Jack Ma was about to retire in 2004 because he was not good enough to be a CEO, and after he retired, he said: ‘Alibaba doesn’t need my copy, one Jack Ma is more than enough’

Last month, Jack Ma – the founder of Alibaba Group announced his retirement and of course, he never overlooked this decision.

On September 10, the 55-year-old billionaire said he would retire from the position of chairman of Alibaba, officially ending 20 years of leading China’s e-commerce giant. Recently, however, Ma revealed it was a plan he had been working on for more than a decade.

Speaking at Forbes’ Global CEO Conference on October 15, Ma said he first awakened the idea of ​​retirement from 2004, when a venture capitalist told him he was “not eligible.” standard to be CEO “. However, it was not until 2009, when Alibaba celebrated its 10-year anniversary, that his succession plan was started seriously.

Ma told Singaporean conference attendees: “That day, I started to think that I should prepare for my retirement. That day, I decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Alibaba’s establishment, on September 10. / 2019 will be the time when I stop acting as President. ”

Ma often said that he wanted the company he founded in 1999 to last for 102 years. To help realize that vision, Ma said he and his team have focused on a strong leadership system that values ​​new ways of thinking and works hard.

China’s richest billionaire said: “There should never be a copy of Jack Ma. One Jack Ma is more than enough for Alibaba. Therefore, for the past 10 years, we have tried to build a system. the right leadership system. A system that can create, discover, and train many leaders. ”

That includes researching the American Declaration of Independence, the British Parliament system and Roman politics to come up with the right company rules. According to Ma, culture, people and systems are the things that help a company survive for hundreds of years, not just people. “We spent a year discussing and debating the system where leaders can fight for the company’s vision, mission and values,” he said.

Daniel Zhang, Jack Ma’s successor at Alibaba, said he felt confident that the corporation had a leadership strategy strong enough to survive for decades to come.

Jack Ma (left) and Daniel Zhang.

Zhang once said: “The corporation should never depend on Jack Ma alone. He will grow old or even get sick, worse than a car accident or anything else that causes him. He can’t lead Alibaba anymore, and we need to be prepared even without him.

While Jack Ma has a passionate leadership style, Zhang is a man with a small, tight-lipped demeanor. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and has worked as an accountant for some time.

In 2007, Zhang joined Alibaba. At the time, he was the chief financial officer of game developer Shanda Interactive. During his time at the Group, he was noted for a number of notable achievements such as the launch of the “Single Day” shopping event on November 11 every year since 2009. Last year, Today’s revenues have reached a record high of $ 30.8 billion.