Man'S Problem -- Ma Yun'S Dialogue With Inamori Kazuo

Ma Yun: a famous entrepreneur, the main founder of Alibaba group, is known as the enterprise leader influencing the future.

Kazuo Inamori: the sage of Japanese management and the founder of two Fortune 500 enterprises.

This is the meeting room of Kyocera headquarters in Kyoto on October 28, 2008 Jack Ma He Jingci founder, honorary president of Kyocera and founder of shengheshu kazuo inamori A dialogue between. Although it has been two years, entrepreneurs' thinking of enterprise management and human nature is far from out of date even today, and after the precipitation of time, it may give us more nutrition for the growth of our soul.

What Ma Yun asks Inamori and Hefu is about the soul enterprise And human nature What is the nature of human, and what is the ultimate purpose of enterprise development?

In 1985, Ma Yun saw the first business book is a biography of Matsushita. He understood the importance of customers and service. What he asked Inamori about is the soul problem: the relationship between enterprise and human nature, what is the essence of human, and what is the ultimate purpose of enterprise development? This is a question he has been pondering over the past year. Inamori Kazuo, who founded two of the world's top 500 companies in 40 years, converted to Buddhism ten years ago. His business philosophy of "respecting heaven and loving others" is regarded as a standard by Japanese business circles. Ma Yun felt that his predecessors "really free and easy, and spent a lot of energy on the realm of being a man", set an example for him.

　 Understand human nature

Ma Yun: I have always admired Mr. Inamori. Today I saw the introduction of all the products of Kyocera company, and I felt deeply. I think we should have arranged time to meet for a long time, because I only thought about a lot of things in the last year or two, but Mr. Inamori thought it out many years ago.

Kazuo Inamori: I saw your letter to employees (the mission of winter), calling on employees in such a downturn. I think your insight into the world economy and the way to deal with it are very appropriate. I am mainly in the electronic manufacturing industry, I do not know much about the Internet, but your company, Alibaba, is very successful in e-commerce, and it is also very excellent.

Ma Yun: Thank you! Alibaba has been afraid to use the word "success" for the past nine years, because compared with Mr. Inamori and any Japanese company with long-term development, nine years are almost at the beginning. So every time I talk about success, I always feel that there is trouble in my heart - I'm afraid of success. I think the history of the Internet is just beginning, and the history of Alibaba is just beginning

Kazuo Inamori: the process of starting a business is very touching. Your entrepreneurial process is similar to that of Kyocera, although the place and era of entrepreneurship are different. I think I'm lucky. I don't have much talent. The root of my success lies in the support of many people. I have been modest and prudent in the world economy for more than 50 years, so I have the present. I think you are also very modest. Any successful entrepreneur is like this. If he is not modest, he will fall down immediately after success.

Ma Yun: I feel very interesting after listening to it. What you said just now is exactly what I want to express in my heart. I feel very lucky. I have been admitted to a key middle school two or three times. I have been admitted to a university for three years. I have been looking for a job for eight or nine times. No one has accepted me. From all aspects, I don't look like a talented person. I'm not necessarily the best person in this society in terms of appearance, ability and reading. Why am I lucky enough to be here? I think we may have understood human nature. People all have good and evil side, hope that the soul constantly pursue the good side, but if you can't control the bad side and enlarge the good side, you won't succeed. What I have done in recent years is to enlarge the good side of the company's outstanding young people through values and sense of mission. Because of this, CEOs like me still enjoy doing things every day.

　　 Streets of Moscow

Inamori: I think the great crisis of the whole economy is the result of people's blind pursuit of desire. I think this kind of influence will continue for some time. There is an old saying in China that "modesty gains more than losses". This financial crisis is a punishment given to us by God. As an operator, it is very important to maintain a modest attitude in the case of contentment.

Ma Yun: I agree very much. In fact, I feel that there is no perfect system in the world. No matter capitalism or socialism, all social systems are not perfect. However, human nature and human nature must transcend the external environment and constantly settle down to see themselves clearly. I had a strong feeling last year that people are easy to forget. Although Alibaba has not been for many years, we have experienced many disasters. I saw the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the Internet bubble in 2001 and 2002. Last year, it was obvious that people had forgotten these things. All the investors told you how many times your money could be earned. When all the small businesses were thinking about making money in stocks instead of making their own real products, you knew that the world was changing. In fact, it is not that the times have changed, but that human nature has been dragged to a dangerous edge by desire, so I firmly believe that this disaster must come. So we made preparations at the end of last year{ page_ break}

In the face of such economic situation, I have two steps to deal with such problems. First, there is a saying in China that man can conquer nature. This "fixed" is not a certain "fixed", but a calm "fixed". If people want to calm down, they can cope with all kinds of disasters. That is to say, when everyone is in a fever, you must calm down and calm down. When everyone panics, you can't panic. Second, any business crisis is a time when a great company seizes the opportunity. The best opportunity must be in danger. Our enterprises have experienced several crises in the past nine years. Of course, this crisis is a danger only encountered once in a hundred years, and it is also a growth opportunity that can be met only once a hundred times. I am full of expectation and hope to turn this danger into an opportunity. I have never been as excited as I am now to see both danger and opportunity.

Kazuo Inamori: for the crisis, it is also very important for enterprises to have their cash reserves. Maybe the people on Wall Street are not very interested in me, because I have a lot of cash in the company. After I have a very strong savings, I have the strength to maintain the crisis and find opportunities to develop more.

Ma Yun: I agree very much. I believe a lot of Mr. Inamori's views. We are both entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs. It's important for entrepreneurs to see what others don't see. In the last few years, I spent the most time thinking about what would bring down my company, not what would make it grow. As long as you don't get knocked down, you have a chance to grow. When the economy is good, I will start financing. When the situation is bad, I will start to invest. I always believe that there should be enough cash in the company. No matter how people laugh at me, I keep the cash there. I have a principle that the roof should be repaired under the sun, not on rainy days. Facing today's economic crisis, the biggest challenge for us is to examine our principles. We not only want to survive, but also help tens of millions of small and medium-sized enterprise customers survive, and help employees work harder with passion in the most difficult time. This is the challenge I face today, and it's the greatest pleasure I have to face.

　　 Business philosophy

Kazuo Inamori: I have a business group in Japan called shengheshu. There are more than 5000 small and medium-sized enterprises at home and abroad. They mainly study business philosophy and life philosophy. Sheng Heshu has an office in Wuxi, China, and a study meeting in Tianjin. If you are interested, you can further negotiate.

Ma Yun: I was born as a teacher, and I like to explore ways to grow up. My more than ten years of entrepreneurial management experience is not used for sharing. It is a pile of waste. The more you share, the more valuable you will be. I will return to China the day after tomorrow to set up Alibaba business school, a university for training future entrepreneurs. I will soon set up an Alibaba lakeside College (lakeside garden is my apartment when I started my business) with the purpose of helping countless small and medium-sized enterprise owners and general managers communicate the principles and principles of being a person and doing things. I know that Sheng and Shu have the same idea and starting point.

I am also divided into three stages, from learning to start a business, to learning business management and development, to last year, especially this year, I am more and more interested in people, so whenever I have time, I also go to learn Taoist philosophy and Buddhist thought. Maybe we have gone through such a stage, but Mr. Inamori's realm is much higher than me. I need a tutor now.

Kazuo Inamori: I think your process is excellent and your idea is very good. In every process of growth, people are ultimately involved in human problems, and they come to the stage of exploring people. Therefore, it is very important to study religion and philosophy. You also talked about Jack Welch, including Harvard Business School. Many business strategies are essentially human philosophy. Many entrepreneurs can't last after they succeed and fail because they don't have a deep understanding of people.

Now that the United States is on a downward trend, the relationship between Chinese and Japanese enterprises will become more and more important in the future. We should further expand exchanges and carry out cooperation than in the past.

Ma Yun: this financial crisis is a good opportunity for both China and Japan. I believe in my own judgment that there will be great changes in the world economic system with the US dollar as the center. Yen, euro and RMB will become the main currencies. I firmly believe that China and Japan's economy will have great and considerable development within 10 years, so Alibaba launched the Japanese market this year, and we hope to build up the understanding and communication between China and Japan economy and commerce through five years and ten years of efforts.

(this article is the preface of huofa II written by Inamori Kazuo)