或许是水瓶座毫不设限的思维,让奇美车电总经理徐学贤一开口就直言「其实我的个性本来就不适合从事例行性工作!」这一点, 与会计工作有了极大的冲突,因此当进入产业界后,徐学贤不再囿限于财会范畴,一路不断跨足到不同领域部门,包括人事、采购、资讯等管理部,甚至连营业主管、研发主管都曾经兼任;喜欢学习、吸收新知的个性, 加上财会必须了解所有部门营运活动的专业内控,一家公司所需要的跨部门整合能力, 竟不知不觉地在徐学贤身上完成。
另一方面,不喜例行工作的个性也悄悄地在他心底种下创业的念头却苦无机会,直到奇美精密面临整并,心里总觉得这七、八年来在汽车电子领域下的功夫总有留下些轨迹, 更看好汽车电子的未来,当下立刻决定创立奇美车电,带着一起打拼的伙伴继续往这条路前进。
然而,仅以一千万资本起家,面对汽车电子产业需要的庞大资金技术,如何有效分配资金、如何盘算未来几年的财务、如何寻找支持者、潜在投资者等,这些就又仰赖徐学贤一路以来的专业会计背景,而这些努力为的就是一个信念─创造奇美车电的价值。
给热情一个舞台
最初的三年,其实过得很煎熬;当时,
ADAS 已有全球领先的品牌,奇美车电仍处在幼稚园阶段,如果想去追随,简直是天方夜谭。于是徐学贤不是想发展相同的产品, 而是研究平台上还有多少可发挥之处,以及与现有产品的差异,从差异化切入,凝聚团队共识然后聚焦的策略投资研发以拉大差异, 奇美车电的机会就此诞生。
「没有差异化,就没有一丝机会。」就靠着公司几个人在这个差异点上研发、测试、改进、换演算法、换平台等,快速的迭代研发与一阶段一阶段地突破,终于在三年后推出产品进入市场,然而,这都是如今回头看的过程,在当时,没有人知道哪些关键点该如何突破、也没人知道多少时间的努力可以达到目标,更没人知道现在的速度是否能追上世界第一,一切都像是在迷雾森林中行走, 看不到出口,唯一能做的,就是顾好脚下的每一步,用每周、每月看得见的进步,支持研发人员继续走下去。
「创立奇美车电至今每周研发会议我都参加;最初是担心走错方向或做错决策,但现在我发现,我不能不参加研发会议,因为每次在研发会议上听到某个原本认为是极大的困难被突破了,这种不可思议的进展总是让我感到非常兴奋,这种快乐,是我从员工的热情中感受到的!」徐学贤认真参与研发会议,不仅是要了解公司的实力与进度,更重要的是,透过这个舞台,帮助员工建立自我肯定的机制,因为主管不可能常常给予所有下属个别鼓励,但透过例会报告中主管们热切的回应,员工自然能感染到工作的热忱,虽然奇美车电目前不过百人,但每个环节、岗位都能燃烧自己的热情去协同合作,才能在短短五年内赶上世界第一的品牌。
善用两大思考术, 人生从此不纠结
「在我的观念里,没有『理所当然』」, 徐学贤说。自认反应速度比较慢,再加上水瓶座不受拘束和有点健忘的天性,让他总是以「归零思考」方式面对一切;与未来无关的事件迅速催眠自己不在意( 也就容易健忘), 但重要的事情常常是从头开始想;归零、再想的过程,可以放下不必要的包袱,以不受框架的心去寻求突破点,再配上「凡事推向自己」的树状思考术,生命中的难题都会清楚浮现几种可能解决的路径。
这样的思考模式,是多年来从事跨部门专案管理的心得, 最初是为了协调部门反弹,先站在不同部门立场思考每一方的可能好处,并以「凡事都跟自己有关、凡事都可以尽一份心力」的思考让事情更加顺利,慢慢地,生活中的大小事都会以这个态度思考,「当你每一个步骤都想清楚自己的态度时,就不会因为反覆而忧郁。」事实上,透过清楚思考术,最终目标, 就是徐学贤最常思考并要求公司文化必须架构「快乐的工作情境」。人生有三分之一都在工作,如果工作不快乐,表示有三分之一的人生失去色彩,且极有可能会连带影响下班后的心境,如果再扣掉睡觉睡掉的三分之一,这样的人生毫无意义。
「有些事不做会后悔一辈子的」,徐学贤的奇美车电之路,正是秉持着这份人生勇气与坚持快乐做自己的信念,继续往即将颠覆想像的汽车电子世界前进。
“I wasn’t born to do the routine work!” Jammy’s adventurous spirit contradicts the nature of accounting jobs. Therefore, he has urged himself to expand his expertise in various fields, from human resources to procurement, IT, operation, and research & development. Not just because of his curiosity for new knowledge, but also because the finance job function requires a basic understanding of the operation of all departments, Jammy becomes more smooth with cross-function management.
The merger of Chi Mei Corporation gave Jammy an opportunity to realize his entrepreneurship dream. Relying on the knowledge accumulated over the eight years of experiences in the automotive electronics fields, Jammy found ChiMei Motor with some former colleagues and began a brand new journey.
However , the first challenge Jammy encountered on the journey of entrepreneurship was insufficient funds. With only 100 million worth of capitals, Jammy fully utilizes his finance background to efficiently allocate money to support huge investments in research and development and at the same time actively search sponsors and investors to support the future development of the company. All of these efforts Jammy has put in is to fulfill his goal of creating irreplaceable values of ChiMei Motor.
A Stage for Passion
In the beginning three years, things have been struggling for Jammy. With its years behind technology, It was almost impossible for ChiMei Motor to compete with those global ADAS solution providers. Therefore, Jammy adopted the blue ocean strategy and tried to differentiate ChiMei Motor’s products from the existing ones, creating differentiated values. By bringing the entire team on the same page and focusing on the niche market, Jammy creates a profiting opportunity for ChiMei Motor.
“Without differentiation, we don’t strike a single chance of survival.” After three years of endeavor in research, test, improvement, algorithm and platform adjustment, Jammy and team have finally launched the product. Looking back to the development process, Jammy admits that there were frustrating times when no one is certain they were on the right track and if they ever made to the destination. However, he held on to his faith and make small progress step by step to encourage the team to keep moving forward.
“I’ve never missed one research and development meeting since ChiMei Motor was found. At first, I attended the meeting to ensure the company on the right track, but later I realized that I am addicted to the exhilarating feeling while hearing significant breakthroughs. The joy is from the employees’ passion for what they do.” Jammy attends the research and development meeting not only to understand the status of each project but also to establish a stage to encourage employees to self-recognize. Jammy believes that management’s enthusiastic responses during the meeting are the best motivation for employees. With this mechanism, every employee in ChiMei Motor is driven to bring out the best in their job function. This one- hundred employee company spends only five years to catch up the world’s leading automotive electronics suppliers.
Go with the Flow and Smooth the Struggles in Life
“I’ve never taken anything for granted.” After years of project management experiences, Jammy has developed a unique way of prioritizing problems, which is letting go the unimportant and focus on the fundamentals of the critical. To reach win-win situation while coordinating across different parties, he always puts himself in others’ shoes and comes out with various scenarios of solutions by thinking what he
can do differently to achieve better results. This wisdom helps Jammy not only solve challenges after challenges smoothly but also cultivate a systematic logical thinking pattern. “The more clear you are at each step of what you do, the fewer worries you would have in life.” Jammy points out that his ultimate goal is to create a work environment with a pleasant atmosphere. He emphasizes, “we spend approximate a third of lifetime at work. It’s meaningless if we don’t love what we do and let the unhappy feelings affect after work life.”
“If I didn’t start my own business, I’d have regretted my whole life.” Jammy use the “never regret” philosophy and a determined courage to march forward on the journey toward smart automotive era.