Weekend Long Read: What Jack Ma Taught Me in 1999

Editor’s note: Jack Ma’s decision to cede control of Ant Group earlier this month marked his latest step back from the multibillion-dollar businesses he founded. He stepped down as chairman of his best-known venture, Alibaba, in 2019. Ma built Alibaba from next to nothing into a titan of e-commerce. His original idea was to open the doors of opportunity to small Chinese companies by offering them a way to connect online to business customers around the globe. From almost the beginning, Brian Wong was with him. Wong joined in 1999 as Alibaba’s 52nd employee. His book about Ma and the management culture he created at Alibaba offers a glimpse at the company in its early days and at Ma before he became China’s most famous tech entrepreneur. The following is an excerpt from Wong’s book “The Tao of Alibaba.”