Alibaba

"[Jack Ma's] score was several points below the normal acceptance rate at other universities for a full four-year undergraduate degree... but Hangzhou Teachers College had a few spaces left for male students and Jack squeaked in... In his sophomore year, Jack was elected president of the school's student union where he launched Top Ten Campus singers Competition, and was later president of the Hangzhou Student Federation."

That's an early excerpt from the lucky and ambitious life of Jack Ma. It is clear that what lead to Jack Ma and Alibaba's success was his incredible ability to communicate and influence.

The book focuses mainly on the story of Alibaba, but that story can't be told without telling the story of Jack Ma. This book is a business book masquerading as an autobiography. It speaks about earnings, IPOs, and scandals related to Alibaba and the raising internet scene in China.

This was an interesting read, but I felt like I couldn't really figure out who Jack was.

In parts, they made him seem like an outsider, hick who didn't just started a business on a whim and got luck, in other parts they made him seems like a wizard who knew exactly what he was doing.

Sometimes, he seemed like he opposed most of what the Chinese government does, in other parts they made it sound like he worked with them.

Sometimes he sounded like a ‘for the people' leader, other times it seemed like he didn't care much about people.

Regardless, he is clearly a brilliant man, with unusual drive and foresight.

“If you can't tolerate your opponent you will be definitely be bitten by your opponent. if you treat your opponent as enemies you already lost at the beginning of the game. if you hang your opponent as a target and throwing dart at him every day you only be able fight this enemy not others. competition is the greatest joy, when you can't keep up with others and feels like bring you more and more ageny it must be something wrong with your competition strategy.”

Helped giving me better insight in modern China and its insane fast rise. It's time to learn mandarin properly.

Duncan Clark explains in detail about the growth of Alibaba from Jack's humble apartment to the world renowned organization it has become today.