In 1987, a 44-year-old man founded a telecom equipment-trading firm in Shenzhen, China, with start-up capital of CNY21,000. In 29 years, it grew to become the largest telecom company in the world.

This book explores the story of what Ren Zhengfei did differently, how the company he founded reached the top spot, and why Huawei is known as a “collective” and not a private company. Fourteen years of meticulous research and 136 executive interviews reveal how Huawei’s success lies in its ability to transform the intellectual elite into a band of soldiers with the same set of values and resolve, while at the same time preventing a culture of subservience