Jack Ma's life advice to change life

so 25 years old

don't worry any mistake is an income is

a wonderful revenue for you so I taught

myself and told my young people before

20 years old be a good student wait to

entrepreneur just learn some experience

before 30 years old follow somebody go

to a small company normally in a big

company it is good to learn processing

you are a part of a big machine

but when go to small company you learn

the passion you learn the dreams you

learn how to do a lot of things that's

when one time so before 30 years old

it's not which company you go it's which

boss you follow it's very important a

good boss teach you differently and

before from 30 to 40 years old you have

to think very CLE were you working for

yourself if you really want to be

interpreting when you're 40 to 50 years

old you have to do all the things that

you are good at don't try to drop into

the new area it's too late you may be

successful but there the rate of dying

is too big so 40 to 50 think about how

can focus on things that you are good at

but when you are 50 to 60 years old work

for the young people because young

people can do better than you

so rely on them invest on them making

sure they're good so when you ask over

60 years know spend time for yourself on

the beachside shine

it's too late for you to change normally

but this is my by a device to the young

people 25 years old

make enough mistakes don't worry you

fall you stand up you're full you step

enjoy it I'm it 25 years old enjoy the

show enjoy the show

I did I have a rich father tried three

times for university all filled I apply

for harbor for ten times all filled

they'd only want to see me for the last

time I went to the Teachers College

which was considered the third or fourth

class of my city to apply jobs for 30

times that rejected it was so difficult

at that time I was so frustrated because

I taught in the university my pay was

ten dollars a month

because I cannot find a good job in 1994

disgust said I'm going to do something

called Internet and 23 of them against

it they said this is stupid idea we have

never heard about Internet and you know

nothing about computer and I never

thought I was smart nobody believed that

I could be successful because everybody

said well this guy think differently

think of crazily you know they think

about something never worked I try to

borrow three thousand US dollars from

the bank's took me three months but I

still cannot get it we talked to over 30

or 40 venture capitalists everybody say

no forget it

a lot of people said Alibaba is a

terrible model as I said I believe it I

think this thing could be big I never

thought you will be bad big like today

but I believe got something something is

waiting for me there

and I have to work hard to prove myself

that was the tough experience

so we gather 50,000 US dollars from 18

fighters we're static for the first

three years we do not have the even one

dollar revenue from our business what's

not easy why it keeps a going ahead

going forward because I received lots of

email of thanks from the customer they

say this is such a great thing we cannot

obtain you but this thing helped us if

you keep on helping us one day you will

be successful and I believe this little

by later we build up our business little

by little we're good at our ecosystem of

the infrastructure and now after 16

years who have a Alibaba Group who have

a team or group we have at our ball

group where for a leap a and people said

you are so smart how could you make a

company like that Bill Gates Warren

Buffet the Jack Welch Larry Page Mark

Zuckerberg the difference between those

people and other people they are always

optimistic for the future they never

complain they always tried to solve the

problems of the others when you're

optimistic it's always updating people

same here today Jeff where is the

opportunity I don't have a job I don't

have this I don't have a debt we are at

the best of time of this century the

best assets you have is that you are

young

don't complain let the other people

complain the opportunity lie always lies

where people complain think about how

you can make things different is there

anything I can do that make the

difference and then when you think about

this started do it I saw a lot of people

young people have a fantastic ideas

every evening but in the morning they go

to the office same again being an

entrepreneur you have to do the things

before the other people do you have to

wake up before the other people wake up

you have to be more brave than the

others use instinct

everything you do is to the need of the

customer to everybody to any person

tomorrow is a new make the move make the

action whether investors believe it this

or not whether your friends believe it

or not whether your parents believe it

or not that's not important you believe

it your team believe it and work day and

night on this that's how the things

happens make enough mistakes you fall

you stand up any mistake is an income is

a wonderful revenue don't worry about

the money money follow the people people

sure to follow the dreams if you have a

dream just to go ahead

I think nobody can conquer the world we

only just serve the world either work

for the others or work for yourself and

I choose the way work might for myself

working for myself that means working

for the society if you really want to

work with yourself think about the

others because only when the other

people are successful when the other

people happy you'll be successful you

will be happy I think today people worry

a lot about the world about the economy

China economy in the world and I'm a

very optimistic when people start to

worry that that is the opportunity is I

worry about the blood testing and she

created good things and I think great

innovations great companies always

happening in the tough times the lives

like the music you have a pivot down

your allow other shot nodes and I like

American movie life life is like a box

of chocolate you never know what you're

gonna get right so I'm pretty optimistic

the opportunity in the future for

equality is huge because in the in in

the last century the IT is for big

companies the globalization is for big

companies but now with the technology we

can serve those 80% of the companies

that never been served we can serve the

80% of young people that never served

technology for Internet is so cheap so

easy to use one of the reasons why we

grow in China ecommerce so fast much

faster than the USA because our

infrastructure of Commerce in China was

too bad why it is too bad something

happened goes today we are working on

the rural areas of China I can never

imagine that China but 800 million

people still live in the rural areas of

farmers and they're about close to 200

million people they are income is less

than one dollar per day and before the

internet it's impossible for these guys

to reach the PC because it's so

difficult even people like me I don't

know how to use in PC but now 80

send up the farmers those people using

mobile phones one of the mobile phones

the internet the data things changing a

lot so I'm excited about the future

people always worry that's the you know

I love the young kids sitting there and

talking about the dream their hopes

because if they have the hope we have

the hope that's what I believe

and let's just take what you do and I've

loved every description I've ever heard

about how you serve people and your

story about the bamboo farmers and your

wife and her friends it was fabulous but

where's this going what are you going to

do

what are your plans to maximize the use

that people in remote rural areas of

China can make of their cell phones

besides ordering your project how are

you going to get it are you going to get

them in the banking system through cell

phones how well we we never know that we

can't grow so fast the past five months

we covered 4,500 villages and these

people not only they they using very

traditional way that take them like two

of we went to the rural area it took

them the farmers two hours to work to

the downtown in in the middle of the

town and buy things but today because

the mobile phone and we deliver we can

deliver things to their home to their

village within 72 hours I remember there

is a well last week I read a very

interesting evening

this is chant amazing there is a girl

she told me a story

she said her grandfather 92 years old

birthday and for his life he always

wanted to try one western-style food but

he lived in the rural areas there's no

such a restaurant food so she said I

tried on the internet book a restaurant

dinner for Western food delivered to

that village and they finally

immediately find that one restaurant

there are three guys they took like a

three days bus from the from Shanghai to

that village made a italic

spaghetti and beef for them for this 92

years old bursting and whole village was

excited everybody said sir

wow we can order food rest no rest rest

of style food so buy almost everything

and also we are helping there a lot of

farmers they plunder love apples great

apples but 90% of the apples routed

because there's nobody by Allah they

normally buy by track you know if you

sell via the apples they sell whole

track and using the traditional way they

can they can sell by whole basket of the

apples but now because of the internet

the sell by one by one each app with the

sell one daughter's oh you know one imb

or - I'm just for each so the farmers

will see using Internet they can buy and

sell and use the mobile phone that

change their lives and I think it's

exciting and people need examples when

they see well the other my neighbors

make made money through online to

selling things my neighbor may you know

buy much interesting things online

people start to learn and more people

started by the mobile phones we cannot

have we cannot make all the factory the

mobile factories to sell phones to them

only they know the mobile phone really

works helping change their lives they

started by the mobile phones just one

more question and then do you think this

will make the current problems like the

current problem in China less likely

that is if we'll have more market

information in the market will drive

where the investment goes instead of the

government trying to make judgments

about I better build another housing

development or office development here

there yonder and you wound up with a

bubble well it comes from the bottom up

is it more likely that fewer bad things

will happen yeah you know I think the

last week I was in Seattle discussing

about the China economy I think the you

American people worry too much

the China economy well you see every

turn when you start to worry about the

China China goes better every time you

think China is in problem you know we're

good you know we'll get better but when

you ever say yeah we ever you have a

high expectation show China China always

a problem like parents of the

expectation of the kids you know are the

same but there is a big difference

between American consumption because

people say wow you know the economy is

bad so China consumption will be good

low no that are different you American

love to spend tomorrow's money and the

other people's money maybe oh maybe the

Kudus money we Chinese love to save

money we are probably the largest

country under the safe deposit in the

whole world that we do people because

we've been poor for so many years when

we made money we're put in the banks

because some day we know that disaster

is coming so we can spend the money so

when the economy's bad we still have the

money to spend you guys probably don't

you worried and the second thing that

the China being is marketing China been

focusing on developing for past 2 30

years China government so strong on

investment so strong on exporting but

they are too weak on the domestic

consumption domestic consumption is not

driven by governor is driven by

entrepreneurship driven by the market

not the government so in the past two

years past 20 years government is so

strong now they get a week it's our

opportunity it's our show time to see

the market economy entrepreneurship how

we can develop the real consumption you

know I think what if the China developed

a great consumption we have a 300

million middle class in next 15 to 20

years

we're gonna have been a middle class we

need to import a lot so when we start to

import that's a grape it's gonna I worry

a lot when we export you know when we

export we got a terrible sky

have a terrible water we have a terrible

environment when we start import we got

to be better so that's all the great

opportunity guys be happy about that I'm

serious

yeah I'm we worry yourself don't worry

the reason some of us worry about China

is we depend on you to buy our debt

however I tried to be more Chinese when

I was president I saved a lot of money

so but yeah I just wanted you to say

that because I really believe that I

mean I think you're absolutely right the

trend toward greater internal

consumption is I think will remain

unbroken in spite of whatever the

difficulties are in the next few months

I think it's important not to over react

you can't break the trend you've got to

clean up the land from chemical

contaminants you've got to clean up the

air you're going to do it and a lot of

Chinese will make a lot of money out of

that there'll be a lot of great new

companies and there'll be opportunities

to import from other places yep so can

you discuss your theory of what you're

doing and other things in terms of

whether it advances equal opportunity

and social solidarity tell them what you

think is going to happen and what other

kinds of when your opening remarks you

just said technology's going to be

active in this way in other areas of the

economy what do you think the next big

opportunities are but first they tell

them just in two sentences what you're

doing because Jack and I know and we

haven't been clear enough explain it and

explain how you think that advances

social solidarity and equality of

opportunity our work is in the belief

that access to health information is a

basic human right and that lab

information particularly because lab

data drives 70% of clinical decisions

I'm needs to be accessible to people

before they're sick so if you look at

the word diagnosed in the dictionary

today it says to determine the presence

of disease from symptoms which means by

definition we're determining that people

are sick once a disease has already

progressed and our work is in being able

to make lab testing accessible to people

in time for therapy to be effected and

to do that in a way in which every

person irrespective of their insurance

status irrespective of where they live

can afford the ability to get a test

done so that means in our case we've

invested the last 12 years in now

developing hundreds of tests many of

which are less than ten dollars so in

two dollar tests in the United States

and I think one of the amazing things

about this country is that we have such

an incredible ecosystem for fueling

creativity and that creativity can

create new markets so in answer to your

question about the market being able to

conform itself to social good I think

the creativity that goes into creating

news new technologies creates new

markets in and of themselves and and our

basic belief that is that those new

markets come from empowering individuals

and in franchising individuals and

trusting that individuals have the

capability to engage with information

and in accessing that information

beginning to take control of their own

outcomes and their own health outcomes

and in doing so changing the way our

healthcare system works think what this

could mean for rural China you know for

rural India for Native American

reservations in America for the

Mississippi Delta for the remote areas

of where all the jobs were lost from

culture all of a sudden giving people

information and one of the most

important things I think we did

my second term as president and

healthcare front was developed as

diabetes self-care program and all of a

sudden you could be Jack's company could

be delivering the means to self-care

based on your test I mean I think that

this is really this is a very big deal

we all want to live as long and as well

as we can and Gregg Benner was here we

were joking about whether we'd make it

to a hundred but in the meanwhile you

want to keep people healthy and if

they're sick you want to intervene early

not late well and if you look at I mean

the ability to engage with this

information we have a four trillion

dollar health care problem in this

country 20% of it is type 2 diabetes

which is reversible and we have 90

million Americans who do not know they

are pre-diabetic but access to

information and the ability to engage

with that information is the foundation

for being able to change those outcomes

and and cost one more factor than I want

to call it Jack you founded this company

twelve years ago right tell them how old

we were I was 19 so

[Music]

don't worry about the future we're in

good hands okay I always think of a

noble 19:1 at where I am 19 I'm not the

past examination for university yet I

filled a three times but I figure we're

done yeah I'm not a good as schooling

well yeah that's why I give confidence

to a lot of young people in China if

Jackie Markham's success can be

successful 80% of the people can be

successful people like her with jealous

well equality I I would like to make a

little bit cut technologies helping

because yesterday I was joining the

United UN Women conference about gender

equality and I think the first a

technology revolution happened 200 years

ago in the UK released the human body

they're armed stronger the second

technology revolution in the USA for

energy you can last long but this

technology of revolution relief release

the brain so this century is not a

competition who is strong whose muscles

are stronger this who is a smarter who

is soft who can listen you it's the

challenge of a wisdom so men women equal

on the Internet you can never see he's a

woman a man and on the internet women

can serve much better than men on the

Internet

and a man talking about a business

talking about you know numbers

competition to make business very code

women they make business very cozy

lifestyle and interesting 50% more than

50% of our shop owners wanna have five

million shop owners are women and people

looked at me this is this is a great

thing I see that this century we see

more and more women leaders on the state

leaders and up residence and in the

future we're gonna general scepter of

your nation shall be a woman leader and

this is the greatest century for

equality and I I feel excited about that

when they ask you and we're almost out

of time but I one of the things that we

haven't talked enough about here and I

just hear but generally it's whether the

leap frogging we saw with cell phones

which was instrumental in your

phenomenal business success and which

will make it possible for you at the

appropriate time to do what you've done

on a global scale either to unimaginable

and all of human history for anybody to

have any of their own health data we

haven't we've seen examples but not the

kind of dramatic penetration we need

with energy and clean energy and enough

and in short enough time to avoid the

worst consequences of climate change so

do you believe that I mean your country

has done more than anybody else to try

to put up solar panels and some of your

companies went broke because you overdid

it right

beforehand and you got to work out the

phase-out of the coal the fades into the

Sun and all that meanwhile Africa which

is growing like crazy because of the

cellphone in no small measure and as six

of the fastest-growing countries in the

world still has vast swathes of its land

totally dark and light do you believe

that it's possible for us to scale up

with distributed solar power is rather

than centralized as quick as we did with

a cell phone and if so and if that were

your business if you had to quit what

you're doing today and start there how

would you do it and how would you do it

Lydia first I know that yeah I'm I'm

such a huge believer in technology and I

think especially right now we're at an

incredible time in terms of new

technology and the ability to apply

technology in a scalable way toward

solving some of these problems so I

would look at it in the context of some

of the renewable solutions that we

already have and in the context of

empowering connecting individuals with

access to those solutions and in the

context of creating markets around them

I think that there's real opportunity to

actually create an ecosystem in which

people can financially benefit from

these solutions and I think that's gonna

drive an adoption I think in developing

economies there's a revenue stream

associated with that and the more we can

turn even already some of the

technologies that we have into markets

the more that we can fuel I believe

local growth and individual engagement

in in beginning to adopt some of these

solutions just related and that would

Jack you answer and then I'll ask you

one final question yeah I I'm a strong

believer that technology can make war

much better because people say China

economy is getting slower I'm happy

about a 7% even 5% even 5% of the GDP of

the number of China of the second large

economy is big enough but you don't

expect China keep on growing 11% because

like a one body one human body when

you're 1.8 meters tall you cannot keep

on like a 10% growth every year you have

to grow the quality your mind the wisdom

so I think China needs new technology to

solve these problems and which today the

data the the clean technology all these

things that China is supposed to do if

you keep on the tradition that the other

ways will go nowhere this is why I've

you excited because people ask me what

is your dream now because I never

thought I would be today I can sit here

talking to president I'm like a guy you

know on the street and like field of

three times four University five times

four high key schools I applied for ten

times in Harvard school or rejected

I never thought because of the

technology because the Internet give me

this opportunity so I'm think when I

retire I don't want the Chinese people

have a terrible water to drink and it's

safe for food and people the money we

make or spend in the hospital

that's disaster so how we can using the

technology to enable young people the

greater chance of this road don't worry

about

we got 1.4 billion people who were born

in 1980s they are the people of the

internet times they are going to have

new ways to solve the world problems the

things you are worried about today they

can solve it and a human being have that

these kind of worries for centuries and

young people can always solve it and

today we have a right direction clean

energy you know the climate change all

these issues they will be solved and

these are the great opportunities ahead

of us anything else I agree with that I

think the more the more we can the more

we can enfranchise people the more we

can create ecosystems in which

individuals are empowered the more we

give rights to individuals to be able to

build businesses to be able to to pursue

the economic benefit of technologies the

more you see these markets change before

they leave the stage I want you to look

at them and I want you to think about

the time we have had to spend here

dealing with the refugee problems in

Syria and Lebanon

stand up Elliot this is my friend Elias

Mustafa he's the education minister in

Lebanon he's got to educate all these

kids

and so he left a miracle that very much

reflects the lives that Elizabeth and

Jack have lived he was in a very

responsible position at the American

University of Dubai they started

bringing American scholars over there to

live in an Arabic culture he did all

these wonderful things Lebanon control

he went home to save his country

what is the difference how much more

could he and every smart Lebanese person

do if they could focus on these things

and why can he not because the place is

dominated by people who think their

differences are more important than

their common humanity and their common

challenges you cannot imagine

[Applause]

Jack miles proud of being Chinese I like

that

he'd never hit it easy so happy about it

I'm a product to be a global citizen

yeah yeah and I imagine Elizabeth proud

to be a blond-haired blue-eyed American

techno Wiz in Northern California

yes but they don't not a word either one

of them is said has defined the meaning

of their lives or the direction of their

work with negative reference to someone

else

my friend Dikembe Mutombo stand up no

you don't stand up it'll hurts too much

you're an old man my seven foot towards

fall friend was just inducted into the

National Basketball Association Hall of

Fame and

[Music]

heeey my family my whole family loves

him and I have seen how much he has

given back to his native country Congo

which has been so troubled I've known

him a long time we both went to

Georgetown University I did before he

was born I think I've never heard him

say a resentful thing about anybody I

have seen him give and give and give and

try to give the people in his native

land opportunities why am I telling you

this he's had a good life because he

never defined his life with negative

reference to anybody else

he never begrudge anybody else's success

and he thought he had an obligation to

help other people I'm telling you this

is the we are back in a time of

collective global insecurity where the

main struggle is the oldest one in human

history just in modern techno realities

I mean if you were trying to build the

Middle East you would think about our

permanent sponsor here the Ambassador

from Oman who tried to her government

tried to help head off a calamitous war

in the Middle East over the nuclear

issue in Iran we all pray to God that

it'll work out all right and the least

you make you look around all these

places wherever people are putting aside

their differences and working together

good things are happening we cannot

achieve economic or social equality

without living in the factional

realities of the world we face looking

at the obstacles looking at the

opportunities making the best decisions

and those of us who even feel good about

ourselves because we think we spend a

lot of time giving our whole goal

should be to work ourselves out of a job

one of the things that the bill and tani

Austin are sitting there with Starkey

they started giving away hearing aids

and then they decided what we better

teach these young people how to speak if

they get the gift of hearing they'll

have to learn that so they got into the

education business sunny Varkey got in

the education business decided somebody

ought to do something really dramatic to

remind people that the only people that

really matter the teachers so he gave

the first global Teacher of the Year

award last year and an international

panel gave the prize to a teacher from

Maine who promptly gave the entire

million dollars to her school woman

never made any money in their life she

gave all the money away immediately the

future is going to be forged by people

who think of how to use the modern tools

that we are given as Elizabeth and Jack

have to create opportunity through

empowerment and it will not be a

straight line it's too too many moving

parts and but I just want you to think

about that the reason you feel good

looking at them and that you identify

with them even though they're different

from you and that's basically where we

are all over again and we can't slip

back we can't give up that's why we had

the Prime Minister of Italy and George

Soros talking about the future of Europe

and George said it was coming apart and

the Prime Minister said no it doesn't

have to come apart if it's about

something more than economics I thought

it doesn't have to come apart if you

will it not - and you put yourself on

the line for it there are no guaranteed

outcomes today but you can guarantee

that the trend is right so go ahead and

we're gonna say something which yeah I

just wanted to add I mean as we're

talking about the future and and from my

own experience and looking at all the

faces here I think a huge part of the

answer to your question is also to raise

our little girls with the stereotype

that they can be the best in engineering

and science and math because when they

do in all of these industries it changes

everything and we need to do that in

this country and we need to do that as

parents in other countries yeah I was

thinking about if what you say I think

about when you want when you talk about

problems anomalies like a politician we

talk about opportunity opportunities

that the businesspeople I was thinking

about how we can using you know this all

the problems that change the problem to

come the opportunity and I don't know I

just a feel excited when people talk

about problems

I think that's think about if you can

solve one of them that's the chance and

today nobody in live in this century has

so many opportunities and so many tools

they can use to change other people's

lives and I think in in the last century

which are called IT time this century's

got a DT time data technology IT is to

empower yourself make yourself strong DT

is to empower the others when you

empower the others you empower your

future yourself so when I listen to you

talk I agree and I think that's why we

were born in this century that's why we

how we can use the Internet to help more

people it's given my hand thank you