SHENZHEN, CHINA – Ren Zhengfei, the founder and CEO of HuaWei, is under severe pressure from HuaWei’s Board of directors to stop using the expression ‘It’s my way or the HuaWei’ or risk being ousted as the head of the company.
HuaWei is the world’s second largest manufacturer of smartphones, and Ren Zhengfei has been its CEO since 1988 where his use of the phrase ‘It’s my way or the HuaWei’ started decades ago and has only increased over the years.
“The worst part is it doesn’t make sense,” complained an anonymous source who works closely with Mr. Ren. “If he’s the head of the company, then his way IS the HuaWei. It’s a false dichotomy.”
Hardest hit by Ren’s penchant for the phrase and other HuaWei puns is the marketing department. “Every day we get dozens of suggestions from the CEO suggesting we make commercials with ‘Life is a HuaWei’ as the soundtrack,” said HuaWei’s head of marketing, William Xu.” Or sometimes he pitches ‘HuaWei to Hell’. It takes up a lot of our work day telling him we can’t use his suggestions because they’re too stupid.”
When asked about the possibility that he could be forced out by the Board of Directors, Ren seemed at peace with the situation: “If I have to go, it would be a tremendous disappointment, but at least I can rest easy knowing that I did it HuaWei.”
