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I can't stand how the masses seem to take every single word of "advice" from these wealthy people as the Word of God. I really don't care if Donald Trump, Warren Buffet or Mark Cuban thinks what worked for them will work for me too. Some of these "billionaires" inherited money to start with, giving them a huge leg up on everyone else. Others were in the right place at the right time. But I certainly wouldn't take any life advice from a guy like Ma, who looks to me to be a serious social outcast. Probably from working all those 12 hour days.
Which he was able to acquire by doing those ungodly hours. So I can see where he's coming from.
I don't agree with any of it through - hard work isn't only measured by the number of hours put in. And simply putting in hours isn't going to guarantee you anything.
At the end of the day - it's simply the perspective of an individual. Like anyone else, he's entitled to his. And he is free to run his company how he sees fit. I also know I will never work for a company that prioritizes "face time" over actual productivity.
Remember he started Alibaba via borrowed money from his friends and family. I believe it was 60K or so. Why didn't he do a 996 until he had 60K? LOL.
Andrew Carnagie (U.S. Steel), J Edgar Thomson (Pennsylvania Railroad), and Charles M Schwab (Bethlehem Steel) would agree. Up through 1920 steelworkers worked 12 hour shifts including a 24 hour shift at changeover from day to night.
Yeah, that's how it was for most of human history. G-d rested on the 7th day, so if He worked 6 days a week then so did we. And of course the vineyard workers worked 12 hours a day in Matthew 20.
Until the late 19th century it was common to work 6 days a week. The 40 hour work week is a 20th century invention.
I can't stand how the masses seem to take every single word of "advice" from these wealthy people as the Word of God. I really don't care if Donald Trump, Warren Buffet or Mark Cuban thinks what worked for them will work for me too. Some of these "billionaires" inherited money to start with, giving them a huge leg up on everyone else. Others were in the right place at the right time. But I certainly wouldn't take any life advice from a guy like Ma, who looks to me to be a serious social outcast. Probably from working all those 12 hour days.
I think your point is valid. And maybe Ma is a social outcast. And maybe that pushed him to find comfort in his work. And hey, it made him rich, so can you blame him for having those sentiments?
I think you can respect what the guy stands for without buying into it yourself. A lot of people who throw themselves into their work, or anything for that matter, are compensating for the lack of balance they have across other areas (family, friends, hobbies, etc.). And if that's what makes them happy, then so be it. It's not hurting anyone else, and no one is being forced to work at Alibaba for this crazy '996' schedule. So let Jack Ma believe that his radical '996' schedule is a proper way of life. If he finds people that want to work for him, all the more power to his philosophy.
Last edited by Sir Quotes A Lot; 04-16-2019 at 08:51 AM..
Attitudes like that will lead towards a push to unionize just like it did in the US.
Except here we had more than one political party.
In China it will be ruthlessly crushed. (It was in the US too but they found a political voice eventually)
Probably the best bitter irony I've ever seen in my life and a great lesson in concentrating power "for the good of the people" will eventually go perilously wrong.
The "peoples party" run by billionaire capitalists exploiting workers and using the communist party mechanisms to do so.
When that dam finally breaks, well it's going to be interesting times in China.
I think your point is valid. And maybe Ma is a social outcast. And maybe that pushed him to find comfort in his work. And hey, it made him rich, so can you blame him for having those sentiments?
I think you can respect what the guy stands for without buying into it yourself. A lot of people who throw themselves into their work, or anything for that matter, are compensating for the lack of balance they have across other areas (family, friends, hobbies, etc.). And if that's what makes them happy, then so be it. It's not hurting anyone else, and no one is being forced to work at Alibaba for this crazy '996' schedule. So let Jack Ma believe that his radical '996' schedule is a proper way of life. If he finds people that want to work for him, all the more power to his philosophy.
I don't necessarily blame these billionaires for these stories, with the news media 24/7 now they are always looking for new content and the "Billionaire claims you can makes millions by skipping this ONE thing every day!" clickbait stories. They could have mentioned something in an unrelated interview and the CNBCs of the world will make it into a news story.
The other side of that argument is that if you take on the risk that comes with starting a business, then you should be able to reap some of the rewards.
That's not to say that you should exploit your workers out of greed. Treat them right, and you'll likely find that you'll be able to comfortably reap a reasonable amount of reward for quite some time. Treat them bad, and you'll constantly have to deal with replacing them, which can very well hurt your reputation and brand as both an employer and a business.
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