My 10-Year Anniversary
Reflections
Today marks my 10-year anniversary at Alibaba. When I think about Alibaba and my career here, I have countless feelings. Even before the 10-year mark arrived, I reminded myself to write a summary. Now that the anniversary is finally here, I’m jotting down a few thoughts—though most of them are expressions of gratitude.
When I first joined Alibaba, I said I would stay at least five years. In the past, I had switched jobs every two years, over and over again. Five years was actually no short journey. The HR representative at the time (I think it was Yang Paifeng, or someone with a similar name) was especially pleased and replied: “It’s wonderful that you’re willing to stay at Alibaba for five years. But the world is unpredictable—don’t bind yourself too tightly. After two or three years, many changes may occur, and those changes could go beyond what you’re prepared to accept.” Every time I recall that conversation, I can’t help but say to myself: ha, you’ve already been here nearly ten years. You fulfilled that promise long ago.
Having worked at so many companies, when I was young and inexperienced I couldn’t resist constantly complaining about my employer. But after seeing more of the world, I realized that a company I currently think is terrible may not be as bad as I imagine, and a company I yearn for may not be as wonderful as in my dreams. There are only companies that suit you and companies that don’t. Even someone as brilliant as Li Yinan stumbled along the way after leaving Huawei before he finally found his footing.
Thank you, Alibaba, and thank you to this golden age. Thank you for letting me ride this great ship called Alibaba, riding the wind and breaking the waves. If not for Alibaba, I would just be an ordinary working stiff, perhaps still struggling to make ends meet. At the very least, Alibaba helped me transform from a nobody into someone with a middle-class family.
This big Alibaba family—even though we sometimes compete, file complaints against each other, and butt heads—also gave us a stage to showcase our talents. Even though my own performance was often rather lackluster, and at times I felt I was simply too weak, from the company’s perspective, giving you a big enough stage is already the greatest support a company can offer an individual. The sky’s the limit for the bird that can fly—but in truth, much of the time your wings aren’t strong enough. And even when they are, there isn’t necessarily enough room.
In ancient times, they said “a scholar will die for one who appreciates him, a woman will make herself beautiful for one who delights in her.” It seems to be a similar idea. And sometimes I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, loving to rant at heaven, at earth, at everything, in my own ignorance. I complained countless times on the internal network, but my bosses and colleagues were very tolerant of me, and I’m grateful for their tolerance.
A company is made up of countless people, and how these people speak and behave determines the company’s style. The top boss may set a tone for the company, but the actual execution and realization of that tone is shown by each living, breathing person around you. Thank you to my bosses for their trust—many decisions carried significant risk, yet my bosses firmly supported them. And thank you to the colleagues and teammates around me; you always turned the impossible into the possible.
Thank you, Alibaba, for shaping who I am, and I in turn dedicated the most precious years of my youth to Alibaba. I grew from a naive young man into a middle-aged one, from a typical programmer into a small-time manager. Alibaba has already left a deep imprint on how I act and conduct myself, just as Huawei has on its veterans. Both Alibaba and Huawei are companies with distinctly Chinese characteristics.
Writing to this point, I suddenly feel like this reads like a resignation thank-you letter. Ha—maybe it’s just that I can’t help being grateful, and once you start being grateful, it ends up sounding exactly like a resignation thank-you letter.