still an infant (I do not know if you agree with me on this statement.) and she will grow. Under your leadership (old statement), she will grow healthily. 

Strategy, Implementation and Crisis

I often heard the saying from you and some other people at GLV that GLV is not short of ideas and thoughts but implementation and execution. GLV lacks a CEO. (I do not know if this is because people just follow what you often say.) I have thought about this heavily these days as it seems it has something to do with me. You told me that you wished that I could join GLV to become an executive, although we had not discussed about my roles at GLV if I'd joined it. Another reason that I think more about this is that the more I think about this problem, the more worrisome I become. I do not know if my views will offend you or your colleagues but I would be very willing to explore this issue further, because I may truly be wrong and this issue is just vital.

Imagine that the CEO in your dream (not necessarily me) came and joined GLV, what would you expect him or her to implement? What to execute? How to execute? Why to execute? My list of questions may go on. I have to mention another heavily debated issue: fist and spirit. The fist is the success of a company. Spirit can only be fed by fist. Before my trip to Zhuhai, I once told you in one of my emails that GLV is a business and the objective of a business is to make money and to maximize the profit to satisfy the stakeholders of the business. Does this stink? Actually, I do not think this micro and objective purpose contradicts the macro and subjective purpose of business. Whether you like to admit or not, GLV is a business, a company, as seen from the way it is organized. From operation perspective, GLV also has elements of making money. Therefore, GLV needs to be viewed truly as a company, nothing else. I guess without GLV's making money, there is no way you can realize your dream to build up a village unless a miracle occurs. You mentioned several times about acquisition of airlines and development of real estate business and you thought these were technical issues. I think these are strategic issues and they are the indispensable steps to the actualization of your ideals. If GLV is recognized as a company, it has to be put into the market environment. Many people and companies dream to make money but not everyone can make money. It is the same case with GLV. GLV is making money today, which does not necessarily mean it will definitely make money tomorrow.

Your vision, ideal and dream do not equal to strategy. There must be specific strategies for making money and for growth. With strategies in place, CEO or executives or management are able to know what to do and know how to lead and manage their people. Therefore, I think what GLV is really short is strategy.

The companies described in the book “Big Failures” all had their strategies and CEOs and they were not in any evil businesses. But they failed and some of the peer companies in their respective industries are alive. What I read is that making correct strategies and decision is in no way an easy job. Strategy is easy only if you are content to have a strategy that is a derivative of someone else's strategy. The problem is that the someone else may be well prepared for this and ready to adjust or innovate. Thanks to the total immersion strategy, GLV has become a success today. But how did the total immersion strategy come into existence and practice in the first place? It is about the capability of innovation. GLV's model will be cloned. But GLV can feel no big worry if it has the capability to innovate because others can only clone your old model but you are constantly improving and innovating. Vise versa. You may say, you do not worry at all now. How about future? The capability of innovation of a company is on WHAT; strategy is on WHY and execution or implementation is on HOW.

We talked little about potential risks and crisis of GLV. I think the biggest potential risk and crisis for GLV is to fail to innovate. In today's market and social environment, innovation is the most important and vital capability of any company. It is quite necessary to incorporate this into GLV's culture. An idea five years ago brought you today's success. We do need to have a mind that is open to anything and attaches to nothing. I do not mean to say that execution and implementation is not important. The focus of implementation is on getting better and the focus of strategy is on being different. Strategic management and operational management are parts of a CEO's job. I do not believe in miracle worker but I do believe individual's wisdom. GLV's success also depends on a good team. As a visionary leader of GLV, you need to have a dream team that assemble talents of different kinds. Talents are the resources for GLV's growth. Mr.Huang is the first man in China who developed the total immersion concept. After 10 years of operation, his school almost goes back to where he started. Why? With no innovation or strategy, where will GLV be at its 10 th anniversary? If there are several more innovative new comers of total immersion teaching coming into picture, where will GLV be 5 years from now?

Let me try to summarize my impression on GLV in one sentence: GLV IS AS VULNERABLE AS IT IS VENERABLE.

Impression on Ping

Enthusiasm, Passion, Friendship  

Though having known you for years, I did not really understand you until my trip to Zhuhai started. In the past, whenever I heard your name, I could think of enthusiastic, a student returned from overseas, having a foreign wife and beautiful kids. Your marriage also reminded me of your confidence. My trip to Zhuhai enabled me to find you much more excellent. Your outstanding intrinsic qualities often make me feel far behind. I choose the four words to summarize the qualities you have displayed: enthusiasm, passion, friendship and conviction. In contrast, I lack enthusiasm but have surplus of calmness. I am not very passionate and insufficiently rational. I have limited friendship and fewer close friends. I know and understand little about religions. Therefore, I have learned a lot from you. In Zhuhai, I also felt immersed by you.

Your enthusiasm is omnipresent at any time. Your passion penetrate everyone, your students, your colleagues, your friends and me. Even without being face-to-face, I can still feel your passion now. The most sensational is your friendship. You shared your friendship with me unselfishly. Your friends share knowledge with you. You share friendship with them. You also share your compassion and passion with your friends. How I admire you! The Chinese character for friend is written as two moons. I think it tells how difficult to find friends and true friends. You made it look so easy.

From all the conversations we had during my stay in Zhuhai, I was most impressed with your faith mentality and convictions. I am not religious but I am not against religions either. I totally agree on a statement in the article about faith written by Professor Cai as recommended by you, faiths are powerful. Your conviction is seen from your being honest to your friends, family, colleagues and all the people you love. Most importantly, you are honest to yourself.

I felt all these through your brainwash and immersion on me. You believe that the ultimate purpose of education is the transformation of people. Your education or brainwash on me has not transformed me yet but I have learned a great deal and understood a great deal. I am not sure if I can be transformed in the future but I think I understand myself better now. The only thing I want to say now is my friend, thank you very much for all you did for me. You are an excellent person. Yu Minhong said, excellence is a habit. I like it.

Owner, Leader, Manager and Entrepreneur

First of all, you are a man full of dreams. Without dreams, there would have been no GLV today. What are the roles you play at GLV? I do not know your answer to this question. Here is mine.

You are an owner, a business owner because you own a school or a village or a club or a company. Whatever it may be called, you own an entity that is not part of your body. This entity you own has its own value and its assets, tangible or intangible.

You are a leader. A leader's job is to decide on what direction an organization will take. I believe that you know exactly where GLV is going. Regarding this questions discussed and debated many times, I think there are as many alternatives and answers as the number of people who care about GLV. But only you are the one that decides.

You are a manager. You participate and influence many details at GLV and you make things happen. The purpose of work is to solve problems. You solved many problems and there are many more that you have never encountered in the future. This requires you to work with your colleagues to face challenges.

You are an entrepreneur. The difference between an entrepreneur and a business owner is that an entrepreneur is a successful business owner. Success means creating values to society, employees and customers. You made it and you have gained fame and wealth that are worth celebration. I know you do not appreciate fame and wealth and you do not pursue them but they do happen.

Label, Brand, Trust and Learning

In terms of asset management, brand is normally considered as intangible asset. Therefore, we can say brand is intangible. Label is tangible. Good brand has huge value. As for label, no matter how delicate it may be, its value is next to nothing. A well-known brand becomes well-known because of the intrinsic quality of the product and the acceptance by satisfactory customers. It is a result of the combination of internal and external forces. Label is only an identity attached on the external surface of product. Many fake product producers make use of this.

Actually, people also have brand and label. The brand of a person is formed in the process of dealing with people and handling things. The label of a person if attached by himself or herself will be tested and the truth will emerge soon. Therefore, it does not make any difference whether the label is attached or not.

It is a great and noble thing to do turning GLV into a people oriented community or company. The key to people orientation is trust and being trusted. You have trust in people around you. Whenever you have a problem or difficulties, you go to them for solutions. It is not easy to do that. As Wu Wei says, it requires openness and trust. Trust is mutual and trust also has quality. You trust others and others trust you. But the trust on each way may not have the same quality. Trust – between leaders and their colleagues and employees and among employees themselves – is the glue that holds everything together at GLV. As the founder of GLV, if you were not trusted or you did not transmit your trust in others, there would have been no GLV today. If GLV is successful, people will trust and will be willing to be led by you and the society will trust you.

When you opened your heart and told me your private stories, I felt deeply trusted. At the same time, I also felt your transparency. Transparency creates trust. Thanks for your trust. I appreciate it. Moreover, nowadays, information is ubiquitous. It simply goes everywhere. I think the meaning of that is, actually, that there are very few secrets. And therefore, it is always better to be transparent. Trust also requires integrity. I knew a few companies in China where the leaders said one thing and did another, those who blamed others for their own faulty decisions, or leaders who asked the employees to cut costs while they purchased luxuries. This kind of situation obviously arouses suspicion among employees.

Many Chinese employee of GLV join GLV in order to learn. Learning is an experience. “Want” to learn is about attitude. “Try” to learn is an action. “Capability” is the result of learning. I went to visit GLV to learn. I participated in many activities there seriously and I learned a lot. My understanding of many issues has been enhanced. My observation on you is that you also have passion and enthusiasm for learning. This is also the basis for your future success.

People Magnet, Money Magnet, Heart Magnet and Leverage

You told me and I can still remember: successful men are attractive. I totally agree on this. You are a great communicator and you have attracted many talents around you. Therefore, I call you people magnet.

You have many rich friends who are willing to invest in GLV. You do not have a need for money yet but one day when there is a need, you can attract the fund easily. Therefore, I call you money magnet.

You are also a heart magnet. The people around you at GLV join GLV for a successful career and a meaningful life, not for money. They have their commitment to GLV. While they are physically at GLV, so are their hearts. This is not easy.

These three magnets of you lay a solid foundation for your career, your dream and the bright future of GLV. They also generate a huge pool of resources. The only thing left is how to use these resources. I think it is necessary for you to consider leverage. Leverage equals speed. As you often like to quote what Mao said, ten thousand years is too long and seize today. The longer the lever, the greater the impact. You actually have the following leverages already:

•  OPM = Other People's Money

•  - OPE = Other People's Experience

•  - OPI = Other People's Idea

•  - OPT = Other People's Time

•  - OPW = Other People's Work

•  Make reasonable and sound use of the leverages you have. Let me summarize my impression on you in one sentence:

•  YOU ARE AN EXCELLENT PERSON, FULL OF ENTHUSIASM AND CONVICTION, WALKING INTO TOMORROW.

•   About Me Simple and Free

I was determined to lead a simple but not simplistic life. By simplistic, I mean a life that has no meaning. I constantly ask and constantly think. The goal of my life is also simple: freedom – financial freedom, time freedom, relationship freedom, physical freedom and spiritual freedom.

Work and Job I do not need a job but I need to work. Working is beautiful.

Home and Going Home  

Since I became an adult, I have always believed that my home is wherever my woman is. No matter where my wife and I are, we will never forget we are Chinese. China is our destination and we will come back. It is matter of time and timing. Let me summarize myself in one word: SIMPLE.

Having written this much, I still feel that I have much more to write because I have learned and experienced a lot from my “Southern Tour” to Zhuhai. The function of words is to record and communicate. I feel that the above words and broken sentences have recorded my track of thinking about my trip. I exchanged my views on various other issues verbally with you. I know long piece of writing sometimes make people tired.

I hope this does not make you tired. English is my second language. Although I have confidence in myself, I do feel inadequate with my English to accurately express myself. I plan to translate this letter into Chinese myself. When finished, I will send you both versions to conclude my trip. It may take a day or two as my Chinese typing is really slow.

This is a personal letter to you and you have right to decide who will read it. Please keep in touch. I always enjoy exchanging views with you. Last, please allow me to thank you once more with all my heart for all you have done for me and wish you a greet success and your dreams come true.