Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built pdfdrive com

Jack Magic
Come up with an idea, make it fun, and breathe something into it which
otherwise is still just an idea. That’s Jack Magic.
—Jan Van der Ven
Most companies bear the imprint of their founders, but few more than Alibaba.
Jack Ma’s outsize influence stems from his passion for teaching. Although he
left the profession two decades ago, Jack has never really stopped being an
educator. He used to joke that in his case CEO stood for “Chief Education
Officer.” Fourteen years after founding the company Jack relinquished the title
to become chairman. But the switch served only to heighten his authority. His
chosen successor as CEO lasted barely two years in the job.
E.T.
Jack is, without doubt, the face of Alibaba. Short and thin, Jack has been
described in the media over the years as an “imp of a man,” “a tiny figure with
sunken cheekbones, tussled hair and a mischievous grin,” his looks “owlish,”
“puckish,” or “elfish.” Jack has turned his distinctive looks to his advantage. At
the launch of MYbank, which aims to sign up customers exclusively through
facial recognition technology, Alibaba showcased the fact that Jack “who had
been unable to live off his face was now going to live off his face.”
Some in China like to refer to Jack as “E.T.,” after a supposed resemblance
to the lead creature in the Steven Spielberg movie. Even his Zhejiang-born
billionaire friend Guo Guangchang
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 has called Jack an “alien,” but only before
dismissing himself as “just a normal guy . . . no one is as smart as Jack Ma.”
So, Jack doesn’t look the part of a corporate chieftain. He possesses all the
trappings, including luxury homes around the world and a Gulfstream jet, but
otherwise Jack doesn’t really act the part, either. One of the most circulated

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images of Jack on the Internet is a photo of him sporting a Mohawk, nose ring,
and makeup, including jet-black lipstick. On that occasion, a celebration of
Alibaba’s tenth anniversary, Jack sang Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love
Tonight” to a stadium full of seventeen thousand cheering employees and ten
thousand other spectators.
Jack combines a love of showmanship with a relish for defying stereotypes.
Where other business moguls like to talk up their connections or academic
credentials, Jack enjoys talking down his own: “I don’t have a rich or powerful
father, not even a powerful uncle.” Having never studied abroad, he likes to
describe himself as “one hundred percent Made in China.” He stands out as a
tech company founder with no background in technology. At Stanford
University in 2013 he confessed, “Even today, I still don’t understand what
coding is all about, I still don’t understand the technology behind the Internet.”
Jack has made a career out of being underestimated: “I am a very simple
guy, I am not smart. Everyone thinks that Jack Ma is a very smart guy. I might
have a smart face but I’ve got very stupid brains.”

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