Going from 0 to 390 billion yuan: Three images unlock the secret to Huawei's growth

Strategic focus: Inspired by the Wagenia Fisherman

In 2010, Irish photographer Andrew McConnell captured the moment when a Wagenia man plunged forward to catch fish near Boyoma Falls in the Congo River.

The Congo River is one of the few undeveloped rivers in the world. In 1846, explorer Henry Morton Stanley was the first outsider to travel the entire length of the river, where he discovered a unique fishing technique used by the Wagenia people in what's now the Democratic Republic of Congo. They build wooden frames above the rapids, and stand on top of them using woven wood baskets to catch fish.

The sheer force of the water is incredible, and fish are swept right up into the baskets. The more rapid the current, the more fish there are to catch. And while the river provides a rich bounty, it can be fatal too. Fishermen who let their attention stray for even for a second can be swept away in the rapids. This technique has endured for hundreds of years.

In the eyes of the photographer and his audience, the focus of the piece is often the primitive and wild appeal of the Wagenia man's fishing technique. To Huawei, the most appealing element of the fisherman's technique is focus itself. "The Wagenia place their baskets in the Congo River, where the rapids flow at 28,000 cubic meters per second. When they fish, they need to maintain sharp focus. If their baskets fall into the river, they can't get out of the way and will be swept away in the rapids. Similarly, Huawei focuses on strategic opportunities in a massive flood of data, never wasting its competitive energy on non-strategic pursuits."

You'll frequently here about strategic focus in relation to Huawei. As awareness of the Huawei brand increases, strategic focus is discussed more and more regularly in all types of forums by senior executives from traditional industries and new "Internet plus" players alike. But what does Huawei mean by strategic focus, and how is that captured in the image of the Wagenia fisherman?

To quote Ren Zhengfei, "Huawei only allows employees to leverage their initiative and creativity in areas that align with the company's strategic business focus. Blind innovation would simply disperse Huawei's investment and energy. For areas of non-strategic business, it's wise to learn from successful companies: maintain stable and reliable operations, and keep management systems rational, effective, and as simple as possible. We must avoid innovating blindly. If people are crying out for innovation in all directions, it will be Huawei's death knell. We can only surpass our competitors if we hone our focus to an area the size of a needle's tip. If we enlarge it to the size of a match head or the end of a stick, then surpassing them is out of the question."

In October 2015, Ren Zhengfei gave a speech entitled Focusing on Our Core Business to Seize Strategic Opportunities, in which he said, "It's been a rough 28 years. Huawei has remained focused on our strategic business of ICT infrastructure. Over the past 28 years, over 100,000 people have fixed our sights on a single opening in the gates, charging it over and over again. Huawei's investment strategy is just that: Fast beats slow. Focusing on one point is actually a fast-beats-slow strategy. That's why it generates results."