If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat tons of them.
Interpretation
A strong and united team can accomplish much more than individuals working alone.
This quote by Jack Ma emphasizes the power of teamwork and collaboration. It suggests that when team members share a common goal and work seamlessly together, they can achieve extraordinary outcomes, overcoming obstacles and challenges that would otherwise be insurmountable for individuals acting alone. The strength of a good team lies not just in the sum of its parts, but in the synergy created by their joint efforts and shared vision.
In practice
In a corporate training session to inspire teamwork.
Hong Kong people say Hong Kong needs to preserve its uniqueness. I say Hong Kong's uniqueness is in its diversity, its tolerance of difference cultures... China does not want to see Hong Kong in decline. I have full confidence in its future.
It's not that other countries steal jobs from you guys. It's your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way.
Helping doing business easier, we choose the name Alibaba because it is a global company. It is founded in China, but it was created for the world.
In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'
Even if your competitor is still small in size or weak, you should take him seriously and treat him as a giant. Likewise, even if your competitor is massive in size, you shouldn't regard yourself as a weakling.
A leader should have higher endurance and ability to accept and embrace failure.
What else does a manager do but push buttons? He doesn't hit, he doesn't run, he doesn't throw, and he doesn't catch the ball. A manager has twenty-five players, or twenty-five buttons, and he selects which one he'll use, or push, that day. The manager who presses the right buttons most often is the one who wins the most games.
The worst disease which can afflict executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it's egotism.
A leader's role is not to control people or stay on top of things, but rather to guide, energize and excite.
I've seen how the issues that come across a president's desk are always the hard ones - the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer.
People talk about tactics, but when you look at it, tactics are just players. You change things so that the team can get the most out of the skills they have to offer, but you don't go any further than that.
My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned, not bought.
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