More than ten years ago, when I was on a business trip for a certain company, I was still a grassroots employee. Due to my diligent work and reliable character, I gained the trust of the agents. So when the regional manager and the client manager came to discuss procurement, the agent representative strongly requested to bring me along for a meal to chat.

I no longer remember who that regional manager was because he was too ordinary, but his words are still fresh in my memory. I don't know if it was over the phone or at the dinner table, but he told me that they were our benefactors. He appeared humble and insignificant, as if he were a servant attending to a master, only offering polite words.

Later, for some reason, he was persuaded to leave the company or something like that; anyway, the final outcome was quite tragic. In my view, he did not cultivate his professional skills or his sales abilities, but instead hoped to gain the agents' pity through his humble demeanor, thus exchanging it for his own benefits. What difference is there between this and a beggar asking for alms?

So when he lost his individuality, his value was minimized. Because for the company, it seemed he was useless, apart from begging for others' help and appearing submissive, he seemed to have no utility. And for the agents, apart from acting like a servant, he did not provide them with any substantial help, so they essentially looked down on him. I estimate that even after he was eventually dismissed, he did not understand where he went wrong; he might even feel wronged, thinking that he had already been as humble as a grandson, yet was treated so ruthlessly.

I am different from him; I never talk about the so-called benefactors, as it is completely unnecessary. In business, the essence is how much value you can provide to the other party. If your professional skills are not as good as those of the agents' operational staff, then you should genuinely provide them with convenient services. If your professional skills are stronger, then engage in deep communication with them to open up new avenues for the sales of related products.

That regional manager who often mentioned benefactors was so stingy that he wouldn't even pay for an ice cream. Essentially, he was mediocre and selfish. I do not care about what I give, because I know that once the other party perceives my contributions as having ulterior motives, all contributions will be discounted. It is precisely the selfless feeling conveyed to the other party that makes them willing to reciprocate my contributions, which is also why my performance is better among the same group of people.

Many people receive messages that are mostly problematic and lack a deep understanding of the essence. For example, back then, some people in the group proclaimed that without the platform, you are nothing; it is the platform that makes you, not you who makes the platform.

This statement sounds a bit awkward, and many people use it to erase individual personalities. They believe that as long as you obediently comply, the platform will share a piece of the pie with you; otherwise, you will be kicked out, and then you will be nothing.

So from this perspective, this statement has no progressive significance; it has unearthed too much negative information for the company, which is very detrimental to the development of the people within the company.

I believe that the platform and the individual are equal; if the two cannot be equal, then they cannot better promote each other. If I leave the platform, I might lose potential earnings of one million, but the platform would lose at least one hundred million in potential earnings.

Many people may not agree with this statement; in their minds, they believe the difference in intelligence between individuals is too small, and the key factor is only emotional intelligence. But what they do not realize is that in the development process of the platform, intelligence is the key factor. Their deliberate erasure of the difference in intelligence is essentially erasing the intelligence factor in the platform's development. By emphasizing emotional intelligence, they are essentially installing a brake on the platform's development, making progress as slow as a snail.

Emotional intelligence does not equal virtue, and intelligence does not equal blind obedience. Many people start spouting nonsense without even clarifying basic concepts. They infinitely amplify the concept of emotional intelligence, categorizing any problem as a lack of emotional intelligence. Not knowing how to flatter is a lack of emotional intelligence? Not knowing how to communicate is a lack of emotional intelligence? Proposing different opinions is a lack of emotional intelligence? In short, any behavior that makes leaders uncomfortable is deemed as lacking emotional intelligence?

In fact, emotional intelligence is the emotional stability of intelligence. So talking about emotional intelligence without intelligence is like discussing a car's performance without its engine.

Some fools think their mediocrity is a sign of high emotional intelligence; they avoid the topic of intelligence and even slander others by saying everyone's intelligence is the same, then they shift the conversation to the importance of emotional intelligence, implying that people like them are the benchmarks.

Mistaking mediocrity for high emotional intelligence is a relatively common phenomenon. For example, once an important client came to the company to negotiate business issues, the company's leaders needed to select an employee to handle the negotiations. The leader thought for a moment and chose the person he considered to have high emotional intelligence without hesitation.

The reason he thought the other party had high emotional intelligence was that this person was usually obedient, emotionally stable, and rarely made mistakes. However, he did not consider what was needed to solve the problem.

After some discussions, the client politely complimented the company and the relevant personnel before leaving. From the client's perspective, even the higher-ups on the other side lacked professional competence, were not familiar with the business, and had no good ideas, so the prospects of cooperating with such a platform were average. Therefore, the important cooperation was shelved, and some trivial cooperation was reached.

However, the so-called emotionally intelligent group lacking intelligence was still cheering, thinking they had achieved great success, and shamelessly published articles to promote it. The company's leaders even instructed subordinates to quickly share the published article with the client. After the client read it, he merely smiled faintly and said, "Not bad."

The subordinate immediately took a screenshot and sent it to the company's leader, who felt as if they had struck gold and even sought credit from the boss, as if they had accomplished something impossible.

They overlooked that the platform could have engaged in higher-level cooperation, which would have played a crucial role in the company's development. However, it was precisely these fools' reckless actions that ruined that possibility. Just imagine, if a key cooperation could yield results of one hundred million in the next year, while this ordinary cooperation would only yield ten million, how would you choose?

Later, the boss seemed to realize this issue and convened a mid-to-senior level meeting for everyone to analyze it together. They naturally did not know that they actually had the opportunity to achieve it; it was just their self-perceived emotional intelligence that limited this possibility. They would cite more objective reasons, such as the company being in a development stage and the other party not valuing it yet, or that certain aspects of the company were not yet perfect, and these were all loopholes, etc. In short, through the meeting, they discovered many problems, but these problems were not the reasons the client rejected key cooperation; they missed the best moment.

A platform that erases individuality will not have miracles. Because in many key development factors, it is always self-righteous in missing out. They cannot identify true talent and ultimately can only have a group of mediocre individuals huddled together in a platform that develops in a mediocre manner for warmth.