What Makes a Great Cadre? Huawei’s Customer‑Centric Management Blueprint

01 Inherit Values, Know Gratitude and Guilt

Huawei believes its sustained success stems from a core value system—customer‑centricity, dedication to fighters, long‑term hard work, and self‑criticism. Cadre selection requires alignment with these values and the ability to self‑criticize.

Ren Zhengfei describes the ideal cadre as someone whose eyes constantly watch the customer and the work, whose back faces the leader, and who, like a swift horse, may even kick the leader when moving fast.

布阵是价值观传承、战略部署和组织建设；点兵是识人、用人和激励人；陪客户吃饭，是倾听和满足客户需求，创造企业价值。

02 A Light in the Dark, Leading the Team to Victory

Management cadres must act as leaders who, in darkness, emit a guiding light, inspiring confidence and steering the team toward victory. This mirrors Clausewitz’s famous war‑theory insight and Ren’s belief that senior leaders should illuminate rather than dominate.

03 Continuously Improve End‑to‑End Business Processes

Huawei defines end‑to‑end as moving from the customer’s demand side to accurately and timely satisfying that demand. IBM’s early diagnosis revealed fragmented, costly processes; over eight years Huawei built a unified framework, shifting from a person‑responsible to a process‑responsible model.

Three effectiveness standards guide process management: correct and timely delivery, profitability, and zero corruption.

04 Unite All Possible Forces

Ren’s “no‑hero” principle urges senior managers to avoid personal heroics, instead fostering systems thinking, resource efficiency, and platform creation for successors. Cadres are classified as task‑oriented (using subordinates to achieve goals) or development‑oriented (growing teams whose performance exceeds the leader’s).

05 Properly Balance Openness, Compromise, and Grayness

Ren defines openness, compromise, and grayness as essential mindsets for cadres. An open culture absorbs external strengths; compromise provides necessary flexibility; grayness enables nuanced decision‑making. Mastery of these concepts is portrayed as Huawei’s future‑forward thinking.

Management cadres must cultivate humility, fairness, and a focus on organizational goals over personal achievement, leveraging each employee’s strengths while maintaining a culture of respect and trust.