Robert Hargrove

My Advice to Wei Cheng: Make the Shift From Cop to Coach

I had dinner this past week at my home in the Boston area with Wei Cheng, Chief Regulator for China’s SOI’s (the top 128 companies to be exact, 1/3 of China’s GDP). He is a very smart guy, with roots in a humble farming family. He struck me as one of China’s future leaders, who at 38 or so was well on his way to making his mark.

I had heard Wei Cheng speak to a group of entrepreneurs at a Chinese New Year’s Gala the previous week about business opportunities in China. He emanated a kind of gravitas that captivated people’s attention. You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

As we sat around the coffee table in my living room, he said he heard about my work as an Executive Coach and talked to me about the possibility of working together. “I like your idea of Better Leaders, Better China,” he said, “help me to make better leaders.” (I wrote an article with this title a few years ago. If you would like a copy, let me know.)

I asked him to explain his goals and challenges in his job, and he pulled out a notebook and spoke to me courageously in English (much better than my Chinese). He said he had the power and influence to create an Impossible Future for many Chinese companies, but given the large number, his direct impact was limited.

He explained that one policy he had attempted to institute was that every big Chinese company have a strategy for becoming a global brand outside of China itself. He explained that most the CEOs of these companies had made a “commitment,” but there is a difference between commitment and mere compliance.

When I asked him what recourse he had, he replied that he could fire these CEOs if they didn’t comply. Then he back tracked by explaining the conundrum he faced. If he took the route of chopping CEOs’ heads off, they would only see him as a cop. Yet if he did nothing, they would not take the policy seriously.

I suggested he make the shift from thinking of himself as a Cop (regulator) to thinking of himself as a Coach, whose job was to bring out the best in these CEOs and their respective companies. He seemed to light up when he heard this, so I made a few other suggestions as well.

I said, “Over the course of the next year, instead of focusing on all 128 Chinese companies, why don’t you and your team focus on coaching 10 of these companies that really have the chance to become a global brand?” Finally, I suggested, “You could also set up a coaching process for recruiting, developing, and retaining board members for your companies.”

It was an interesting evening and we are exploring the possibility of working together.