Seeing the Unseen

CHAPTER 5People

Trust makes everything simple.

—One of six core values of Alibaba Group

ALTHOUGH LEADERSHIP IS CRITICAL for an organization, the leader alone will not be able to build a successful tech business. They need good people and the right people around, to not only execute but also to brainstorm solutions, and advise the leader, as well as sometimes even boost the morale of the CEO.

Undoubtedly, people are the core of the organization.

Especially in international markets, when leaders do not have the mental space and capacity to make all the decisions and deal with all the nuances, strong lieutenants are needed to help them operate the market, tackle challenges, and eventually build successful expansion.

This is the same situation the leaders had in China during their first entrepreneurship journey: Alibaba would not have been successful in the first place if Jack Ma had not had his 17 other cofounders; Wang Xing would not have built Meituan to where it is today without his top lieutenants, including Wang Huiwen (no relation) and Mu Rongjun sticking with him.

Any tech startup in China that eventually became a resounding success started like a guerrilla force fighting a war in their early days. During that time, they could not pay people the best money or provide the best working environments. They could not offer benefits, and most often they were not able to attract the best or smartest people in the market, for the right reason.

How would they find the people who ...