Forum on Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Political Achievement: How to Better Do Real Work, Seek Real Results, and Produce Real Performance

Editor's Note: During his tenure working in Zhejiang, Chairman Xi identified a prominent problem among some Party members and cadres in their outlook on political achievement — the "five heavies and five lights" (五重五轻): prioritizing beginnings over endings, short-term over long-term, visible over hidden, easy over difficult, and the local over the overall. These problems remain relevant today. Earlier this year, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Notice on Carrying Out Study and Education on Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Political Achievement Throughout the Party," requiring that "Party organizations at all levels and Party members and cadres be educated and guided to uphold seeking truth from facts and a pragmatic work style, to produce political achievements for the people and through hard work, and to effectively prevent and correct deviations in the outlook on political achievement." In this issue's forum, we have selected five opinion pieces to explore with readers how to better do real work, seek real results, and produce real performance.

Do Things Well from Start to Finish — Resolutely Guard Against "Prioritizing Beginnings Over Endings"

■ Yao Guoyu

Drums and gongs at the start, silence in the middle, a hasty retreat at the end — this phenomenon of "prioritizing beginnings over endings" refers to the state of individual Party members and cadres at different stages of their work. Everything begins with soaring enthusiasm and pledges of commitment, but as time goes on the drive slackens and the course drifts, leaving behind "half-finished projects" and "unresolved debts." Such situations must be guarded against.

Confucius once lamented: there are seedlings that do not flower, and flowers that do not bear fruit. The meaning is that some crops sprout but never put forth ears, and some put forth ears but never set grain. Similar phenomena exist in actual work today. Some people treat launching a project as success and treat ceremonies as results; their work is performed for superiors and leaders to see, and their outcomes are written in documents, spoken aloud, and "implemented" in meetings — all beginning but no end, strong start but weak finish, grasping without sincerity, working without substance. All such conduct wastes opportunities and yields little.

"Be as cautious at the end as at the beginning, and there will be no failure." For any piece of work or any project, the true test lies both in the opening and in the conclusion. The reason the poverty alleviation battle was able to achieve complete victory was precisely the tenacity of fighting one battle after another, striking one blow after another, and absolutely refusing to stand down before total victory. Chairman Xi has incisively pointed out: "Faced with new situations and new tasks, Party members and cadres must work with real diligence — do real work, use real methods, seek real results, do things well from start to finish, and resolutely eliminate the practice of sloganeering, posturing, and packaging as implementation." These words cut to the heart of the matter and give one much to reflect upon.

Empty posturing cannot build a lasting enterprise; only genuine hard work can produce results from start to finish. Resolutely guarding against "prioritizing beginnings over endings" requires every Party member and cadre to have a "process consciousness" and an "outcomes consciousness," and to reflect the drive for implementation in work measures, work processes, and work results. In their work, they should establish a closed-loop awareness: every task must have deployment, inspection, feedback, and results, forming a chain of responsibility from beginning to end. At the same time, more refined management and less rough-and-ready targeting, more down-to-earth effort and less reaching beyond one's grasp, more hard and honest work and less opportunism — only then can one separate the wheat from the chaff and ensure that what is undertaken is accomplished.

Persevere Over the Long Term — Resolutely Guard Against "Prioritizing the Short-Term Over the Long-Term"

■ Liu Weijiao

At present, the great majority of leading cadres are able in their actual work to correctly handle the dialectical relationship between immediate interests and long-term interests, and pay attention to doing things that lay foundations and build momentum for the future. But there are individual leading cadres whose eyes see only "within the term," "at assessment time," and "on the report form." Driven by vanity and a hunger for quick success, they inflate figures, build "bonsai projects," and launch "short, flat, fast" initiatives. They are not truly "bringing prosperity to one side" but are focused on "creating a momentary impression," manufacturing chips to advance their own interests. "One who does not plan for all time is not fit to plan for the moment." If one only fixes one's gaze on immediate results, one will kill the goose for the golden egg and eat tomorrow's grain today, very likely turning "a moment's political achievement" into "a long-term burden."

A goose leaves its cry, a person leaves their name. There is nothing wrong with wanting to accomplish something within one's term, but one must absolutely never violate objective laws or deviate from the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly — otherwise it is "putting on a show" rather than "doing the work." Three generations of people at Saihanba planted trees for over 60 years; Yuan Longping spent decades walking the fields of hope day after day; Huang Danian spent his entire life igniting the torch of deep-earth exploration... None of them ever pursued "immediate results," yet they created enterprises that benefit generations to come. This enlightens us: long and short are not absolute values on a timeline but a watershed in value orientation. Those "impressive figures" bought by mortgaging the future are ultimately a flash in the pan; but those who are willing to lay the groundwork and carry on unfinished work will ultimately be remembered by the people.

Looking further ahead, planting one's feet more firmly, overcoming some of the restlessness of "putting speed first," and maintaining some of the steadiness of "careful, unhurried work" — this is the correct outlook on political achievement that is responsible to history and responsible to the people. As Chairman Xi has pointed out, for long-term tasks, one must maintain strategic resolve and patience, persist in seeing a single blueprint through to the end, and work with the perseverance of water wearing through stone, persevering over the long term.

Be Willing to Serve as a Cornerstone — Resolutely Guard Against "Prioritizing the Visible Over the Hidden"

■ Han Wei

Visible achievement (显功) is the most direct manifestation of Party members and cadres fulfilling their duties and responsibilities; it is mostly seen and felt, easy to stand out, and convenient to quantify. Hidden achievement (潜功) is the deep foundation of an enterprise's development; it mostly consumes time and effort, does not show on the surface, and is difficult to see results from in a short time. But Party members and cadres must clearly recognize that in many cases, hidden achievement is the foundation of visible achievement, and visible achievement is the result of hidden achievement. Without a foundation buried deep in the ground, how can a tall building rise from the earth? Without the quiet support of the "hidden," how can the "visible" shine brilliantly?

Chairman Xi has pointed out: "We must firmly establish a correct outlook on political achievement — we must do practical things that the common people can see, feel, and benefit from, and we must also do good things that lay the groundwork for those who come after, build foundations, and serve long-term interests; we must produce both visible achievements and hidden achievements." The "talent strategy" of Zhengding, the "3820" Strategic Project of Fuzhou, the "Eight-Eight Strategy" of Zhejiang... When working at the local level, Chairman Xi placed great emphasis on focusing on the present while looking toward the future, both grasping immediate concrete work and planning long-term strategic layouts, reserving broad space for local development, accumulating rich resources, and gathering lasting momentum.

"One who seeks the growth of a tree must first consolidate its roots; one who desires a stream to flow far must first dredge its source." The current and coming period is a critical period for the modernization of national defense and the armed forces, and fighting the decisive battle to achieve the centenary goal of army building is increasingly urgent and pressing. Leading cadres at all levels of the armed forces must recognize from the depths of their thinking the dialectical relationship between visible and hidden achievement, and consciously cultivate the spirit of "success need not come in my time" and "success must certainly have my contribution." On one hand, with the urgency of seizing every moment and the sense of responsibility that time waits for no one, they must act proactively and correctly. At the same time, they should run the "relay race" well — one generation working after another, not coveting momentary merit or momentary fame — producing visible results through hard work and dedication, and consolidating the hidden foundation through far-sighted planning, truly creating real performance that can withstand the tests of practice, the people, and history.

Have the Courage to Take on Responsibility — Resolutely Guard Against "Prioritizing the Easy Over the Difficult"

■ Liu Dongcai

Digging only in loose soil, avoiding the hard bones; only doing things that go with the current, never daring to enter turbulent rapids and dangerous shallows. This selective conduct of "prioritizing the easy over the difficult" still finds a market among individual Party members and cadres. They rush to be first for work that is easy to shine at and simple to complete, while avoiding tasks that concentrate contradictions and require hard fighting, playing the role of "yes-men" and "enlightened gentlemen." Little do they know that this is precisely a departure from the Party member and cadre's true character of shouldering responsibility and waging struggle.

In all matters under heaven, if effort is applied only where things are easy, the difficult places will forever remain obstacles. Admittedly, in leadership decision-making and work deployment, it is sometimes necessary within a given time and space to weigh pros and cons or to tackle easy things before difficult ones. But if the guiding ideology is not correct and one persistently chooses the easy and abandons the difficult, problems will only accumulate more and more, and risks will only grow greater and greater. Those cadres who only add "flowers to brocade" and refuse to "send charcoal in the snow" may seem clever but in reality delay affairs.

As the ancient saying goes: "Confront the most difficult and plan for the most distant." True political achievement has always been forged in the place of "difficulty." Faced with sandstorms, Jiao Yulu did not take a detour but led the masses to plant paulownia trees one by one; in the poverty alleviation battle, millions of cadres dug into impoverished mountain villages and gnawed through the hardest bones. It was precisely because they chose "difficulty" that they achieved extraordinary "results."

Those who prioritize the easy over the difficult are, at their root, afraid of taking risks and afraid of bearing responsibility. The negative mentality of "do more, err more; do less, err less; do nothing, err nothing" is an irresponsible attitude toward the cause. One must understand: the more thorny the matter, the more one must step forward to meet it; the hotter the potato, the more one must take it in hand. Trampling the word "difficult" underfoot builds the ability and confidence to get things done.

Those who fear difficulty will face difficulty for a lifetime; those who overcome difficulty will face difficulty only for a time. At present, achieving the centenary goal of army building is in its critical assault phase, and the "Loushan Pass" and "Lazikou" that cannot be avoided or circumvented are right before us. Party members and cadres should have the courage to take on responsibility — in their positions, plan their affairs, fulfill their duties, and proactively shoulder heavy and difficult burdens within the scope of their responsibilities. They should face difficulties, contradictions, risks, and hidden dangers squarely, and advance in the face of difficulty to overcome it. They should uphold Party principles, be clear about right and wrong, dare to struggle, and take an unambiguous stand on major issues and matters of principle. Only in this way can they break new ground and produce genuine results.

Plan Systematically — Resolutely Guard Against "Prioritizing the Local Over the Overall"

■ Wang Haigang

Chairman Xi once gave a precise "portrait" of those who "prioritize the local over the overall": some cadres have weak political awareness and overall perspective; when they encounter matters, they start from personal interests or the small-group interests of their locality or unit, calculating personal interests and disregarding the interests of the people; they look only to local interests and ignore overall interests, and even sacrifice overall interests to seek small-group interests; they adopt a utilitarian attitude toward higher-level policies — acting swiftly on what benefits them, shelving what does not benefit them, paying lip service to what harms them while acting otherwise, and even engaging in "policies from above, countermeasures from below," not hesitating to sacrifice overall interests for local interests. This kind of parochialism (本位主义) often damages the overall situation and ultimately harms the local as well.

"One who does not plan for the whole is not fit to plan for a part." This saying has long made clear the dialectical relationship between the local and the overall. The local and the overall are mutually dependent and mutually reinforcing. When thinking about problems and doing work, if one does not consider the overall picture and the whole, it is easy to "see only the trees and not the forest" and to attend to one thing while losing sight of another. Equally, the overall cannot be separated from the local and requires the local to play its role. One should proceed from the standpoint of serving the overall with one's own domain, using key breakthroughs in the local to drive overall improvement across the board, thereby achieving "bringing honor to one's own domain while adding luster to the overall."

One who grasps the greater can also encompass the lesser. In those years, when the Liu-Deng Army advanced into the Dabie Mountains, Comrade Deng Xiaoping said: "As long as we annihilate the main enemy forces on the southern front, even if the Central Plains Field Army is wiped out entirely, the liberation armies on all fronts across the country can still achieve national victory — this price is worth paying." Looking back at history, it was precisely because the broad ranks of commanders and fighters correctly handled the relationship between the local and the overall, sacrificing the lesser self to fulfill the greater self, that our army won one hard battle after another and achieved one victory after another.

To establish and practice a correct outlook on political achievement, Party members and cadres must keep in mind "the great affairs of the nation" and the great affairs of the military, think about problems and handle matters from the height of the overall situation, shoulder responsibility and wage struggle within the larger context of the Party, the state, and the military, and frequently ask themselves: Does this decision affect those upstream and downstream, those to the left and right? Is this "bright spot" built upon a "dark spot" elsewhere? Is the small local ledger consistent with the large overall ledger, the general ledger, and the long-term ledger?