In general, a leader will be effective if they understand how to motivate their employees and themselves. Motivation is a force that arises from the inside and is aided by external forces to inspire people to attain their goals. Jean Liu, the head of China’s global ride-sharing company DIDI, is an example of this. She is inspired to start a business that focuses on making others happy, including herself and her employees and clients.
In an interview, she discusses building a decent working environment for Chinese women who know how to drive but do not have the option to earn money. We feel that achieving something, whether in business tech or not, requires personal attributes such as emotional intelligence and mutual support. Her inspiration comes from her father, who told her, “It’s supposed to be hard. When you have that mentality, you find nothing is so difficult. It is supposed to be hard. Then you actually start to enjoy it and have fun.”
Her company’s culture is very different from that of other organizations, such as UBER. The company’s culture encourages its employees, whether they are at the top or bottom of the corporate ladder. She did not treat employees differently depending on their gender or culture since she believes that individuals are people and should not be treated differently. She cherishes her employees’ efforts and provides incentives, bonuses, and an open communication policy to motivate and inspire them. This results in a family-like work environment where she solicits their input to create adjustments that lead to effective decision-making.
We applied motivation theory to the workplace in this week’s journal, which can help you motivate people whether you are working in your community, with coworkers, or leading a group or team, as well as exploring what we believe was Jean Liu’s motivation to propel her firm, Didi, to success.
Reference
Khan, S. (2017). Exclusive: Didi world’s biggest ride-hailing company, in no hurry for IPO. [Technology section] The National. Web.