Lessons From Zack Ma
Ma is a Chinese internet entrepreneur who launched his first big endeavor, and many since, in the face of adversity or criticism. He was named Financial Times’ “2013 Person of the Year,” and is widely held as a symbol of the Chinese entrepreneurial spirit. While some of his insight may constitute a new approach more focused on the bottom line than others, there is no denying that his perspective is one that has proven staggeringly successful.
1. Hire those with better technical skills than you possess.
If the boss has better technical skills than the employees, then they hired the wrong people. Workers should always be technical experts. Hire them, empower them, and let them do their jobs. They’re better at it than you are.
2. Lead with vision, tenacity, and grit.
There are skills that are vital to successful leadership of any company or endeavor — vision, tenacity, and grit. A leader must be a visionary, able to see opportunity where others do not and acknowledge challenges before they come. A leader must be tenacious, be able to “hang in there” when a less determined individual would have long since given up. A leader must have grit, that ability to buckle down and do what is required in order to get the job before them, done.
3. Attitude is more important than capability.
It is your attitude that determines your altitude. Whether in smooth times or rough, successful leaders remain calm, confident in their mission, and focused on their desired outcome.
4.Customers are first; employees, second; shareholders, third.
As a leader, you only have a certain amount of time and energy. Give yours to those who enable your business, first — your customers. Those who make your business run come second — your employees. The shareholders are given attention and resources only after the first two have been satisfied. Many business owners spend all day, every day, catering to the shareholders. This resource allocation is not sustainable.
5. Act fast
Sometimes, you have to be the fastest off the blocks to win the race. Jack Ma indicates that you have to be extremely fast in grasping opportunities. You also have to be agile in recovering and learning from mistakes. The moment you get an opportunity that is in your line of focus, grab it and work with it before anyone else sees it. This will make you great while your competition is simply good.
6. Get used to rejection
After graduating from university, Ma faced many rejections in the job hunt, including failing to join the police force and even KFC.
But if Ma had allowed those rejections to serve as “proof” that he was not good enough, it’s unlikely to result in him being where he is today.
The lesson here is: In life, it’s important to get used to failure.
That doesn’t imply that international students shouldn’t aim high in university and beyond. Rather, it’s to remind that when setbacks occur, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture and to keep going until you get that “yes”.
Things may not come to fruition at this moment, but it helps to trust in your struggle, dig deep and carry on.
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By TradeFlo
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