Dai Bin's speech at the collective talk meeting for the first appointment of middle-level cadres

On August 25, 2011, Dean Dai Bin delivered a speech at the collective talk meeting for the first appointment of middle-level cadres. The full text is as follows:

Individual academic growth and institutional disciplinary development

Comrades: We have already had separate conversations with each cadre before. Today, in accordance with organizational requirements, we will have a collective conversation with the comrades who have been appointed to middle-level management positions for the first time. There are three main issues to discuss. Firstly, how to view the appointment of this position, especially the appointment of middle-level cadres. Secondly, what are the requirements for newly appointed cadres? Thirdly, in the future period, what issues should be paid attention to in the development of research institutes, especially in talent cultivation and cadre training? Or what is the future development direction? The appointment of this position is a significant event in the development history of the research institute, and it is also a landmark event. This means that we have a cadre team that we have trained ourselves. Whether it is conducting revolutionary wars in the past or building socialism and establishing a new institution now, the issue of cadres must be solved first. In the military, even if it is to form a platoon or a squad, the selection of cadres is of paramount importance. Once the cadres are chosen, career development is guaranteed. When I was in my second year of high school, I was responsible for establishing an independent college. The party committee asked me what kind of support I needed? I said we need two things, one is to incorporate independent colleges into the overall education development plan of the university. Secondly, we need cadres. But it was not fully realized later on, which forced me to spend a long time building the cadre team, faculty team, and student logistics support team of the independent college. The reason for incorporating independent colleges into the overall planning of the school is to unify everyone's thinking and regard the development of independent colleges as our own business, which is the essence of the school's development and our responsibility. To become a cadre, it is necessary to unify the local and overall personnel composition, so that ideas and strategies can be implemented effectively. Without these two things, this institution cannot do it. An important indicator of an institution's maturity is the ability to cultivate its own team and cadres. Only in this way can this institution be considered truly mature. Talent development, especially the construction of the cadre team, is the cornerstone of an institution. The smooth completion of this work reflects the recognition of the Party group of the National Tourism Administration for the construction of our hospital's cadre team, as well as the trust of the hospital leaders and all staff in our comrades. Let's briefly review the three-year development process. Over the course of three years, from preparation to construction and then to development, we have gone through many things together. It's really hard won to achieve some results today! In the spring of 2008, when we started building Room 711, it was just one office with two or three people. Now it has two floors of space and a clean and bright office environment. From an organizational structure written on paper and drawn in the air in the past, to now having three functional departments, four research institutes, two branches, and ten research bases, personnel are gradually being put in place. Currently, the headquarters has 30 formal employees, 25 staff members, and more than 60 actual staff members. A series of research results have gradually gained high recognition from the National Tourism Administration, industry, and various sectors of society, especially in the construction of the research and administrative teams, which have also shown initial results. Looking back on this journey with my comrades, I just want to make one point clear: in the past three years, we have taken an unconventional path of development, building while building, cultivating ourselves, and developing ourselves. Of course, the first thing to attribute is that we caught up with a good era. Without the background of the development of mass tourism, we could not have built the research institute so quickly. In the past, even if we wanted to establish such a research institution, it was impossible to achieve the current achievements because the industry background and government needs were not yet available. We also wanted to ask for some cadres from the bureau, but they were unwilling to come. Who knows what the future holds for such a newly established academic institution? Of course, the comrades in the bureau are also willing to come now, treating us as our own people. Seizing strategic opportunities, self-reliance, hard work, building while fighting, and self-cultivation are the paths taken by the research institute's cadre team construction. You are the first batch of officially appointed management cadres. I have summarized several experiences and shared them with my comrades, which are also what we need to adhere to in the future. Firstly, always adhere to the combination of institutional development and personal growth. The research institute has trained you in this way, and in the future, you will also cultivate talent teams in various academic fields and functional departments according to this model. At the beginning of its establishment, we emphasized that in terms of team building in the research institute, we should avoid the path of individual combat in universities and the path of planning companies. In tourism schools, a mentor with several doctoral and master's degrees can continuously conduct research projects, but there is no horizontal communication or team planning. And students leave as soon as they graduate, and the team cannot be established. On the surface, they have done a lot, but the results have not solidified into the talent pool. Many academic traditions that rely on inheritance disappear as soon as people leave. Some companies engaged in tourism planning in society have projects without research or academic background, and the companies are not large. It is impossible to cultivate core competitiveness solely through commercial means. The research institutions established within government departments mostly write speeches and make summary reports, and the depth and breadth of research, especially in terms of system construction, cannot be established. In the process of construction and development, the research institute naturally has to undertake many projects. This is the requirement of the Party group of the bureau, the responsibility of academic institutions, and the basic requirement of our founding ideology. We undertake these projects not only to gain some economic benefits and complete a task, but also to integrate disciplinary construction, especially in terms of talent development. So the institute took the initiative to burden each comrade. I still remember Comrade Yi Yi reporting here for the first time, with a background in geography. In order to meet work needs, I sent you to the International Institute and let you study the medium and long-term planning of national tourism service trade. You did a good job. Of course, this is just an initial evaluation. From an academic perspective, social science research lacks long-term accumulation and feels inadequate. Later on, through doing outbound travel reports, ADS reports, and collaborating with the China Development Bank on some international projects, it gradually grew up. The same applies to regional tourism studies, which repeatedly discuss the theoretical connotations and achievements of regional tourism studies. Why haven't you been allowed to follow the path of the planning company? Because we know that it is impossible to cultivate scholars who truly align with the direction of the founding of the institute. Without talent cultivation, the sustainable and long-term development of academic institutions cannot be guaranteed. The cause of tourism development for the Party and the country that we are engaged in will inevitably leave with the passage of time. After a long time, it has to be handed over to younger comrades, so who should I entrust it to? If the talent team is not cultivated, the baton cannot be passed down and more talents cannot be driven to grow. It is necessary to highly integrate institutional development, personal growth, and project research. So I say that talent cultivation and project research should follow the discipline construction. The fundamental purpose of investing so much energy in discipline construction and talent construction is here. Secondly, we must always adhere to the unity of ideological construction, discipline construction, and talent construction. From the earliest establishment plan and articles of association to various themed party day activities in the future, we have clearly put forward a series of guiding principles such as serving the industry, serving the country, cultivating a tourism professional talent team that is trusted by the party group, recognized by the industry, and has broad international influence. The fundamental goal is to explore an academic research institution with senior intellectuals as the main body, and its construction and development path. It can be said that with every advancement in our academic practice, our ideological construction keeps pace. To a considerable extent, ideological construction is placed in a more important position in organizational construction and talent development. Comrade Xiaoping said, how can the country develop? Relying on ideals and discipline, ideals come before discipline. We have many comrades here who study economics. Marx said that complex labor is a multiple of simple labor. Complex labor is difficult to manage directly. Early scientific management originated in the manufacturing industry, and its management targets were workers. Standardization can be implemented, which is easy to operate. Look at Taylor's scientific management, he started with standardization, and the so-called 3T analysis, which includes time, action, and task analysis, was the core of early scientific management. Standardization can be achieved on the assembly line. Without standardization, modern industrial civilization and management science cannot be established. However, how should creative labor be managed? How do you know that our researchers have contributed their most valuable talents and greatest potential to work on time? He may stay here for half a day and not be able to write anything, or someone may have written seven or eight pages, but the effective content is not as good as one or two sentences. There is information asymmetry here, especially in complex labor, especially in creative labor where information asymmetry is particularly severe. Researchers have an academic bottom line, so they should advocate for academic freedom without having to whip themselves. We cannot manage an institution of our nature solely through management and discipline, and it is not feasible. If we completely focus on efficiency, this institution will not have great potential. Starting from this, thinking about the cultivation of academic cadres, ideological construction has become a top priority. We must establish a sense of direction for our research institute, form our ideological system and academic style. Ideological construction must take priority over organizational construction. If the research institute cannot produce things for self-cultivation, I believe it will not have a great future. A person's realm determines how far they can go, so we always prioritize ideological construction. Thirdly, always adhere to the principle of cultivating through use, and by carrying the burden, enable young scholars to grow as soon as possible. This great undertaking cannot be accomplished by just one or two people, it requires a team. Since the establishment of the institute until now, apart from Ziqian and Zhongguang who have worked in the school, we have not recruited anyone from the academic community. As a master's supervisor, Zhongguang is also willing to come. Most of the comrades are mostly recent graduates, and there are some who either have a background in tourism or have some work experience, and do not have significant influence in academia or industry. But the research institute gave them such a platform and opportunities for development, constantly bearing the burden and growing up. In fact, we also withstood some pressure during this process. We went to Yan'an this time and saw that revolutionary predecessors in their twenties have become division commanders, corps commanders, and even commanders, all of whom have grown up through continuous burden bearing. At the same time, everyone should actively seek pressure, as long as the overall direction is not wrong, the organization will trust you. Direction and trust are more important than ability. As long as we establish mutual trust and loyalty to the organization and cause, we can take a risk and cultivate through use, which is a great experience. Recalling the past is to look forward to the future. Now that you have taken on leadership positions, you need to sort out these experiences. You also need to lead your own team, understand the development path of the research institute, scientifically summarize experience, in order to keep moving forward. How to do a good job in future work and make some hopes and requirements to comrades. Firstly, we hope that comrades will have a sense of role and overall situation, and quickly find and position themselves correctly. This appointment is a qualitative change. We are at least level seven employees, and among our national cadres, we have entered the ranks of middle and grassroots cadres. Of course, our cadres will have to move towards higher positions and take on higher leadership responsibilities in the future. Why was there an appointment ceremony yesterday? This is to inform everyone that starting today, you have already taken up leadership positions. You have done a lot of work in your respective research and administrative positions before, and can be said to be outstanding. Starting today, you should not only consider problems from an individual perspective, but also lead a team and do a good job in departmental leadership. You not only need to think about problems from the perspective of your own department, but also from the perspective of the entire institution, which is the overall awareness. During our previous conversation, there was actually some departmental awareness, which is quite normal. But now we must change and establish a sense of the big picture. If this problem is not solved, it will lead to some solidified interests in the future. As a composite role in this position, I can coordinate some things, but what if there are new colleagues coming? Today, let's first raise the awareness of the overall situation, hoping that every comrade can position themselves correctly, quickly enter the role of a middle-level leader, and always demand themselves with the standards of a leader. Secondly, we hope that comrades will strive to strengthen their political cultivation, and on the basis of self reflection, self-discipline, and self vigilance, set an example in complying with laws, regulations, and disciplinary rules. We often say that there are no forbidden zones in scientific research, but administrative management has discipline, so we ask comrades to further strengthen their political theory learning. We are a research institution with the goal of building a government think tank. Comrades must resolutely implement the Party and state's line, principles, and policies, take the lead in complying with national laws and regulations, as well as the rules and regulations of our research institute. Not only that, you also need to lead the comrades in this department to carefully understand the founding ideas of the research institute, such as discipline construction, talent construction, and internationalization strategy, because these ideas are ultimately reflected in people and in the process of various work. Under the guidance of the prosperous philosophy, science, and social ideology of the Party and the country, and guided by the founding purpose of the institute, we should promote the coordinated development of various work and undertakings of the institute, institutes, departments, and offices. We must deeply realize that as a leader, it is more of a responsibility, which not only depends on your research ability, but also on whether you handle things fairly and justly. Thirdly, we hope that comrades can strengthen their leadership awareness and establish a clean and honest image of leading cadres. As an academic institution, the research institute has no money bag or official hat. But in the process of development, we will gradually have some academic discourse power, and there will also be some small internal power to some extent. We must always keep a clear mind about this. From the beginning of its establishment until now, we have established a good hospital culture and benchmark, which is worthy of the conscience of society. The work done by the research institute is initially required and deployed by the National Tourism Administration, but in the long run, it aims to leave a mark on history and establish a team benchmark for the development of the tourism industry and social progress. We must firmly resist the temptations of money and material possessions. Only when a monk recites scriptures well, will others give you incense money. You read seriously, you are a respected monk. So many academic and industrial institutions are willing to cooperate with us because we are providing ideas for industrial development and truly serving the tourism welfare of the people. I hope comrades will have a sense of vigilance, benchmarking, achievement, and historical awareness. Fourthly, we hope that comrades will continue to maintain the spirit of hard work and struggle, be brave in exploring and innovating, and constantly improve their comprehensive quality and leadership level. The three-year construction period has ended and we have transitioned to a five-year development period. We have achieved some accomplishments, but we cannot be complacent. We must always have a sense of crisis and urgency. If one day we are satisfied with ourselves, it will be when the research institute goes downhill. Going against the current, if you don't advance, you will fall behind. You come from different disciplinary backgrounds, some working in administrative work and some in research work. Each of you must constantly improve your comprehensive quality, enhance your social observation ability, communication ability, and writing ability. Holding a leadership position is not only a pressure, but also a responsibility. Don't always think about the size of your official position, but rather whether your abilities and qualities are suitable for this position, and whether you can withstand pressure from all aspects. The above requirements involve various aspects such as ideology, discipline, comprehensive quality, and leadership level. I hope that comrades will continue to learn and steadily improve their ability to govern and manage the institute in accordance with the above requirements in their future work. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about research