Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba | The Brave Ones

Summary

The transcript captures the journey of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, from his humble beginnings to becoming a global business icon. It highlights his relentless spirit, innovative vision, and the challenges he faced in transforming China's e-commerce landscape. The narrative underscores his belief in the power of the internet, his commitment to small businesses, and the strategic decisions that propelled Alibaba to success, including the creation of Alipay and the company's IPO. Ma's story is one of ambition, resilience, and the transformative impact of technology on society and economy.

Takeaways

• 🌏 Embrace Globalization: The script emphasizes the inevitability of globalization and the importance of improving rather than resisting it.
• 🏁 Long-Term Vision: It's likened to a 10,000-meter race where early competitors may not be the ultimate ones, suggesting a focus on long-term goals over immediate competition.
• 🔗 Internet as Opportunity: The internet is presented as a significant opportunity, especially for small businesses, to expand their reach and market.
• 💪 Persistence and Relentlessness: A key trait of successful individuals is their relentless drive, as exemplified by the story of Jack Ma's journey.
• 📈 Starting from Humble Beginnings: Jack Ma's story is highlighted as an example of starting from modest means and achieving significant success through determination and vision.
• 🤝 The Power of Networking: Ma's early efforts in learning English by befriending foreign visitors and understanding different cultures underscore the value of networking.
• 🚀 Pioneering Spirit: The narrative showcases the importance of having a pioneering spirit and being willing to take risks to achieve breakthroughs.
• 🛠 Building Infrastructure: The script highlights the challenges and efforts in building the necessary infrastructure for internet businesses in China.
• 💼 Adaptability in Leadership: Jack Ma's transition from an English teacher to a CEO demonstrates the need for adaptability and learning in leadership roles.
• 🤝 Collaboration for Growth: The partnership with Yahoo is highlighted as a strategic move to combine forces and create a more comprehensive business ecosystem.
• 🛡 Resilience in the Face of Adversity: The script details the resilience required to navigate through business challenges, including economic downturns and competition.
• 💡 Innovation and Creativity: The development of Alipay is an example of innovative thinking to solve real-world problems and create new business models.
• 🌟 Inspiring Leadership: Jack Ma's story is portrayed as one of inspiration, showing the power of dreams and the ability to motivate others to achieve great things.
• 🏆 Measuring Success Beyond Wealth: The script suggests that true success is measured by the impact one has on society and the world, not just personal wealth or business success.

Q & A

What is the primary message about competition in the business world according to the transcript?

The primary message is that competition is inevitable in business, and instead of worrying about it, one should focus on improving and adapting to the globalized market.

How does the transcript describe Jack Ma's approach to dealing with competition?

Jack Ma is described as relentless, focusing on long-term goals rather than immediate competition, similar to the mindset needed in a 10,000-meter race.

What role did the internet play in the early days of Jack Ma's business?

The internet was seen as an opportunity for small businesses, and Jack Ma leveraged it to attract employees and businesses to build their platforms, eventually expanding to 40 countries.

How did Jack Ma's background influence his business philosophy?

Coming from a poor family and having experienced rejection in various jobs, Jack Ma developed a resilience and a belief in the importance of serving customers and creating something that would change China.

What was the significance of the year 1995 for Jack Ma?

1995 was significant because it was the year Jack Ma visited the United States for the first time, touched computers, and started searching things on the Internet, which led to the idea of putting Chinese companies online.

How did Jack Ma's initial lack of technical knowledge impact his business venture?

Despite not knowing much about technology, Jack Ma's vision and determination led him to start his first company, China pages, and go against conventional wisdom in the tech industry.

What was the turning point for Alibaba's growth?

The turning point was when Masayoshi Son of Softbank invested in Alibaba after being impressed by Jack Ma's vision, providing the capital needed for the company to grow.

How did Jack Ma's strategy differ from typical business approaches?

Jack Ma focused on educating small businesses about the Internet and creating a mass movement, rather than following traditional business strategies.

What was the impact of the Taobao marketplace on Alibaba's success?

Taobao, which allowed people in China to sell things to each other, became a significant part of Alibaba's ecosystem, attracting a large user base and eventually leading to a partnership with Yahoo.

How did Alibaba's approach to serving small businesses and consumers contribute to its success?

By focusing on serving small businesses and consumers well, Alibaba attracted big companies and created a robust ecosystem that supported a vast number of businesses that would not have existed without it.

What role does Jack Ma see for technology in the future of Alibaba and society?

Jack Ma envisions technology challenging traditional business models and transforming the world, including retailers, manufacturers, and financial sectors, while also focusing on social responsibility and the bigger picture of history.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Embracing Globalization and Competition

The first paragraph introduces the theme of globalization and the inevitability of competition in business. It emphasizes the importance of adapting to the global market and using it as an opportunity for growth rather than a threat. The speaker, presumably Jack Ma, shares his relentless spirit and the early days of leveraging the internet for small businesses in China. He recounts his humble beginnings, learning English by interacting with American tourists, and the profound impact of China's opening up to the West. The narrative also touches on his ambition to change China and the initial struggles he faced in his entrepreneurial journey.

05:01

🚀 The Rise of Alibaba and Overcoming Challenges

This paragraph details the growth of Alibaba amidst skepticism and the Asian economic crisis. It highlights Jack Ma's ability to inspire and lead a team of ordinary people to achieve extraordinary feats. The story of Alibaba's early days, including the lack of infrastructure and the challenge of selling the concept of the internet to businesses, is recounted. The paragraph also discusses the critical turning point when Softbank's Masayoshi Son invested in Alibaba, and Jack's strategic decision to only accept $20 million of the offered $40 million. The narrative underscores the importance of perseverance, belief in the internet's potential, and the transformative impact of Alibaba on China's economy and e-commerce landscape.

10:01

🛑 Alibaba's Pivot and Strategic Decisions

The third paragraph narrates Alibaba's strategic shift from an optimistic expansion phase to a period of retrenchment during the internet bubble burst. It describes the challenges of managing a dispersed team and the tough decision to close the San Francisco office. The narrative captures the moment of self-doubt Jack Ma experienced during layoffs and his realization of the responsibilities of being a CEO. The paragraph also draws a parallel between Jack's business philosophy and the story of Forrest Gump, emphasizing the importance of simplicity, service, and authenticity in leadership.

15:02

🤝 Strategic Partnerships and Innovations at Alibaba

This paragraph discusses Alibaba's strategic partnership with Yahoo, which marked a significant milestone in the company's growth and brand expansion in China. It outlines Jack Ma's vision of integrating diverse business models to create a unique ecosystem. The narrative also covers the challenges faced by multinational companies in China and Alibaba's innovative approach to compete with eBay, ultimately leading to eBay's exit from the Chinese market. The paragraph highlights the creation of Alipay, a revolutionary payment system that addressed the lack of online payment options and contributed to Alibaba's success.

20:04

🌟 Alibaba's Impact and Jack Ma's Visionary Leadership

The final paragraph reflects on Alibaba's IPO, its immediate impact, and Jack Ma's rise as China's richest man. It emphasizes the importance of trust and the company's youthful workforce, reflecting the internet generation's potential to shape the future. The narrative explores Alibaba's focus on data and technology as key drivers of human life and the company's role in enabling traditional business innovation. The paragraph also touches on the pressures of operating within China's political system and Jack Ma's commitment to social responsibility, women empowerment, and his broader vision for the company's contribution to society and history.

Keywords

💡Competition

Competition refers to the contest of opposing forces or individuals striving for the same objective. In the context of the video, it is mentioned that competition is an inevitable part of business, and instead of worrying about it, one should focus on improving the situation. The script emphasizes that in the globalized world, competition is everywhere, and the key is to adapt and excel, as illustrated by the 10,000 meters running analogy.

💡Globalization

Globalization is the process of increased interconnectedness and interdependence of countries, which has shrunk the world into a global village. The video discusses the inevitability of globalization and the importance of embracing it rather than resisting it. It is highlighted as a driving force that business leaders must adapt to, as exemplified by the speaker's perspective on improving rather than stopping globalization.

💡Relentless

Relentless describes a quality of being unyielding and persistent, never giving up or slackening. The video script uses this term to describe the character of successful individuals, suggesting that a relentless drive is a key to achieving success in business, as Jack Ma is portrayed to possess this quality.

💡Internet Opportunity

Internet Opportunity refers to the various possibilities and prospects that the internet provides for growth and advancement, particularly for small businesses. The script discusses how the internet has been a great equalizer, allowing small businesses to compete on a global scale and leverage online platforms to build their customer base, as evidenced by the story of Jack Ma attracting businesses to his platform.

💡Humble

Humble, in this context, means having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance. The video emphasizes the importance of humility in business, especially when serving customers. It is highlighted as a core value that has contributed to the success of the business discussed, where the company's focus on serving customers with humility has been a key to its growth.

💡Retailer

A retailer is a person or business that sells goods or services to consumers for personal use. The script mentions Jack Ma as the largest retailer in the world, which underscores his business's scale and impact. It reflects his company's position in the market and its role in shaping consumer behavior and the retail industry.

💡Craziness or Madness

Craziness or madness, in a business context, can refer to the willingness to take risks and think unconventionally to achieve extraordinary results. The video script suggests that a bit of 'craziness' might be necessary to accomplish great things, as exemplified by the speaker's reference to Jack Ma's nickname 'Crazy Jack Ma' and the idea that it takes a certain level of unconventional thinking to succeed.

💡Ambition

Ambition is a strong desire to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. The script discusses how personal ambition was once suppressed in China but later encouraged, leading to individuals like Jack Ma aspiring to create significant changes. It is portrayed as a driving force behind the entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to build something impactful.

💡Rejection

Rejection refers to the act of dismissing or refusing to accept something or someone. The video script mentions Jack Ma's experiences with rejection in various early career attempts, which he overcame to become successful. It illustrates the resilience and persistence needed to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship.

💡Innovation

Innovation is the process of introducing new ideas, methods, or products. The script discusses Jack Ma's innovative approach to business, such as creating Alibaba and Alipay, which revolutionized e-commerce and online payments in China. It highlights the importance of innovation in driving business success and societal advancement.

💡Ecosystem

An ecosystem in business refers to the interconnected network of organizations and resources that interact to create a stable and productive environment. The video script uses the metaphor of an ecosystem to describe the complex and dynamic environment that Alibaba has created, emphasizing the importance of small businesses and consumers in this system, and how it has contributed to the company's growth and success.

Highlights

Emphasizing the inevitability of competition in business and the importance of adapting to it rather than trying to avoid it.

The idea that globalization cannot be stopped and the necessity to improve it rather than resist it.

Drawing an analogy between business competition and a 10,000-meter race, suggesting that initial competitors may not be the ultimate ones.

Highlighting Jack Ma's relentless nature as a key quality for success.

The potential of the internet as an opportunity for small businesses, as exemplified by Jack Ma's influence in China.

The importance of humility and serving customers as core values for business success, as demonstrated by Jack Ma.

Jack Ma's achievement in creating a business that is unparalleled globally as the largest retailer.

The belief that customer satisfaction is more important than investor approval for a company's future success.

Jack Ma's background of being born into a poor family and the hardships he faced growing up.

The impact of the China-US agreement in 1972 on opening up China and Jack Ma's hometown, Hangzhou.

Jack Ma's unique way of learning English by befriending foreign tourists and serving as a free tour guide.

The cultural and knowledge differences Jack Ma discovered between what he learned from Chinese books and American visitors.

Jack Ma's ambition to create something that would change China, despite facing rejections in various career attempts.

The story of Jack Ma's first encounter with the internet during his trip to the United States in 1995 and the vision that emerged from it.

The challenges faced by Jack Ma in starting his first company without any knowledge of technology.

The significant investment from Masayoshi Son of Softbank that played a crucial role in Alibaba's growth.

Jack Ma's role in developing the internet in China, focusing on e-commerce as a vector for growth.

The importance of serving consumers and small businesses well, which in turn attracts larger companies.

The strategic mistake of opening a large Alibaba office in San Francisco and the subsequent need to shut it down.

Jack Ma's philosophy of not touching power, money, or glory, and instead using them to support and empower others.

The record-breaking Alibaba IPO and its impact on Jack Ma's personal wealth and Alibaba's market value.

The focus on hiring young, optimistic, and team-oriented individuals at Alibaba, reflecting the internet generation.

Jack Ma's vision for the next 10-30 years, aiming to enable innovation in traditional businesses and transform the world.

The establishment of Alibaba as a financial services company, providing support to small businesses and young people.

The challenges of being a large company like Alibaba within the context of the Chinese Communist Party.

The importance of mobile phones in driving Alibaba's growth and enabling millions of small businesses.

The significant role of women in Alibaba, making up more than 48% of the company's workforce.

Jack Ma's commitment to social responsibility and his desire to do good in business and the world.

Jack Ma's perspective on measuring success by the impact created on China rather than personal wealth or company valuation.

The encouragement to face challenges head-on, learn by doing, and not be afraid to jump into new experiences.

Transcripts

When you do business,

don't worry about competition.

There's nowhere in this

world where there's no competition.

You have to get used to it.

You cannot

stop globalization.

The world is getting so small.

If you cannot stop it,

improve it.

Forget about the

competition today.

It's like a 10,000

meters running.

For the first 200 meters,

don't think that guy is the competitor;

keep on running.

3000 meters later,

you will know is a competitor.

He's

got that quality that I think unites

so many people who are ultimately successful.

He is relentless.

The internet is opportunity for small business.

He's sort of like the

pied piper of the Internet in China.

Don't miss this chance.

First he attracted employees.

How are you doing?

How are you?

And then he attracted millions of businesses

to build their business on the platforms.

40 countries this year.

A hundred and seventy hours.

Forty... like forty

six.

We know that we have to be

humble, we have to serve our customers.

Jack Ma has done a phenomenal job

to create a business that is

second to none in the world.

He is the largest retailer.

Investors may not like us;

if customers like

us, we have the future.

I heard they call him crazy Jack Ma.

I think it takes a little bit of

craziness or madness

to achieve anything.

I was born in a very normal

family and poor family.

Six people share $7

a month.

We can only eat to one chicken a year.

Was terrible.

Nixon visited my city.

1972,

China USA sign the- Mao

Zedong and Nixon signed the agreement.

So China become open door.

My city Hangzhou was one of the

first cities that opened

to the west.

We got a lot of American tourists to visit

my city.

What he would do is he would befriend

foreign visitors who came to Hangzhou

to walk around the West Lake there.

And I learned English

by being a free guide for

tour guide.

No more than the language,

Jack was learning about the

culture.

The things I learned from books from China

are so different from the things I learn from the

American visitors.

So I started to think differently.

You know in China, for so many decades,

the kind of personal ambition

that he exemplifies was suppressed.

When Deng Xiaping came along

and sort of took the top off of things

and said, "It's OK to have your

private ambition to make something

of yourself, it won't get you in political

trouble," this was a kind of an invitation

from people like Jack Ma.

His goal was always

to create something

that would change China.

When I tried to be a Policeman - reject.

When I tried to be a KFC

person - reject.

I want to be a hotel waiter - rejected.

So I get used to it.

As entrepreneur,

one of the qualities I have is that

when I'm rejected by people,

I get used to that.

The road to wherever we all

end up is not always

perfect.

It's paved with lots of difficulty

and challenge

and failure and

you have to summon up some sort of strength

within you to believe in yourself.

Jack Ma grew up in relatively modest means

and then he became a teacher.

And by all accounts that's

sort of where he expected to be for quite

some time.

Then I came to America in 1995.

First a trip to the States.

And first time in my

life I touched to keep all the computers.

And he started searching things on

the Internet. When he searched China,

nothing came up in the search results.

So he said to himself,

"If I can

put Chinese companies on the Internet

and allow them to connect

with business people in the U.S.

and other countries,

I could create possibly a really powerful

business."

I called myself at that time like

a blind man riding on

the back of blind tigers.

Without knowing anything about technology

or computers, we started our the first

company.

He's gone against all convention.

He says that

he doesn't know anything about technology.

It's hard to believe.

When he started his first company,

called China pages,

he would go knocking on the doors

of government officials.

They would really just turn him away saying

that what he was doing

wasn't appropriate.

He should just go back to

maybe teaching English.

This was opening day for something called

Windows 95 that has something

to do with computers.

With Deng now gone,

China's future will be shaped by a

great power struggle.

Well, 1997 proved to be a watershed

year for Asia, the year when the Asian

economic miracle became a

thing of the past.

There seems to be no stopping the speeding

tech train; technology stocks keep climbing

into record territory.

2000 and when the internet

was starting to boom in China,

a friend told me that there was

a company trying to go global from

an apartment in Hangzhou.

Eighteen years ago,

in my apartment,

I told the 18 founders

that one day

we would build up a site.

This site would be the top 10 sites

of the world.

Very few people believed

that we would make it happen.

Jack's greatest strength is bringing together

ordinary people to do

these incredible things that they never

thought was possible.

Most of my colleagues

and 18 founders they were my students,

my friends.

None of them were very successful.

Among the 18 people,

there were only three people who

know something about computers.

Being first in China

was a key. You've got to remember there was not

great infrastructure for

even the telephone.

When Alibhai we got started

and when I joined the company,

trying to sell businesses in China

the Internet was like trying to sell

magic beans to someone.

I mean they couldn't see it,

they couldn't touch it,

and here was this guy - this kind

of interesting looking English teacher -

coming door to door to try

and tell people they should spend

their money,

several thousands of dollars,

to put their company on this thing called

the Internet.

What it really was was a

opportunity for

corporations really

in other parts of the world to try

to source manufacturing

in China via the

web.

In the past eighteen years when

I do Internet in China,

we got a criticism every day.

You know something where you believe it,

a lot of people criticize it.

But if you really believe,

continue to do it.

Improve it.

We were rejected by more than 30

venture capitalists

but we are very optimistic.

We believe in the future.

We believe in Internet.

And we believe that if

we do not succeed,

somebody will.

The big investment came when Masayoshi

Son of Softbank met

with Jack.

And the story is that Masayoshi

Son was in Beijing meeting

with a number of

Internet entrepreneurs who presented very

detailed business plans,

but Jack got Jack Ma got up

with no presentation

and just a story - a vision of

what he wanted to do,

what he wanted to Alibaba to become -

and the Masayoshi Son got so

excited about it that he

pledged to invest as much as

40 million dollars in the company.

And Jack turned it down

and said you know what,

we only need 20 million at this time.

Masa obviously gave capital to Jack

Ma that he desperately needed.

And also

made the single greatest investment one can

argue, ever.

Period.

Jack Ma's played a very

key role in sort of the development

of the Internet in China

but not as we originally imagined

the Internet would develop.

He has used it as a vector

for commerce.

So it started with some roadshows

with just maybe 100 people,

then 200,

then thousands

and more - thousands more -

where finally Jack turned this into

a mass movement across

China where he educated small

businesses about why they

needed to use the Internet.

And he really created a revolution by

educating his customers one person

at a time.

This is such a big monster.

It is something that never happened in the

history before.

So we think we are

changing China.

We're helping China to the second

level.

He understood what technology

could do for the Chinese people

in terms of affording them access

to the worlds of

product.

And he's done it.

Alibaba went from this sort

of optimistic expansion

phase to to this somewhat depressing

phase of cutting back

and I think for just a moment in

time he even wondered if the company

would survive.

The ecosystem of Africa,

the lives is not designed by

lion,

tiger

and elephants.

Life is designed by the minor

insects.

For us,

consumers,

small business are the key.

If we can serve these consumers

and small businesses well,

big companies will get involved.

They will start to see it coming.

So if you keep good sides

of shrimps,

all the sharks will come.

Big fish will come.

When we

started Alibaba B2B, we are helping small

business selling things

across the board.

So we think: "Which

country has the best technologies

on the Internet?" We say USA.

So we decided to

build up a huge office

in San Francisco.

But what happened was it

created a disaster inside the company.

We had a division where half the team

was in the US, half the team was in China

and there was a lot of friction between the management.

So we did know something wrong we say

we have to shut down the office.

And it was at a time in 2000

when the Internet bust had hit

us really hard

and we were laying off staff around the

world.

A lot of analysts think the Internet bubble

is ready to burst

and by this time next year

a huge number of those dot coms

might be dot gone.

And Alibaba went from this sort of

optimistic expansion phase

to this somewhat depressing phase

of cutting back.

That was the only time I ever saw him doubt

himself is when he was laying off

people and I think for just a moment in time

he even wondered if the company would survive.

And from that moment on he realized

that being a CEO is different

from being an English teacher.

Being a CEO means making the tough

decisions

and sometimes cutting back in

order to allow the company to survive.

So from that moment on,

I never saw Jack doubt himself

again.

I watched a wonderful movie

called Forrest Gump.

I was touched. He said: "Life's

like a box of chocolates,

you know what you get.

He really does love Forrest Gump.

But if you keep on getting,

you will get a good chocolate.

He just sees it,

in some way,

as a corollary for

the American dream

and all the things

you can potentially do in life.

And I find that Forrest Gump made a fortune

by catch shrimps not

catch whales.

So helping small business

will make me like a Forrest Gump.

Forrest Gump just to keep on running.

Be simple,

serve the people.

He can try to compare himself to Forrest

Gump, he can't ever be Forrest Gump;

he is right out there,

right in front,

doing everything that

he thinks will be

in a pioneering spirit.

He is a pioneer much more than

Forrest Gump was.

He has always had the courage to live

with his decisions

and to move on

and to reinvent

and I think that

is the very definition

today of bravery.

In the early days,

a lot of people were trying to tell him to

change the way he talked,

to change the way he acted - it wasn't

CEO-like enough.

We should not,

you know, throw out the baby because

the baby is crying too much.

And I watched him that just

by being himself

and being authentic

and speaking with his own voice

was something that people found refreshing

and it was something that was easy for us

to get behind.

President Bush is continuing his Asian

tour.

The death toll has risen

and the mystery pneumonia like illness

gripping much of Asia.

China made history this morning,

launching its first astronaut into

orbit.

I first learned about Taobao

when it was still just a secret

project.

The ALibaba that we all know today

began as

Taobao which is the marketplace

by which people in China

could sell things to other people.

Jack Ma,

he pulled some of the key employees from

all Alibaba into his office

and he said: "Listen,

you're going to have to go back to the original

Alibaba apartment.

You're going to have to work in seclusion.

You can't tell your friends,

you can't tell your family.

You can't even tell the other Alibaba

employees about this."

So when we see something is

coming, you have to prepare now.

He realized that eBay,

sooner or later as it grew

in China,

would start coming after Alibaba's

customers.

Very interested in China right now,

it could be one of our biggest markets.

My belief is you have to repair

the roof while it is still sunshine.

Above started free

and I think by announcing we're going to be

free for three years put a lot of pressure

on eBay.

Point blank he said,

they're not going to succeed;

I'm going to get them.

And eBay's reaction put out a

press release saying 'free

is not a business model'

but in fact

we knew that because

we were getting so many people on

tp Taobao because we were free

in the early days,

ultimately we could make money.

I always believe one thing.

You lose only

when you give up.

And in the end,

as a surprise to

eBay,

Jack decided to do a deal

with Yahoo.

Yahoo agreed to purchase Alibaba's shares

for $1 billion in cash

which not only makes Yahoo the largest strategic

investor in Alibaba

but also helps it grow its

brand in China.

Jack's motivation for partnering

with Yahoo was really,

we can add that to the rest of

our businesses and become a sort of an

eBay plus a

Google plus Yahoo all

combined together.

One of the reasons many many multinational

companies that go to China.

They want to compete with local companies

instead of making customerse happy.

Jack Ma did a sort of a

minor miracle in beating eBay.

Another story out on eBay today

it's down 0.2 percent,

eBay talking about cutting off,

at some point in time in the future,

it's Chinese it's Chinese website.

eBay couldn't win there.

They just don't know what the hell they were doing.

When I'm going to succeed at something,

I feel excited;

I feel honored. Wow,

why I have the chance.

We saw that there is a huge opportunity

in China because in China the banking

is so inefficient we realized

if we could create a payment system,

it could grow to much more than a payment

system - it could become a financial institution.

And this opened of course a huge

door because it enabled

him to- there was no way to pay

for things online.

People didn't yet have credit cards so

with AliPay you added a

very important room on his house.

And that was the room of how do we

get payments made.

Being creative in business is a

whole other kind of creativity

but creativity nonetheless.

To be able envision different business

models, to be able to envision

how life can change.

This was a true revolution in China

both in consumerism

and in the Chinese economy.

This is huge.

The number of products on fun

Alibaba is

gigantic. I don't know the number

but it's phenomenal.

I don't think I could ever appreciate

the pressures that Jack Ma is under

to be a hard-charging

entrepreneur at the same time

as he's a part of a

communist system in some

way.

That takes people away.

Leaders of businesses can disappear.

I believe the three things

should not touch.

Power,

money,

the glory.

If you keep the power

in your office,

you're in trouble.

If you keep the money in

your own pocket you will be trouble.

If you put the glory on your head,

you'll be in trouble.

So when you have the money,

spend the money supporting more people.

When you have power, empower in

the others.

With the glory,

let the others have that hat.

Joe it's quite a mob here.

There are more than 130 press organizations

waiting here to see Jack Ma.

You felt like it was

The Oscars.

I was oohing

and ahing because you have to admire that kind of thing.

The IPO of Alibaba was the single largest

and biggest day

that I can remember.

It didn't disappoint.

It went up enormously at the time.

This is the beginning of

Alibaba.

It gave it a market value larger than that of

Wal-Mart on day one.

Ma himself has become China's richest man

just by the founding of Alibaba.

Today he is expected to be worth north

of twenty two billion dollars.

This was a very big deal for China

not just for Alibaba.

Today what we've got is not the money.

What we've got is the trust

from the people.

You go to the headquarters,

it's very interesting.

It's all young people.

I didn't see- I don't think I saw anybody in the

headquarters over 30.

When we hire a lot of people,

I never see their diploma,

I just see whether they are optimistic,

whether they want to learn new things,

if they want to change things,

if they want to work in teamwork.

Those people were below 30-years-old.

They are the internet generation.

They are the generation going to change

the future.

We think data is

going to be so important

to human life in the future.

So now we just that we are

the first to runner.

Compared to tomorrow,

our data is nothing.

Jack Ma day-to-day is not running Alibaba.

He is the visionary,

he is the strategic

thinker about the big picture.

Next 30 years,

the technology is going to challenge

a lot of job opportunities.

People are already unhappy because a lot of machine

learning, artificial intelligence,

is killing a lot of the job.

People start to worry.

So I think the good thing is that

technology is improving

people's lives.

Jack Ma is someone who always dreams

big. I mean really big.

A lot of us have dreams

but Jack's dreams almost seem

unrealistic, they're so big.

Machine is good knowledge

but human beings are good at wisdom.

You have to stay relevant

but at the same time

you also have to be a risk taker

and have to shake things

up a little bit.

Well Alibaba what to do next 10-30

years is to enable

the innovation of traditional business,

transform the world,

transform all the traditional

retailer,

manufacturer,

financial sectors.

He's created one of the largest financial services

companies in the country on the back of,

in a sense, Alibaba.

We are enabling small

businesses and young people to

be able to reach financial

support.

They're the first private company

to become bank-approved

by the Chinese government.

I think it's monstrous.

I think it's very important

but I would think that it's also

probably nerve wracking.

It's great to be Goliath

if you're in a open society

and a free economy.

It can be very problematic to be a Goliath

when the other Goliath

is the Chinese Communist Party.

I don't think I could ever appreciate

the pressures that Jack was under

to be a hard-charging

entrepreneur at the same time

as he's part of

a communist system,

in some way,

that takes people away,

leaders of businesses,

and disappears them.

It takes a lot of- a

lot of fancy footwork to keep

on the right side of that.

So sometimes when I look at these

business people doing things,

I say: "Wow.

I'm not I don't do things like that."

He realized that although

the Chinese government didn't like

the Internet for political content

or for the ability for people to criticize

the government, what they did

like about the Internet was that

it could help create jobs

and help grow the economy.

Every day more than 200

million people are shopping

through a mobile phone on

our site.

You're seeing people in the middle of China

with their smartphone pressed a few buttons

and they can buy lobster from Maine

or cherries from Washington.

I would argue the growth of the mobile phone

was probably the single most important thing

that has helped Alibaba

become a giant it is.

We have more than 10-20

million small businesses using

our platform

and 60 percent of them,

this business never exist

before Alibaba.

And

he is so enthusiastic about what he's

doing and what he's doing is pretty

simple.

It takes a genius to think of the simple.

One of the secret sauce for Alibaba

is that we have more than 48

per cent of

the people in the company -

they are women.

He's supporting women in an era

where,

you know there's still residue

of disrespect for women.

And I think for him to be able to bring that

to China is extraordinary.

I do everything to make sure

that I'm- my customer

happy, employee happy,

the society is good.

It's healthy.

Social responsibility is the

key.

For somebody who is sort of

preposterously unlikely to

have become what he's become,

he's more

or less stayed who is.

He is someone who

wants to do good not only

in business but in the world.

He has the power to inspire other people.

He has the ability to understand what he

doesn't understand,

but knows that he can find

people who can and will for

him.

I think he saw

the possibilities

of a new way of not

only doing business,

but of life.

He's focused on these bigger issues

and where are the company's going in

the broad sort of arc

of history.

If you were to ask Jack Ma what's his greatest accomplishment,

it would not be,

you know, becoming the richest man in China

or building a company worth

hundreds of billions of dollars.

I think he might measure his own

success by the impact

that he's created on China

rather than impact

he's created on just himself

and his own team.

It's always

scary looking far away.

Oh my God, that's a difficult place.

Go there.

Test.

Jump into it.

You never learn to swim until you're in

the water.