If you want peace, prepare for war

Dozens of years before Jesus' birth, the Roman poet Tibullus once wondered: "Who was the first that forged the deadly blade? Of rugged steel his savage soul was made.” Perhaps the constant battles of the Holy Roman Empire led the poet Tibullus to attach the sword to the cruelty and evilness of the human heart. But as a father myself, who have to take care and protect my children, has another interpretation: The sword is a creation of creativity and the desire to improve oneself.

The first day humans appeared on Earth, they were small and primitive. Then one day, they found out “fire”. That magical light has changed their lives a lot. But the history wheel did not stop there, when someone with the favor of God discovered the transition of metal after exposure to fire. By his/her creativity and perseverance, he/she created the first sword, serving the production and protecting his small family. That sword has become one of the innovations that completely change the fate of humanity. Later, although it was gradually corrupted by human greed, no one could deny that human creativity and desire to rise helped them to keep moving forward. Every time humanity faces difficulties, the creativity of one person or a group of people shines, bringing them to new heights.

Therefore, human beings have constantly made efforts to create. Even when the technology seemed to be very modern, the people with the progressive spirit were not engulfed in the achievements or were satisfied with the 4 words: "do the right process". These days, when the Coronavirus broke out, people shared articles about the experience of the epidemic of Professor Le Dang Ha, who is the leader of the fight against SARS epidemic in the past. It is worth mentioning that his treatment has many "paradoxical" points, completely different from the procedure of the world. For example, unlike the isolated rooms that often seen in the documentary, Professor Ha opened doors and fans to let the wind into the room and to remove the SARS virus.

Now, when the Corona epidemic appears, the Ministry of Health still applies its same old experience, but with new measures such as closing border, or allowing students to take breaks to control the disease. In the first round after the 16th patient was negative for the virus, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has announced winning the first round; however, the doctors will still continue to work to overcome this dangerous virus.

The above examples sound like a big deal when using words like "survival", "history wheel" and so on. But the reality has shown that even businesses are facing great challenges and they need creative efforts and innovation from their employees.

And you may think, "Sun* is that big, every time the company gets funding of a hundred billion, why do I have to think a lot?" then sir, you are falling into the trap of stagnation and elimination. A remarkable example of those who work and fall into stagnation is the story of Mr. Kim in the Korean film called Parasite. In this Oscar-winning film, we can see that Mr. Kim has a lot of good skills and certifications. But why is he living in the basement with his wife and his son and daughter? It is because Mr. Kim is the typical image of office workers who were dismissed during the financial crisis: Already used to the habit of “Leaving with an umbrella in the morning, coming back home in the evening”, after being kicked out of the company because of the crisis, Mr. Kim and tens of thousands of workers repeat the same thing: selling fried chicken or Castella. And because he does not create new values, Mr. Kim goes bankrupt and lived in a poor basement, where he has to witness the drunk people pissing on his family’s windows and the basement is flooded with sewage on rainy days.

Reading by here, did you see clearly or partially the wishes of Sun*'s Board of Directors for employees when converting into Digital Creative Studio?

To me, the idea is clear: Instead of heartlessly leaving employees when they become dependent, passive and lose their creativity, Sun* wants to train people to become proactive in creating awesome values, who can prove their ability regardless of the changes of life.

In the financial and business sector, the economic crisis occurred after a long period of so-called temporary (1997 and 2007), which causes a large number of unemployed people. But within the IT industry, elimination takes place daily.

When you are sleeping, technology is constantly improving. The processes, which you assume just by following is enough, can become 'history' by a single sleep.

When you are happy after stressful working hours, programmers in other developing countries also become better. With a cheaper salary than you, they are the direct competitors for outsourcing orders.

While Japanese IT companies in Vietnam still have to use a comtor + 1 team dev model to work with Japanese customers, there are Chinese technology companies in China with 100% of the employees who are fluent in Japanese to work directly with customers without IT Comtor. It is these excellent programmers who have helped the Chinese IT industry embrace huge orders thanks to high-performance programming skills, the ability to communicate quickly and accurately.

Facing these demands, all companies have a common move: training knowledge and improving professional skills. Therefore, Sun* always focuses on improving the training ecosystem with programs from VEU, GEU or Awesome Academy and a series of seminar activities in all parts.

In every fight, we have to be one step ahead of the opponent. So what is Sun*’s front move? It was such an unexpected and unique move that even if it was imitated, the opponent wasn’t sure to get the result as Sun* had. Do you know what the answer is?

It's the Sun*’s training for everyone to have a habit of thinking creatively and nurturing ideas! I was extremely excited when I saw the idea of “Bringing 7 core values into the authentication question for WSM” of Ms. Hang Thuy. It shows her efforts to improve herself as well as demonstrate the determination to innovate of the Executive Board.

You may think, “How can an idea applied to the INTERNAL system to propagate to INTERNAL company can affect the outside world, or strengthen the position of the company in this open IT market?”

ONE idea of bringing 7 core values into WSM may not change, but what if more than 1 THOUSAND of Sun*’s employees, each person comes up with ONE idea a day, and that process lasts 365 DAYS in ONE YEAR? For me, this number is enough to make a difference for yourself and the entire company.

The person who proves my point is billionaire Masayoshi Son, president of Softbank Corporation, Japan. From the day he first launched a startup in an office with only a few employees, he has been talking about how big one day he will be. From that day to the day he became a partner of Jack Ma, Tim Cook ... there was one thing that never changed: the habit of cultivating ideas. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review website, he said: “I wanted to start my own company when I returned to Japan. I think of 40 types of businesses that I can start. It was like thinking of an invention. When I was a student, I had a hobby to think of many ideas for different products. To me, thinking of new business models is like creating new products." (Source)

It can be seen that the leadership of Sun* and Masayoshi Son are the "Great minds think alike" when believing in the power of the idea. Therefore, at Sun*, there is an Awesome Idea Box for employees to contribute ideas; a series of contests, technology activities, books or just about life are deployed to create space for Sunners to improve thinking and nurture their ideas.

These are the essential stepping stones for every Sun* employee to be creative. Only when there are creative employees, can Sun * become a true Digital Creative Studio.

In 2020, the journey to transform into Digital Creative Studio will officially begin with a series of high-frequency training activities for employees. Through this activity, the Board of Directors wants to help Sunners improve their thinking, ways of working and of course, the habit of creating and nurturing ideas in life.

To close the story of creation, I would like to borrow a Greek adage: "Si vis pacem, para bellum". (If you want peace, prepare for war.)

Today you may be "safe" with the job done excellently. But very soon the fight for survival with your own stagnation will break out.

The clock is ticking, and are you ready?