Teacher Ma Talks About Thought, Goals, and Action

Ma Teacher Talks About Thought, Goals, and Action

I recently stumbled upon [Ma Teacher Talks About Goals and Action](https://www.bilibili.com/video/av55749777/) while working on a feature related to “goals.” Combined with my experience at Yuque, it gave me fresh insight into how to build a battle‑ready startup team for a long‑life‑cycle tool product.

Full video for more context:

• Green Company Annual Meeting: Ma Yun Night Talk
  http://video.sina.com.cn/p/finance/20130422/080862332729.html – 49:40

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Questioner:

Just one question: our beautiful representative just said that President Feng solved many problems with kimchi.

I’d like to ask President Ma, what method did you use to turn everyone into the same “flavor,” to make them all become Alibaba?

Also, now that you’ve given us the Alibaba tool, we’ve traveled through time—both ancient and modern.

At this point, how do you view Alibaba in relation to traditional culture such as the Dao De Jing and the Di Zi Gui?

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Ma Teacher:

How do we make Alibaba…?

I think it’s impossible to unify everyone’s thoughts with a single sentence. Even Mao Zedong never succeeded at that.

Inside a company, we can unify a goal and then unify action. Over time, thoughts may or may not align, but the goal remains. Trying to make every mind think the same way is unrealistic.

What we do at the front end, when we bring new employees in, is start with the first step:

Tell them: “Is this truly what you love?”

I don’t look for the person who knows the industry best; I look for the person who loves the industry most.
Because only those who love it will create chemistry when they work together.

If you gather only the most knowledgeable people, the trouble is huge—everyone will claim they’re right, and you’ll be stuck.

So, within a company, unifying thought is extremely hard; unifying a goal is possible, and unifying action is even more crucial.

A couple of days ago I told my colleagues: when I was CEO, everyone would “don’t love me, listen to me”—just listen.
Now that I’m chairman, it’s “love me, don’t listen to me.” That’s the unified step.

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Ma Teacher’s words made me realize that for a small team, instead of agonizing over the “right” way to do things, we should focus on:

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1. Fall in love with what you’re doing

This love can be: loving the product you’re building and treating it as your own masterpiece; loving your craft and committing to continuous learning and practice; loving the people who work on the product and being eager to build it together. This heartfelt love brings committed people together to do something meaningful, turning “trust makes it simple” into reality. That passion gives us dreams, a spark in our eyes, fearlessness of failure, and courage against hardship.

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2. Keep a beginner’s mind like a Zen practitioner, constantly understand the product and shape it into what it should be

The beginner’s mind is empty, free from habitual constraints. By maintaining this mindset—always ready to receive, to doubt, and to stay open to every possibility—we can see things as they truly are, step by step, and eventually grasp their original nature. — From “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,” a book that influenced Steve Jobs.

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3. Don’t chase absolute consensus; just act without lingering confusion, bravely take each step, and achieve the goal through sustained action

After listening to Ma Teacher, I finally understood: we don’t need perfect agreement. It’s already great if we can act without confusion or resistance. We’re ordinary people; we can’t anticipate every detail in advance. Only through practice can we keep testing and finding better answers.

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After Ma Teacher’s talk, I followed a recommendation to this video: [Dreams Begin with Action!! Game of Thrones Imp’s Motivational Speech](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1H4411Y7MQ).

The answer in my mind became clearer: We should become the “pragmatic idealists” Ma Teacher often mentions(https://www.fx361.com/page/2017/0814/2155111.shtml).

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The world might say you are not allowed to yet.
I waited a long time out in the world before I gave myself permission to fail.
Please, don’t even bother asking,
Don’t bother telling the world you are ready.
Show it,
Do it
What did Beckett say?
Ever tried.
Ever failed.
No matter.
Try again.
Fail again.
Fail better.
The world is yours.
Done waiting.

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Peter Dinklage(https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%BD%BC%E7%89%B9%C2%B7%E4%B8%81%E6%8B%89%E5%9F%BA/488426) reminds me of the consistent practice taught by my mentor nwind(https://github.com/nwind), whose method I learned from: [Life‑Long Ideals, Short‑Term Plans, Today’s Tasks](http://www.cnhubei.com/200508/ca848329.htm). The original text is [Engineer’s Personal Development Plan](https://speakerdeck.com/baidufe/gong-cheng-shi-de-ge-ren-fa-zhan-gui-hua?slide=2).

For most people, a “life‑long ideal” may not be found quickly. But we can start with a present‑moment ideal—right now, in this place, in this business—treating the things we genuinely want to accomplish as our goals, planning for them, and achieving them. Don’t be scared by the word “ideal.” If any of the following resonates, I think it’s worth Show it & Do it:

• It’s your pursuit
• Or a sudden, heart‑racing desire
• It’s the fire inside you
• It’s the light in your eyes
• It’s your insight and hope for the future

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Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on 研习录 (Study Notes). Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.