WISE2025 Annual Figures Announcement | The world is vast, and the scenery belongs to those who can understand it.

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“The world we see is always shaped by our own perspectives.”

This view put forward by the French philosopher and thinker Maurice Merleau - Ponty in Phenomenology of Perception aptly demonstrates the current relationship between humans and the world: The world is not presented as it is. Instead, before it reaches us, it is filtered, processed, and given meaning layer by layer through perception, experience, memory, and preference.

In other words, we are not just looking at the world; we are looking at the world that we can see.

This is particularly evident in the business world. Facing the same market, some people only feel the chill, while others sense the hidden trends in the air; encountering the same technological wave, some people are wary of uncertainties, while others spot structural opportunities; during the same economic cycle, some people choose to downsize, while others accelerate in the niches.

The terrain of the business world has never changed, but there is never just one “way of seeing the world.”

In the continuous observation and record of China's innovation ecosystem, 36Kr has gradually identified such a group of people: They are used to finding order in chaos. They don't regard uncertainties as threats but as the starting point for understanding the world. They don't rely on external stability but on their own way of understanding the world.

It is this understanding that ultimately shapes the direction of enterprises, the boundaries of industries, and changes the landscape of the business world.

In September this year, 36Kr officially launched the “WISE2025 King of Business Series Annual List,” aiming to find the people, enterprises, and products that “define the era” in the business field. This selection covers three major series: “Person of the Year,” “Enterprise of the Year,” and “Focus Product of the Year.”

Based on the previous registration and content recommendation, after several rounds of selection and review, and in combination with the opinions of professional analysts, we specially release the “WISE2025 King of Business Person of the Year Series List.”

This list presents not just “success stories,” but also the people in this era who, through their own perspectives, judgments, and practices, have changed the business landscape. They have seen their own world and thus created a new landscape for this era.

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King of Business: Make Brand Influence Deeply Rooted in People's Hearts

In the past decade, the growth of consumer brands often relied on channel dividends, store density, and the speed advantage of hit - product iteration.

However, today, the market environment has undergone fundamental changes. The channel structure has become more stable, the information density is much higher than before, and consumers have become more rational.

As the external growth dividends gradually fade away, brands must return to the essence and answer several core questions: If a brand is a common language, what can it say? Whose values does it represent? And with whom does it go hand in hand?

Facing this challenge, a new generation of brand builders is responding in their own ways.

Some people keenly capture the emotional needs of users and transform the brand into an implicit form of identity; some integrate space, products, and services into a unified perception, making the brand a “perceivable trust”; others adhere to a stable aesthetic and values in the rapidly changing cultural landscape, making the brand a reliable sense of direction in this era.

In their view, a brand should not be a cold asset but a warm connection. The real brand influence does not lie in the volume of publicity but in whether it can truly touch people's hearts.

That's why what they create is not just a piece of merchandise but a feeling that can stay in people's hearts.

The following are the “WISE2025 King of Business Persons of the Year for Brand Influence”:

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King of Business: Redefine Possibilities with Technology

In the technology field, true leaders can always see the scenery that others can't.

In their eyes, the significance of a technology is never just “what it can do,” but “how it reconstructs the problem itself.” Because when the problem is redefined, the answer has brand - new possibilities.

This kind of thinking is triggering profound changes in multiple fields. Artificial intelligence is shifting decision - making from empirical judgment to probabilistic insight; life science is driving health management from post - treatment to pre - prediction; intelligent manufacturing is upgrading efficiency optimization from single - point processes to systematic coordination; and computing technology is enabling enterprise growth to rely less on resource input and more on algorithm - driven efficiency improvement.

Behind these changes is a group of dedicated and determined practitioners. They don't chase the superficial excitement but calm down, continuously explore the application boundaries of technology, and solidly build the commercial foundation for implementation.

The following are the “WISE2025 King of Business Science and Technology Leaders of the Year”:

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King of Business: Blaze Your Own Trail

A common trait of the new generation of business people is their perspective without inertia.

The previous generation of entrepreneurs built the basic framework of the market, while the new forces are entering a more flexible, faster, and more complex business world. They no longer follow the established paths but find their own entry points in fragmented demands and unnamed trends.

They are used to taking action in uncertainties and iterating through trial and error. With their keen perception, quick response, and in - depth understanding of users, they have enabled new products, new scenarios, and even new lifestyles to emerge.

Consumption, technology, content, retail... There are no traditional boundaries and no established coordinates. The more mature the market is, the narrower the space left for newcomers. But the more crowded it is, the more we can see those with real judgment.

The emergence of these new - generation entrepreneurs has made the market lively again. They are not just continuing the past but making “new” a new business force in the changing world.

The following are the “WISE2025 King of Business New - Generation Business Pioneers of the Year”:

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This article is from the WeChat official account “36Kr”. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.