Goals: A Pragmatic, Step-by-Step Path | Generated by AI
Question: For business or career, should goals be realistic? Examples include Lei Jun forbidding mention of building cars at Xiaomi unless investigation shows it’s necessary, unrealistic freshman goals like aiming for ACM/ICPC without prior background, and the idea of achieving success through realistic, step-by-step goals, as emphasized by Meituan founder Wang Xing.
Answer:
Yes, setting realistic goals is generally a more effective and sustainable approach in both business and personal career development, especially when starting from a position with limited experience, resources, or foundational skills.
In Business (Lei Jun’s Example)
Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, famously maintained a strict internal policy against casually discussing or pursuing car manufacturing. Employees were not allowed to mention building cars unless thorough investigation and data clearly demonstrated it was necessary and feasible. This reflected a disciplined, evidence-based mindset: avoid hype-driven or emotionally charged decisions, focus on core strengths first (like smartphones and IoT), and only pivot to high-risk, capital-intensive areas when objective analysis supports it.
Xiaomi eventually entered the EV market (with the SU7 and later models), but only after years of preparation, market study, and when conditions aligned — not as an early, unrealistic leap. This pragmatic stance helped Xiaomi avoid premature distraction or failure in a field where many tech giants have struggled.
In Personal Career (ACM/ICPC Example)
For a freshman at a top Chinese university (985/211) with no competitive programming background from high school, immediately targeting world-class performance in ACM/ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest) by graduation is often unrealistic. Competitive programming demands thousands of hours of deliberate practice, pattern recognition, algorithm mastery, and contest experience — skills rarely built from zero in just 3–4 years while handling a full university curriculum.
A more realistic path:
- Year 1: Learn basics (C++/Python, data structures, simple algorithms), solve 100–300 easy/medium problems on platforms like LeetCode, Codeforces, or Luogu.
- Year 2: Participate in regional contests, build speed and accuracy, aim for rating milestones (e.g., Codeforces Specialist → Expert).
- Year 3–4: Target provincial/national awards or consistent performance in major contests.
Many top ICPC performers had strong high-school foundations (e.g., NOIP medalists). Starting late doesn’t make success impossible, but it requires adjusting expectations and focusing on steady, incremental progress rather than an all-or-nothing dream.
Step-by-Step Success and Wang Xing’s Emphasis
Meituan founder Wang Xing is known for a pragmatic, incremental philosophy. He has stressed building step by step: first dominate one city (Beijing), then expand nationwide, focus on execution fundamentals (retail skills, data-driven decisions, timing), and avoid over-idealistic leaps without solid groundwork.
Wang Xing himself experienced multiple entrepreneurial failures before Meituan succeeded — he learned to prioritize realistic opportunities, long-term compounding, and disciplined focus over flashy, unrealistic ambitions. This mindset helped Meituan grow from a Groupon clone into a super-app dominating food delivery, local services, and more.
Overall Principle
- Unrealistic goals can demotivate when repeatedly missed, waste energy on fantasy, or lead to risky overcommitment (business equivalent: burning cash on unproven ideas).
- Realistic, sequential goals build momentum, skills, confidence, and credibility — creating a flywheel effect. Small wins compound, often leading to outsized success that seemed “unrealistic” at the start.
- Stretch goals are valuable for motivation, but pair them with honest assessment of current reality and a clear ladder of intermediate milestones.
In short: Dream big in vision, but plan and execute realistically, one evidence-based step at a time — this is a common thread in the approaches of leaders like Lei Jun and Wang Xing.
References:
- Various reports on Lei Jun’s cautious stance before Xiaomi’s car entry (e.g., evidence-based decision to build cars only when conditions justified it)
- Interviews and profiles on Wang Xing emphasizing step-by-step expansion and pragmatic focus (e.g., first Beijing, then nationwide; fundamentals first) http://money.163.com/special/wangxing