Billionaire Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of
Alibaba Group, as well as one of the most successful Chinese Internet
entrepreneurs, shares his wealth of experiences.
Jack Ma: The mistake I regretted the
most
In 2001, I made a mistake. I told 18 of my
fellow comrades whom embarked on the entrepreneurship journey with me that the
highest positions they could go was a managerial role. To fill all our Vice
President and Senior Executive positions, we would have to hire from external
parties.
Years later, those I hired were gone, but
those whom I doubted their abilities became Vice Presidents or Directors.
I believe in two principles: Your attitude is
more important than your capabilities. Similarly, your decision is more
important than your capabilities!
Jack Ma: You cannot unify
everyone’s thoughts, but you can unify everyone through a common goal.
#1 Don’t even trust that you are able to
unify what everyone is thinking; it is impossible.
#2 30% of all people will never believe
you. Do not allow your colleagues and employees to work for you. Instead, let
them work for a common goal.
#3 It is a lot easier to unite the company
under a common goal rather than uniting the company around a particular person.
Jack Ma: What does a leader
have that an employee doesn’t?
A leader should never compare his technical
skills with his employee’s. Your employee should have superior technical skills
than you. If he doesn’t, it means you have hired the wrong person. What, then,
makes the leader stands out?
#1 A leader should be a visionary and have
more foresight than an employee.
#2 A leader should have higher grit and
tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.
#3 A
leader should have higher endurance and ability to accept and embrace failure.
The quality of a good leader therefore is his
vision, tenacity, and his capability.
Jack Ma: Don’t be involved in
politics
#1 One should always understand that money
and political power can never go hand in hand. Once you are in politics, don’t
ever think about money anymore. Once you are running a business, don’t ever
think of being involved in politics.
#2 When money meets political power, it is
similar to a match meeting an explosive- waiting to go off.
Jack Ma: The 4 main questions
the young generation must ponder on
#1 What is failure? Giving up is the
greatest failure.
#2 What is resilience? Once you have been
through hardships, grievances and disappointments, only then will you
understand what is resilience.
#3 What your duties are? To be more
diligent, hardworking, and ambitious than others.
#4 Only fools use their mouth to speak. A
smart man uses his brain, and a wise man uses his heart.
Jack Ma: We are born
to live and experience life.
I always tell myself that we are born here
not to work, but to enjoy life. We are here to make things better for one
another, and not to work. If you are spending your whole life working, you will
certainly regret it.
No matter how successful you are in your
career, you must always remember that we are here to live. If you keep yourself
busy working, you will surely regret it.
Jack Ma: On competing and
competition
#1 Those that compete aggressively with
one another are the foolish ones.
#2 If you view everyone as your enemies,
everyone around you will be your enemies.
#3 When you are competing with one
another, don’t bring hatred along. Hatred will take you down.
#4 Competition is similar to playing a
board of chess. If you lose, we can always have another round. Both players
should never fight.
#5 A real businessman or entrepreneur has
no enemies. Once he understand this, the sky’s the limit.
Jack Ma: Don’t make complaining
and whining a habit
If you complain or whine once in a while, it
is not a big deal. However, if it becomes habitual, it will be similar to
drinking: the more you drink, the stronger the thirst. On the path to success,
you will notice that the successful ones are not whiners, nor do they complain
often.
The world will not remember what you say, but
it will certainly not forget what you have done.
Jack Ma: Advice to
entrepreneurs
#1 The opportunities that everyone cannot
see are the real opportunities.
#2 Always let your employees come to work
with a smile.
#3 Customers should be number 1, Employees
number 2, and then only your Shareholders come at number 3.
#4 Adopt and change before any major
trends or changes.
#5 Forget the money; Forget about earning
money.
#6 Rather than having small smart tricks
to get by, focus on holding on and persevering.
#7 Your attitude determines your altitude.
Jack Ma: On entrepreneurship
#1 A great opportunity is often hard to be
explained clearly; things that can be explained clearly are often not the best
opportunities.
#2 You should find someone who has
complementary skills to start a company with. You shouldn’t necessarily look
for someone successful. Find the right people, not the best people.
#3 The most unreliable thing in this world
is human relationships.
#4 Today is cruel, tomorrow will be worse,
but the day after tomorrow will be beautiful.
Jack Ma: The 4 don’ts of
entrepreneurship
#1 The scariest things about starting up
is the inability to see, to be snobbish, to be unable to understand what is
going on, as well as to be unable to keep up with pace.
#2 If you do not know where your
competitor is, or overconfident and snobbish about your competitor, or are
unable to comprehend how your competitor became a real threat, you will surely
fall behind him. Don’t be the “they” in this idiom: First they ignore
you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
#3 Even if your competitor is still small
in size or weak, you should take him seriously and treat him as a giant.
Likewise, even if your competitor is massive in size, you shouldn’t regard
yourself as a weakling.
Jack Ma: On starting your own
company
What starting your company means: you will
lose your stable income, your right to apply for a leave of absence, and your
right to get a bonus.
However, it also means your income will no
longer be limited, you will use your time more effectively, and you will no
longer need to beg for favors from people anymore.
If you have a different mindset, you will
have a different outcome: if you make different choices from your peers, your
life will then be different from your peers.
Jack Ma: On opportunities
If there is over 90% of the crowd saying
“Yes” to approve a proposal, I will surely dispose the proposal into the bin.
The reason is simple: if there are so many people who think that the proposal
is good, surely there will be many people who would have been working on it,
and the opportunity no longer belongs to us.
About JACK MA: Jack Ma is a
Chinese Internet entrepreneur. He is the Executive Chairman of Alibaba
Group, a family of highly successful Internet-based businesses. He is also the
first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes Magazine
and ranks as one of the world’s billionaires. Ma was named the Financial Times’
2013 Person of the Year because he personifies the Chinese internet, referring
to him as the “godfather of China’s scrappy entrepreneurial spirit.”
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