Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Has Inspiring Words For All, Says Success Depends On Handling Rejection
The multi-billionaire talks about how he was rejected in both his student life and work, but he never gave up hope.
Today, Jack Ma is China¡¯s richest man, valued at over $30.9 billion as of May 2017. However, the founder and chairman of the country¡¯s e-commerce leader, the Alibaba Group, wasn¡¯t born into money. His rags to riches story is truly inspiring, but Ma says he faced a lot of disappointment and heartbreak before he managed to claw his way to the top.
In a chat at a World Economic Forum event, Jack Ma talked about how his early career, and indeed much of his school life, was filled with failure.
¡°I had a lot of failures, for funny things,¡± he said. ¡°I failed a key primary school test two times, and I failed three times for middle schools.¡± He says he even failed his university exams two times, before finally being accepted into ¡°what was considered my city's worst university, Hangzhou Teachers University.¡±
¡°I applied for thirty jobs [after college], got rejected. I went to join the police force and they said ¡®No, you¡¯re not good¡¯. Five people went [for the test], I was the only one they did not proceed with. When KFC came to China, came to my city, 24 people went for the job ¨C 23 people were accepted, I was the only guy who got rejected."
¡°I applied for Harvard, rejected. I knew I¡¯d be rejected I just wanted to see,¡± he laughs.
¡°I don¡¯t think there are a lot of people in this world being rejected more than 30 times. The only thing is that we never get up, we [be] like Forrest Gump, we keep on fighting,¡± he says.
¡°I find that when people make a mistake or fail, if they only complain about others, this guy will never come back. But the one who only checks himself, he has hope.¡±
