Jack Ma: The future has come

Chapter 12 Jack Ma's Internet World View (3)
Today, China's economic growth is fast, but cultural and educational development is slow. These two lines are unbalanced.People's pockets are full, but their heads are empty. A nation with an empty head has no hope, and investment in culture and education must be increased.If we do not develop our own culture, the cultural quality of the common people cannot be improved.Looking at how the United States has developed, the strategy of the White House, the military strength of the Pentagon, the money of Wall Street, the technology of Silicon Valley, and the values ​​of Hollywood are all comprehensive developments.I think this is not anyone's responsibility, but everyone's responsibility.Each of us should use our knowledge and skills to work hard bit by bit.

In the past, we could not afford to invite students from Peking University and Tsinghua University, and they would not come to our company.So, my previous strategy was to find top-notch students from non-top schools.These students are very diligent and hardworking. Although they don't study very well, they can put down their shelves.Therefore, everyone must remember that Alibaba is not an ordinary commercial company. We believe that the Internet should not only be used to make money, but should also promote social progress, change society, and influence society.That's what our company does.

Because of us, the bank's life is difficult.They are earning too much money, but they are not providing customer satisfaction service, now they have to seriously change, change their service attitude, and truly put customers first.We use Internet technology to unite countless small businesses and the power of consumers.Our joy lies not in how much money we earn, but in the great changes that have taken place in society because of us.Because of us, we have promoted reform and social progress.Only by uniting the positive energy of the whole society can we move towards the future.This is our greatest pleasure.

Yesterday's long is today's short
When you have 100 million, you are the happiest.When you have 1000 million, the trouble will come, is it stored in the China Construction Bank or the Agricultural Bank?When you have 1 million or 10 billion, the money is no longer yours. It is others who trust you and give you the money, because the society believes that you will make the money use more efficiently.I never thought that Alibaba's money is mine, we shouldn't think so.The money belongs to the society, but colleagues and customers trust you to manage it well and leave it to you to operate it.

The Internet era has given us equal opportunities. If the United States has great companies, China can also have them.Why is China's e-commerce developing faster than the US? eBay is very powerful, and we also admire Amazon. The two brothers combined are not as big as Taobao.It's not how powerful we are, it's because China's market is huge, and it's because China's original business foundation is too poor.

The business environment in the United States is very good. Wal-Mart supermarkets are almost all over the third- and fourth-tier cities, so e-commerce is difficult to insert, and it is only a supplement to the retail industry.China's supermarkets and shopping malls are not very good, so it has brought room for the development of e-commerce.Sometimes, yesterday's long is today's short.Today, everyone is finally on the same starting line, so we hope to surpass the United States in the era of big data.

We are all a very lucky generation. We don't have much chance of being born 20 years earlier, and we don't have much chance of being born 20 years later.In fact, if you really see through, opportunities exist every day.I think if you want to start a business, there are countless opportunities.If a group of like-minded people can get together, seize the opportunities of an era, seize the opportunities of a country, and truly participate in the social changes of an era, it will be the luck of a lifetime.

When I was in Washington, I communicated with Greenspan, who was 88 years old.He listened to me talking about Yu'e Bao, saying that he had learned a lot, but he didn't know there was such a game.There is no such room for interest rate liberalization in the United States.What does this mean?Today, many young people complain that this is wrong and that is wrong. Where there are complaints, there are opportunities for development. Instead of complaining, it is better to take action to change it.You can’t do it alone, so you can invite someone who knows better than you to do it with you, or you can do it with someone who knows better than you. This is also an opportunity.Instead of dawdling every day, lamenting that your skills are useless every day.

So, what I want to say is that Alibaba has persisted in this way of thinking for 15 years.We still hope to use this way of thinking to support the next few decades and hundreds of years.At each stage, we hope to have outstanding young people join in. Our employees may still be more than 6 people, and 2.5 people will be left in the end.

Relatively speaking, we are more fortunate, and those who persist live a good life.

Editor's note:

On March 2014, 3, the Alibaba Technology Forum with the theme of cloud computing and big data was held in the Centennial Lecture Hall of Peking University.Facing thousands of students, Jack Ma talked about his entrepreneurial philosophy.

6. Repair roofs when the sun is shining, and have children when you are young and strong
One day, your business will become bigger; one day, your business will become complicated; one day, your business will have a lot of baggage; one day, your business will need to change and transform.As of today, Alibaba has gone through 17 years.In the past 17 years, we have lived like a year, and now it is getting more and more difficult to do and go.When an enterprise develops to a certain scale, there will definitely be these troubles.Please remember this.

Without large-scale profit and lasting profit, it is not called a model

When we run a business, three elements are very important. The first is the business model, the second is the product, and the third is the management.Which of these three things is more important?When I worked with Wang Lifen on "Win in China", one of the judges was in risk management. He thought the model was more important and didn't pay much attention to people.There is also a buddy who only cares about whether he is a good person.I think it is impossible for these two people to be a competent CEO. An excellent CEO must have a strong management foundation.Take Haier as an example, does Haier have no products?Haier had no products, so it was impossible to smash refrigerators in 1984. In the 20s, how many Chinese companies had this level?At that time, many young people may not have been born yet. I have a deep impression of that era. At that time, to buy a refrigerator, you had to pay a ticket, and almost everyone could not afford it.But Haier went so far as to smash it. This is total quality management, this is the brand, and this is the product model at that time.The product is the vitality, and it has not changed until today.It is actually not easy for a company as large as Haier to take this step and cooperate with a company like Alibaba.We don't care, anyway, we just need to find a big brother to cooperate with.No matter how big Ali's system is, it is not as complicated as Haier's system.

If there is no large-scale profit and no lasting profit, it is not called a model, but a commercial activity.Which company can be said to have a good model?We talk about Google, Facebook, Tencent, and Ali. After all, there are less than 20 companies in the world.As of today, Haier still has a profit of more than 100 billion yuan here.Haier's model and experience today will definitely be of great help to your business' future growth.Write down today, it will be useful one day.I actually spend a lot of time looking at other companies. Their painful experience is our best teaching material.

Doing business requires a huge fun drive
Enterprises are people, and management is leverage.The first time I heard the phrase "a business is like a person" was from the CEO of Sony Corporation.In my opinion, an enterprise is a person, it has birth, old age, sickness and death, and when an enterprise encounters a problem, it is sick.Some problems are minor illnesses, such as a cold, if you don’t treat it, it will heal on its own; some problems, if you don’t cure it, it becomes cancer, and it gets bigger and bigger.Manage your business as you manage yourself.I heard that Zhang Ruimin has to read more than 100 books a year, and the books I have read in my whole life are not so many, and half of them are Jin Yong's novels.Therefore, I especially admire Zhang Ruimin, and my biggest feeling is that his knowledge is very profound.In my opinion, Zhang Ruimin can definitely be called a typical expert-type scholar.

Reading more than 100 books a year is driven by great pleasure.Except for Haier, there are really few Chinese enterprises that can develop to such a large scale in just 32 years.Without great fun, without strong love, without a strong ability to resist temptation, it is impossible to do it.So, if you want to do business, you have to think clearly, what is your great pleasure?Some people like to study patterns, some people like to study products.

Management: management is to manage people and culture, and management is management system and management mode
In my opinion, management means managing people and culture, and management means managing systems and models.My duty is to manage people well.What is the best way to manage people?It is to use culture to manage.Every company has its own different thinking, so the management methods and methods may be different, but the starting point is the same.Take management innovation as an example. A few years ago, there was a fierce quarrel within Ali. Should innovation be established with an innovative system, or should the CEO make the decision?We debated for a day, and finally I personally think that both the system and the CEO are important.If you don't have a good innovation system, you can't have hordes of innovations.The emperor must have 40 or 50 sons, otherwise who will take over?But in the end who will become the crown prince and the first product to be launched, that has to be decided by the CEO of the emperor.

I'm not bragging, I "bet" pretty well.At that time, I bet on Taobao, and everyone went to look at Chinese Internet companies today. Basically, the people who do sales and marketing are the original people of Ali, and all of our people go out to be CEOs and COOs.We were in full swing at that time, and there was no doubt about sales.After I bet on Taobao, I bet on Alipay, and then I bet on Alibaba Cloud.Our innovations come in groups and emerge in endlessly.In certain circumstances, decisions must be made, and this is our future.Some people say, you bet, how do you make this judgment?You must ask yourself what do you have?What do you want?What to give up?As a leader, you must always grasp the direction of the enterprise, which is your mission, vision and values.

(End of this chapter)