Yang Yuanqing is a Chinese business executive and philanthropist who is the current chairman and CEO of Lenovo.
49 Facts About Yang Yuanqing
2.
Yang Yuanqing spent his childhood in Hefei in Anhui province.
3.
Yang Yuanqing grew up poor, as his parents were paid the same salaries as manual laborers.
4.
Yang Yuanqing's father, Yang Yuanqing Furong, was a disciplined man with strict standards.
5.
Yang Yuanqing earned an undergraduate degree in computer science from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1986 and graduated with a master's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1988.
6.
Yang Yuanqing spotted a newspaper advertisement for jobs at Lenovo while in Beijing performing research for his master's degree at the University of Science and Technology of China.
7.
Yang Yuanqing initially planned on becoming a university professor but took a risk and accepted a position with Lenovo in sales.
8.
Yang Yuanqing was paid the equivalent of US$30 per month.
9.
In 1989, Yang Yuanqing joined Legend, as Lenovo was then known, at the age of 25.
10.
Yang Yuanqing travelled to meet distributors throughout China and used his technical knowledge to achieve a strong sales record.
11.
Yang Yuanqing stood out at Lenovo for being a quiet, deep thinker.
12.
Yang Yuanqing was elevated to CEO of the whole company when Liu retired in 2001.
13.
Yang Yuanqing believed that he would benefit from exposure to American business practices but Liu persuaded him to delay his plans for two years.
14.
Yang Yuanqing decided on Lenovo implementing specific job descriptions with clear responsibilities and a system of performance evaluations used to determine annual bonuses.
15.
When Yang Yuanqing took over Lenovo's personal computer division, he strongly discouraged the use of formal titles and required staff to address each other by their given names.
16.
Yang Yuanqing even required managers to stand outside their offices each morning to greet their employees while carrying signs with their first names.
17.
Yang Yuanqing used the move to break Lenovo's cultural links to the past.
18.
Yang Yuanqing insisted on a more formal dress code and training all employees in telephone etiquette; Yang wanted his people to think and act like high-tech workers in developed markets.
19.
Yang Yuanqing ensured proper training of distributors and brought in Microsoft and Intel to help with these efforts.
20.
Yang Yuanqing set up a system to monitor the sales, inventory, cash flow, compliance, and pricing of distributors.
21.
Yang Yuanqing was chairman of Lenovo's board from 2004 to 2008.
22.
In February 2009, Yang Yuanqing gave up his position as chairman and again became CEO at Lenovo.
23.
In 2005, Yang Yuanqing undertook a deal with Microsoft to have Windows preloaded on most Lenovo computers sold in China.
24.
Yang Yuanqing worked to ease worries by communicating directly with Congress.
25.
In June 2006, Yang arranged to be seated next to C Richard D'Amato, a member of the congressional committee that had earlier raised concerns about the security of Lenovo's products.
26.
Yang Yuanqing hired a private tutor and watched cable news to practice.
27.
Yang Yuanqing sent many Lenovo executives to the US for long postings.
28.
Yang Yuanqing has a US operational centre in Morrisville, North Carolina, the former home of IBM's personal computer business.
29.
Yang Yuanqing has said that when Lenovo enters a new market they intend to be number one.
30.
In 2012, Yang Yuanqing received a US$3 million bonus as a reward for record profits, which he then redistributed to about 10,000 of Lenovo's employees.
31.
Yang Yuanqing contributed another US$3.25 million bonus to 10,000 Lenovo employees in 2013.
32.
Yang Yuanqing greatly increased his ownership stake in Lenovo by acquiring 797 million shares in 2011.
33.
Yang Yuanqing is an active user of Sina Weibo, Twitter and LinkedIn.
34.
Yang Yuanqing encourages his team to talk about their personal lives on social media.
35.
Yang Yuanqing is often referred to as "YY" by his colleagues at Lenovo.
36.
Yang Yuanqing was awarded the May Fourth Youth Medal, by the All-China Youth Federation in 1999.
37.
Yang Yuanqing was named "2007 Chinese Business Leader" by Fortune China.
38.
In December 2012, Yang Yuanqing was named one of the "2012 CCTV China Economic Figures" in a televised award ceremony of CCTV.
39.
On 1 May 2014, Yang Yuanqing received the 2014 Edison Achievement Award in San Francisco at the annual Edison Awards Gala.
40.
Yang Yuanqing shared the award with Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and SpaceX.
41.
Yang Yuanqing was selected to accompany the Chinese president Xi Jinping on a state visit to the United States in September 2015.
42.
Yang Yuanqing serves on the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top governmental advisory body that includes more than 2,000 of China's elites from all sectors of society.
43.
Yang Yuanqing said that while the internet has brought many advances it brings new challenges such as protecting privacy and securing personal information.
44.
Yang Yuanqing said that legal loopholes and widespread corruption create major challenges to securing personal data.
45.
Yang Yuanqing made his proposal at the advisory body's annual meeting.
46.
Yang Yuanqing serves on the board of Communist Youth League of China, as director of the China Entrepreneurs' Association, and as a member of the New York Stock Exchange's International Advisory Committee.
47.
Yang Yuanqing teaches as a guest lecturer at the University of Science and Technology of China.
48.
Additionally, Yang Yuanqing is a director of Baidu, and sits on the board of visitors of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University.
49.
In March 2015, Yang Yuanqing joined the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, an international non-profit group founded in 2001, focused on preventing cancer and advancing research that promotes improved patient outcomes.