[centius]

He is literally 5 foot nothin', a hundred and nothin' physically.

Weird face that scares women.

But 22 *billion* dollars to the good.

What can we learn from this guy?

[NovaVirtu]

Quote:

But 22 *billion* dollars to the good.

I think you answered you own question.

[Dusty]

(09-20-2014 11:05 AM)centius Wrote:  

He is literally 5 foot nothin', a hundred and nothin' physically.

Weird face that scares women.

But 22 *billion* dollars to the good.

What can we learn from this guy?

1. Be short and ugly.
2. ???
3. Profit and bang!

[PrimeTime32]

He's one of the major players of the biggest IPO in history (Alibaba). He might be built like David but has the heart of Goliath.

[jayyrod1]

Money is an aphrodisiac.

[Cattle Rustler]

Dollah make you hollah!

[Vice]

I was surprised to read that he's only 49. Looks much older to me.

[TravelerKai]

Jack Ma is just another super fucking smart, super hard working guy, that was in the right places with the right opportunities and made the most of them. He started from the bottom. Dude is a straight up hustler. No one can keep someone as determined as he is down. I'm not sure what lessons you can learn from him that others have not shown before him, but he is definitely proof that hard work and determination won't hold you down forever.

[rekruler]

Quote:

At an early age, Ma developed a desire to learn English so he rode his bike for 45 minutes each morning in order to go to a nearby hotel and converse with foreigners. He would guide them around the city for free in order to practice and perfect his English.[4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma

Says it all, really.

[Foolsgo1d]

(09-20-2014 04:29 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

Jack Ma is just another super fucking smart, super hard working guy, that was in the right places with the right opportunities and made the most of them. He started from the bottom. Dude is a straight up hustler. No one can keep someone as determined as he is down. I'm not sure what lessons you can learn from him that others have not shown before him, but he is definitely proof that hard work and determination won't hold you down forever.

In China of all places?

Not to take credit from him but if he was to not give the right palms some grease he wouldn't be where he is. I'm sure if he upset any of the establishment his life would be over.

As long as he keeps people happy he will be on the winning side.

[TravelerKai]

(09-20-2014 06:54 PM)rekruler Wrote:  

Quote:

At an early age, Ma developed a desire to learn English so he rode his bike for 45 minutes each morning in order to go to a nearby hotel and converse with foreigners. He would guide them around the city for free in order to practice and perfect his English.[4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma

Says it all, really.

Yep. Lots of young Chinese teens have pestered me to speak English with them over the years. One of them told me he wants to come to America to get an Economics, an English, and a Finance degree. He is like 16 and his English is waaay better than my wife's. He can discuss Macro and Micro economics in deeep detail. He even learned game from me in a couple days and used it to lose his virginity a week later.

Badwolf is right about how the Chinese are going to take over, in lots of ways. There are so many kids like that over there it's crazy. They have a hunger relative few here have.

[TravelerKai]

(09-20-2014 07:01 PM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  

(09-20-2014 04:29 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

Jack Ma is just another super fucking smart, super hard working guy, that was in the right places with the right opportunities and made the most of them. He started from the bottom. Dude is a straight up hustler. No one can keep someone as determined as he is down. I'm not sure what lessons you can learn from him that others have not shown before him, but he is definitely proof that hard work and determination won't hold you down forever.

In China of all places?

Not to take credit from him but if he was to not give the right palms some grease he wouldn't be where he is. I'm sure if he upset any of the establishment his life would be over.

As long as he keeps people happy he will be on the winning side.

You don't know China very well. In China, guanxi (connections) may be number one indeed, but talent almost always floats to the top there. Jack Ma probably has a ridiculously high IQ and is extremely well spoken. His work ethic is beast mode. He is basically like a Chinese Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

In China, guys like him find their way in higher positions and ranks very quickly. Bosses are always desperate to find ways to make more money off their talented stock, despite what most think. Ma took it even a step further by having a strong entrepreneur's mindset. China is more of an entrepreneurship country than the US or the UK, in many ways. Anyone can start a business very quickly doing anything and no big dogs will shit on you or stop you with lots of red tape. The only way to get bigger is through connections and greasing palms, but you do not have to do that to get started per se. Just have enough cash to start whatever it is you want.

The biggest limitation back then when he was starting out was the small middle class and low market. He hit it at the right time though, because when the middle class exploded, his business did as well. There are tons of millionaires and quite a few billionaires in China that was in a good position like him.

The Tencent founder billionaire Ma Huateng did the exact same thing more or less that Jack Ma did. Huateng studied in the US though and learned alot from the Silicon Valley giants here.

Anyway Jack shocked everyone recently by stepping down from everything. I'm sure all the politics got in the way of what he enjoyed the most. You cannot become or stay a billionaire in China if you do not play ball with the CCP and let them merge into your companies tightly. I'm sure Jack was tired of it even though no article will tell you that. He has more money than anyone could need and can spend time doing whatever he feels like doing I'm sure.

[iknowexactly]

(09-20-2014 06:54 PM)rekruler Wrote:  

Quote:

At an early age, Ma developed a desire to learn English so he rode his bike for 45 minutes each morning in order to go to a nearby hotel and converse with foreigners. He would guide them around the city for free in order to practice and perfect his English.[4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ma

Says it all, really.

Great item to pick out of his biography:

1) The intuition to pick out the largest payback opportunity-- which is never the most obvious, because everyone else is after the obvious; diluting its value. (Studying English here)

2) Willingness to invest time and effort into what #1 led you to, and to work without immediate reward so you get ahead of more short term oriented competitors. (Others were studying English, but he sought out teachers and guided them for free).

3) Exceptional intelligence to absorb lessons quickly and avoid pitfalls. The type of intelligence differs depending on the pursuit. Muhammad Ali said something like " I said I was the greatest, I never said I was the smartest"

4) Emotional intelligence and geniality with those who matter enough to persuade others to collaborate. (He must have had some charm and likability to be allowed to be a tour guide.)

5) What is overlooked, and what I myself feel I lack- inherent physical stamina to keep at something longer than anyone else can. Medical students have this, they can keep studying dry science for hours a day for YEARS.

I'm smart enough to understand physics, organic chem etc, but don't have the stamina to study it so persistently .

For an extremely rough calculation, lets say we talk about the rare person that is in the top 1% in ALL FIVE of those categories.
1 x .01 x .01 x.01 x .01 X .01 = .0000000001= .00000001 % That's, uhhh.. hardly any- let's call them the zilch crowd.

Now not all of them are in business, so the amount of billionaires is less than .00000001%

But my wild guestimate is that the Zilch Crowd is about that number; if you count all the arts, politics, athletics, business, science...

Imagine all the things that can go wrong. I've know many people who were obviously exceptionally talented -- but they followed the wrong area where there talents weren't aligned with opportunities.

There might be someone who has perfect pitch who doesn't even like music.

[El Chinito loco]

I've always been impressed by Li Ka-Shing's story too. He was a teenage factory laborer making ends meet after his dad died and hustled hard to start his own company. He made money selling plastic flowers and kitsch on the streets and built his empire one brick at a time. I like reading about guys who come from the very bottom and make it through sheer hustle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ka-shing

These guys have some busted wives but keep in mind that it's usually some type of strategic marriage of convenience. They definitely have some rotating harem of beauty queens or actresses out of sight. It's very common knowledge.

If you want to know how these big ballers live and do business in Asia here's a good book on the subject. This one is more focused on SEA but it pretty much applies to Asia in general:

http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Godfathers-M...godfathers

[Tengen]

I looked up a Youtube video of him:

The man speaks very well, quite diplomatic and he projects the idea that he wants to be a more ethical salesman.

[Chewbacon]

Jack is not just brains, grit, and money.

If you've watched him present, he is as charismatic as Jobs (more so, if you take into consideration his language limitations and the fact that he doesn't pander to beta fanboys/wear shitty turtlenecks). Jack is probably the single best indirect spokesperson for Xi Jinping's "Chinese Dream." His vision, and delivery of that vision is pure effervescence. There is a reason overseas Chinese were clamoring to take pics with the NYSE the other day, and why we didn't see that reception with a host of competitors - Tencent, Baidu, etc.

Also, Jack and Chinese entrepreneurs like him often remind us of how great the American Dream is. It has literally been an inspiration to millions of people the world over. But it's also sad to see how - outside of silicon valley - foreigners often outdo us in embodying the ethos of that dream.

[Chewbacon]

(09-21-2014 03:16 AM)Tengen Wrote:  

I looked up a Youtube video of him:

The man speaks very well, quite diplomatic and he projects the idea that he wants to be a more ethical salesman.

His frame is superb. All of the questions peripheral to his vision are subsumed back into his vision through a few selling points. And he does it artfully so it doesn't look like he's disingenuously deflecting the questions.

[Foolsgo1d]

(09-20-2014 07:55 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

Anyway Jack shocked everyone recently by stepping down from everything. I'm sure all the politics got in the way of what he enjoyed the most. You cannot become or stay a billionaire in China if you do not play ball with the CCP and let them merge into your companies tightly. I'm sure Jack was tired of it even though no article will tell you that. He has more money than anyone could need and can spend time doing whatever he feels like doing I'm sure.

This is what I was getting at. Once you reach a certain level you have a lot of hands trying to get into your pockets.

Looks like he wanted none of it and rid himself of them before they could get any leverage.

[polymath]

Your physical stature is not the basis for your value as a man.

[Lucario]

Atleast Jack Ma is above 5'0 ( 5'3 )

What about guys below that height, like Peter Dinklage( 4'5 ) or Verne Troyer( 2'7 ), both who are/were married/slept with better looking women than Jack Ma.

We can certainly learn something from them.

[Swooper]

Clearly the dude is a BOSS.

[centius]

(09-22-2014 03:48 AM)Lucario Wrote:  

Atleast Jack Ma is above 5'0 ( 5'3 )

What about guys below that height, like Peter Dinklage( 4'5 ) or Verne Troyer( 2'7 ), both who are/were married/slept with better looking women than Jack Ma.

We can certainly learn something from them.

He is "about 5 feet tall" according to all media accounts. If it was 5 foot 3 the media would say.

Would say lack of height can hurt SMV if you dont have the money behind you.

[Foolsgo1d]

I think it says everything about the media when the stature of a man should determine his success on any stage, except for the stage which requires it.

Were most of histories villains/heroes at or over 6 feet? Pretty sure Napoleon, Hitler, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great and Stalin were not 6ft. It did not stop them doing what they did.

[The Beast1]

Not hating on his wealth. but Alibaba is nothing special. It removes the middleman so consumers can go directly to China and buy bulk products at a discount. I can go on their right now and buy 500 knock off products at a discount. Not that bad if I want 500 cheap blenders.

I'll be honest and say all of the latest tech IPOs are bullshit. Even Facebook's valuation made me gag. No way in hell these companies which have no real products are worth more than Walmart, Exxon Mobile, and the like. I look forward to when this IPO tech bubble funny money stops happening.

And wwhile I respect a man who has "earned it all" with an attitude like that it's easy for the envious masses to rise up and give him an attitude check. History is rife with individuals who love pontificating about the lesser's wealth. It worked out well for Marie Antoinette.

[Cattle Rustler]

^^^Show me your wealth and your success.

Less time hatin' and more time innovatin' yields success.