Principles & Ideas from the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma (and one of China’s richest men)
Some people love Ma others suspect Alibaba accounting – regardless of what you think check out below and see if you learn something or if it changes your mind one way or the other.
Jack Ma – 21 Laws Of Success
- Optimism – in 1999, Jack Ma and his team had highly optimistic goals, trying to IPO in 2002 – they ended up going public in 2014! But at least they made it
- Social Grace – Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Love, etc.
- Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do to you)
- A Dream – the one’s who think they can change the world.. are the one’s who do
- Rest & Relaxation – helps to prepare you for the next sprint (or long jog)
- Unconscious Competence – first is unconscious incompetence; second is conscious incompetence; third is conscious competence; and finally, you get to unconscious competence.
- Humility – a law of the masters
- “Think Different” – if you follow the crowd, and take average actions, and have an average mindset.. that would make you average.
Jack Ma’s Example – They decided to build Alibaba from HangZhou, which was (at that time) not a hub for entrepreneurs. But because they had no connections or money, starting in Shanghai or Beijing was not favorable for Alibaba.
Instead, they decided to be “the only child” in a local city. - Embrace Failure – the example of Charlie/Warren who ‘rub their noses’ in their failures, in order that they might not make the same mistakes again
- Starting Small – “Start Small, Finish Big” – better that you would enter through the door of humility and have fanfare and success at the end, rather than the other way around examples – Nike, Subway, Apple, Walmart, Rainbow Sandals, etc, etc.
- Building For Yourself – Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Wozniak, Stewart Butterfield, Kevin Systrom, and others would agree that they were building products for themselves and their friends – something that was cool, that they liked, and that they wanted to see in the world
- Taking Responsibility – The buck has to stop somewhere
- Persistence – a very powerful force – John D. Rockefeller said, “I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything..”
- Sense of Humor – and having fun at what you do
Also – a “sense” for the product – Jack Ma likes to say that he doesn’t know technology. Instead, he wants Alibaba, Taobao, Alipay, etc. to be user-friendly.
Jack being a “tester”. - Good Teammates – including teachers/mentors, employees, partners, friends, investors, and customers – Good people come before good results
- Flexibility – “be like water” – unbreakable & malleable – resilient and able to thrive in any environment
- Utilize Natural Advantages – natural aptitude along with hard work and practice would lead to great results
- Leadership – “Let him that would move the world first move himself”
- Egalitarian – We should ask, “Who is the best person(s) for the job?” – not worrying about age, gender, ethnicity, etc.
- Inner Values – if you work on the hidden core competencies first, the outer results will follow
- Continual Learning – Charlie Munger observed that the biggest successes in life were “Learning Machines”
