Probably after Steve Jobs the next person I look up to would be Jack Ma. I only learned about Jack Ma when I started researching on eCommerce articles. It took me by surprise on how it has grown today and started in China. It’s one of the largest eCommerce today, in par with eBay, Amazon, Walmart, and others. I’d like to share some of my learnings from the different videos I have watched on Youtube about Jack Ma.
1. Customer number 1, Employee number 2, Stockholder number 3
We’ve heard it all before, it’s all about giving the customers what they want. It’s when your employees find meaning to their jobs in which they can give they best for the customers. Stockholders love you when business is good, but they won’t be there for you when business is bad.
2. Working with the government, fall in love with them but don’t marry them.
Jack Ma has always been strong with his principles, he never accepts government projects, or if he does, he does it for free. It’s complicated working with the government as Jack Ma would say it.
3. Every mistake is a wonderful revenue
When you’re still in your 20’s, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t worry. You fall, you stand up. You fall, you stand up. Jack Ma would always say that you should learn not how others became successful, but what mistakes others did.
“Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing.” Failure is what inches us closer to success because without experiencing it, we will never grow as a person or as a business.
4. Find the right people, not necessarily the best or most skilled people
When they started Alibaba, all his “best” employees were pirated by another company. No one wanted to stay because they never believed on how Alibaba could grow. Today, after the IPO, all the employees who started with him and believed in the company are now millionaires.
“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.” – Jack Ma
5. Sometimes you you just have to look at the other side of the business
Jack was confident he could beat eBay on his turf: “eBay may be a shark in the ocean, but I am a crocodile in the Yangtze River. If we fight in the ocean, we lose—but if we fight in the river, we win.”
Some compilation of Jack Ma videos
