Jack Ma’s speech at National Taiwan University: There are many opinions in this world, please insist on thinking for yourself

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On the evening of March 3, Jack Ma went to the National Taiwan University to give a special speech and held a discussion with university student representatives. There were nearly 2 hours before the start of the speech, and a long queue had formed outside the venue. Foxconn Group Chairman Terry Gou and other Taiwanese business leaders also made a special trip to the scene to listen.

According to Taiwan's United Daily News, the number of people registering at the event was so high that it reached over 5,000 in an instant, causing the system to crash. However, there were only 2,000 seats available, so the organizer had to add more seats. Within half an hour of the opening, there were already over 300 text messages from students asking questions.

It is understood that yesterday, Alibaba announced plans to set up an entrepreneurial fund in Taiwan to support young Taiwanese and young entrepreneurs to unleash their creativity and potential. The fund is non-profit and is expected to have a total amount of NT$10 billion (RMB 2 billion).

During his speech, Ma Yun once again mentioned an incident from 30 years ago: He once applied for a job at KFC. Of the 25 people who applied, 24 were accepted, but he was the only one who was not accepted. It is said that the owner of that KFC was Taiwanese. (Tianya)

The following is a summary of Ma’s speech:

Before coming to Taiwan, I heard some people saying that you don’t need to teach entrepreneurship. But after four years of being a teacher training student and six years of teaching, “being a teacher” may have become our nature.

I taught in school for 6 years, and I felt that I had not fully fulfilled my responsibility as a teacher. I often went to universities to give speeches whenever I had the chance. Some people asked me why I didn’t come to Taiwan to give speeches when I was giving speeches in Beijing, Shanghai, and the United States. I happened to have an opportunity to meet the principal and he invited me, so I came.

There are many opinions in this world, please use your own brain to judge.

1. About Entrepreneurship:

1. Alibaba was founded with criticism and abuse along the way. If there were no criticism, I would be very nervous. Because the world is changing very fast and becoming more and more diversified. For any point of view, everyone can use their own brains to judge. We can have different views to show the future and look at it.

2. Alibaba is very lucky, but the price and effort we paid are beyond everyone's imagination. There are too many tears, grievances and setbacks behind it. Mr. Guo (Terry Gou) is here, and we are all experienced people. When I started my business, I thought that when the company grew bigger, there would be less pain and trouble, and I could enjoy life on the beach and smoke cigars like rich people. I didn't expect that it would be more tiring and stressful when it grew bigger. Every mistake could make you close down tomorrow.

3. Listen less to what others say, think for yourself, find some like-minded people, and make up your mind that you will accomplish it in five to ten years. This is how Alibaba has become what it is today, and this path is also the path that all entrepreneurs have taken today. Perhaps this is also the basic principle.

2. These experiences have helped me a lot:

1. Learn English. My English is not acquired through formal education, but through chatting. No one in my family knows English. Every morning I ride my bicycle to the entrance of the hotel in Hangzhou and practice English with foreign tourists. I act as a free tour guide and have been doing this for nine years.

In these nine years, I have benefited the most not only from the language, but also from understanding different things, some Western thinking and culture, and broadening my horizons. Because in fact, you are not learning the language, but the culture, learning how another country and region develops. To this day, when I go to cooperate with people all over the world, I can understand the starting point behind it. If you only communicate through translation, sometimes it will be difficult to understand.

2. Become a teacher. I became the president of the student union and the student union in the normal school. I learned how to understand others and organize activities. When I was assigned to teach at the university, the principal said that you were the only one in the class assigned to teach at the university, and you were not allowed to leave within 5 years. I agreed. Later, life in the school was more difficult, because as a teacher, I graduated from the worst school, and people didn’t think much of me, and the salary was not enough. Later, someone in Shenzhen promised to pay me 1,200 yuan, and Hainan was willing to pay me 3,600 yuan... But a promise is a promise, and if you say you won’t go, you can’t go. In this way, I taught in the school for six years.

The experience of being a class teacher for the past 6 years has changed me and benefited me a lot. Because all teachers have the same view that they hope their students will be good and surpass themselves. They will correct their students as soon as they make mistakes and will not hope that their students will learn bad things. So to this day, I am still like a teacher. Every day in the company, I hope that my employees will surpass me, do better than me, and be very successful.

3. Failure experience. Failure is normal. The greatest wealth in life is all your previous failure experiences. I have had a lot of bad luck. Everyone knows that I have been rejected in dozens of jobs and have never been successful in my life. 24 people went to KFC for an interview, and I was the only one who was not accepted (the boss was Taiwanese). No one, including my parents, thought I would succeed. I asked my wife, do you want me to be the richest man or a respected person? She said, you? The richest man? How is that possible! Of course, I want to be a respected person.

Learning languages ​​broadened my horizons, being a student leader and a teacher trained my mentality and organizational skills, and constant failures trained my ability to withstand setbacks.

3. Three important points for starting a business:

1. Optimism. Whether you admit it or not, most people are optimistic by nature. I didn’t realize I was optimistic before. Anyway, I have been a failure since I was a child, so I am used to it. I feel good when I come back after failing in a job application. Learn to warm your right hand with your left hand, and believe that tomorrow will be better than today. When I started my business in 1999, it was almost impossible to sell e-commerce to Chinese companies. We went to ten customers at that time, and all ten were rejected. When there was one that didn’t reject us, we were very happy, very happy.

Ten years later, there will be more and more excellent companies, but you are still complaining. There are different pains at different stages. In the past, no one paid attention to you, which was painful; now, the people who bother you are the ones who care about you.

2. Check your own problems. Running a business is like fighting a war. Coming back alive is success. People who always blame others will never come back. So, spend time watching how others fail and check your own problems.

3. The ability to persist beyond the average person. For more than 10 years, I often thought at night: I don’t want to do this anymore, it’s really boring. But I got up in the morning and continued to work. If you are afraid of competition, don’t start a business. If you are afraid of difficulties and being scolded, don’t start a business. What is the difference between a dream and an ideal? Wanting to be a pilot, a boss, or a professor is called a dream. What is an ideal? There is a team, a group of people who understand and support each other. Ideals must become reality.

4. The best time to start a business

1. There is no better time than this era, because we have never encountered the current opportunities. Each generation has its own responsibilities and opportunities. This is our time. The first and second industrial revolutions released people's physical strength and energy respectively, and the technological revolution we are experiencing this time is releasing people's brains and developing from the IT era to the DT era. Many young people are unwilling to accept reality, so you can make better innovations.

2. In the next 30 years, the entire transformation will far exceed everyone's imagination. Some people say that supermarkets are not selling well because of Taobao. But you don't understand that even without Taobao, sales would not be good either - because consumer demands are becoming more and more personalized, and this is the development of society.

3. Innovation is endless. If everyone is optimistic about something, it is not an opportunity. A college student sold mosquito specimens in summer on Taobao, and they sold very well. He said that when he was reviewing his lessons in the summer, mosquitoes bit him, so he made earrings for girls. As a result, someone wanted two identical mosquitoes, which made him very distressed. A few years ago, a wig that was often used by black Americans sold very well on Alibaba. Someone bought one and went swimming. As a result, the glue on the wig melted. She was not satisfied and complained to us. A few weeks later, the world's first wig that can be used for swimming was born.