Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi, some people are busy taking office, and some people are forced to leave the house. No matter how people in this world change, the wheel of history always rolls forward.
In other words: the earth can be turned around by anyone.
On April 24, 2022, the "Xiaoyaozi" Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, officially announced that he would step down as Taobao "China" Software Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Tmall Co., Ltd., and be replaced by Dai Shan, the head of Taobao's Tmall business.
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As soon as this news came out, it could be described as shocking the entire Internet industry.
Although the change of internal personnel positions is a common thing, Dai Shan's taking over as chairman of Alibaba is confusing!
Why did Daniel Zhang retire? Who is Dai Shan? Why did he take over Ali's presidency?
Daniel Zhang: The founder of a new era in Ali
Daniel Zhang
For many, Daniel Zhang name doesn't seem familiar to many people, as he wasn't one of the "Eighteen Arhats" who started Ali, or even a veteran of Ali.
In 1995, Daniel Zhang graduated from Shanghai Normal University, found a professional financial job, and officially stepped into the workplace.
Within a few years, with sufficient theoretical knowledge and practical experience, he became famous in the industry and became the division manager of the company at that time.
Daniel Zhang
In 2005, Daniel Zhang was poached by the famous Shanghai enterprise Shanda Games, and participated in the completion of the hottest online game at that time, "Legend of Blood".
However, after working at Shanda for nearly two years, he suddenly announced his resignation and threatened to do what he liked to do.
At that time, Daniel Zhang was rated as "China's first professional manager" by media people, and was an excellent manager competed by many headhunting companies, including powerful seed companies such as Alibaba.
Ma Yun and Daniel Zhang
So, at the age of 35, Daniel Zhang took an important step in her life: joining Ali.
At that time, although Ali was doing well, the turnover was not high, so the addition of Daniel Zhang, who had studied a lot of finance and finance, was tantamount to "good steel used on the blade".
However, Daniel Zhang is a newcomer to the online shopping industry, and belongs to the "paratroopers" sent down by the company's senior management, which will inevitably be questioned by some people.
Daniel Zhang
"How can a newcomer help Ali get through this!" Isn't that a joke? ”
Under tremendous pressure, Daniel Zhang not only did it, but did it best!
In 2008, Daniel Zhang was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Taobao Business Group, and he used his professional ability to design a new set of profitability for Taobao and improve the B2C model.
Then, after much thought, Daniel Zhang came up with a very bold marketing campaign. This is the "Double Eleven Carnival Shopping Festival" that later swept the country.
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He and his team chose November 11, between National Day and Christmas, as a marketing node to let consumers remember Taobao Mall.
In the days that followed, "Double Eleven" gradually evolved into a shopping carnival in the e-commerce industry under the impetus of Daniel Zhang. Online shopping is also moving towards the national and even global wave, and has gradually become a new trend in the Internet industry.
Under the shopping gimmick of "Double Eleven", Ali has made a lot of money and has continued to grow and develop. The Daniel Zhang has also been fully recognized by the company with its super ability and huge contribution.
Daniel Zhang
In 2010, Ali implemented the strategy of partners, and Daniel Zhang formally integrated into the company's senior management and became one of the partners.
Making such a great achievement did not make Daniel Zhang proud and complacent, but more and more serious about Ali's future development.
The period from 2011 to 2012 was a critical period for China's mobile Internet industry. For the e-commerce industry, the decline of the PC side has become a fact, how to grasp the market share of the mobile Internet is the top priority!
Daniel Zhang
Daniel Zhang realized this and set out to lead Alibaba in its transformation.
In September 2013, Daniel Zhang established a global logistics platform Cainiao Network, and also developed a new direction for mobile shopping - Tmall International Platform.
Today, Alibaba has become the world's largest mobile consumer platform and has realized the transformation from an e-commerce platform to an Internet platform and a digital economy platform.
Daniel Zhang
And alibaba's chief executive officer (CEO) at the time, Daniel Zhang, was indispensable. It can be said that Daniel Zhang is "the person who changes the engine on the highway, but also the one who replaces the tractor with the Boeing 737".
Ma Yun also praised Daniel Zhang's achievements, and finally positioned him as his successor.
After Daniel Zhang became the chairman of Ali, he gave himself a flower name "Xiaoyaozi", but his work was not idle.
He once said: "Ma Yun told me that to be a CEO is to be prepared to go to hell, and being an heir is even more bitter!" ”
Daniel Zhang
Under the high intensity of work and pressure, Daniel Zhang must always be sober, even if it is a wrong step, it will make Ali fall into a situation of no return.
Moreover, in the 15 years that Daniel Zhang worked in Hangzhou, he did not buy a house, but lived in a high-end hotel day after day, only occasionally returning to his home in Shanghai to visit.
Perhaps, it is precisely because of the hard work and tenacity of Daniel Zhang that Ma Yun will safely hand over Ali to his management after leaving office.
However, due to the influence of various factors, the changes in the market are accelerating year by year, and the needs of customers are becoming more and more elusive and even immune.
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Therefore, for enterprises, how to survive in the fiercely competitive and rapidly changing market and achieve better development is very critical.
And Daniel Zhang is taking this into account. He hopes to delegate power to heads of departments in order to better respond to market changes and make decisions.
Therefore, Daniel Zhang in the third year of taking over as chairman of Ali, that is, starting in November 2021, he first stepped down as the chairman of Weibo and Didi, but there are corresponding Ali executives to take over.
Daniel Zhang
However, after less than 6 months, Daniel Zhang once again announced the resignation of Ali's chairman, such a big change of position, he did not make any explanation.
However, according to Daniel Zhang's character of seeking victory in stability, this move must be for the sake of Ali's future prospects.
While investigating the reasons, people's attention is focused on Dai Shan, who took over as chairman of Ali.
Dai Shan
What kind of extraordinary ability does she have to carry the banner of Ali?
One of the founders of Ali, survived the ups and downs
What are the words used to describe "strong women"?
"Decisive, strong, fierce, impersonal..." Most likely these are, except for gender, seem to be no different from those successful men.
However, in Dai Shan's body, these adjectives are not accurate, she is petite, gentle in temperament, and feminine femininity between her eyebrows.
Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, such a woman is completely unqualified to become a leader.
Dai Shan
If that's the case, it's a big mistake!
There is a saying that goes: "Gentle knife, knife knife deadly!" And Dai Shan used the method of "taking Rou Kegang" from one of the original founders to the current chairman of the company.
In 1999, Dai Shan graduated from Hangzhou Electronic Science and Technology University and became one of the followers of teacher Ma Yun, becoming a member of the "Yellow Pages of China".
For this legendary existence in the history of business, its success has long been doomed. At the same time, the fate of the founders known as the "Eighteen Arhats" was also arranged.
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Because Ma Yun said very early: "Your ability can only reach the middle level... Ali's future backbone will still be imported from the outside..."
"The high places are not cold, and prudence is the first in the world." The real strong people can't escape the fate of loneliness, and ma Yun is the same.
Therefore, the names of the original 18 founders have disappeared under the wheel of history, and the remaining people have to bear the aura of legend, floating back and forth in Ali's empire, and the high-profile deeds are well known.
Jiang Fang
For example, because of the thorough investigation of the "fraud gate" incident, more than a dozen executives such as CEO Wei Zhe were forced to blame the "anti-corruption queen Jiang Fang" who resigned, and finally sent the illegal and criminal personnel to prison.
In addition, Peng Lei, who ranked as "Ali Organization Minister" and "Queen of Alipay", was selected into the list of the world's most influential 100 women in 2019.
……
Compared with these people who have many auras, Dai Shan is simply infamous.
Dai Shan
However, she became the most powerful person in Ali.
As the No. 11 employee of Ma Yun's followers, the loyal Dai Shan has never abandoned and accompanied Ali through countless setbacks, large and small.
At the beginning of the business, 500 yuan per month, more than 16 hours a day work system, each person can only eat 3 yuan of box lunch ... But in the lakeside garden of Hangzhou, these sufferings witnessed the growth of the "Eighteen Arhats".
Dai Shan
To this day, Dai Shan still remembers the sentence: "When I have money, I must go and buy a room full of plum vegetables." ”
The persistence of her dreams and the trust in her teachers supported her all the way forward, waiting for Ali's brilliant moments.
With the continuous promotion of the position, Dai Shan's salary has also risen and become a "rich man".
Ma
In 2013, she became Alibaba's chief talent officer, and in 2018, she served as Alibaba's legal representative after Jack Ma stepped down from his corporate position.
The right time, meeting the right person, this is the best interpretation of Dai Shan and Ma Yun.
At the end of 2021, Ali carried out the adjustment of internal organizational structure, and Dai Shan was mainly responsible for China's digital business sectors including Taobao, B2C Taocai.
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Moreover, Dai Shan broke the spell that the "Eighteen Arhats" could only be in the middle and high levels, and became the head of the four presidents under Daniel Zhang, and the last person left in the middle level of the "Eighteen Arhats".
As early as September 2009, Ma Yun carried out a major change in internal personnel, and arranged for 18 elderly people to resign en masse and re-compete through the method of "releasing military power through a glass of wine".
At that time, 11 people, including Sheng Yifei, Jin Yuanying, and Sun Tongyu, were "washed" out of Ali, leaving Ma Yun, Cai Chongxin, Wu Yongming, Jin Jianhang, Peng Lei, Dai Shan, and Jiang Fang.
Ma
In the subsequent development process of Ali, Jin Jianhang withdrew from the ranks of partners, and Peng Lei also announced his resignation after being transferred to the CEO of Southeast Asian e-commerce Lazada, and has basically disappeared from the e-commerce industry since then.
The remaining 5 people, although still a member of Ali, but the future development is clear.
Tsai Chongxin is regarded as Alibaba's "invisible hero" and Ma Yun's military master, hiding his merits and fame. Wu Yongming, a technology master, has gained fame in the investment industry and has participated in luo Yongfei's hammer technology.
Ma
Although Ma Yun announced his retirement in 2019, he is still the most fundamental controlling person of Ali, and his status cannot be shaken. Jiang Fang is still in the "anti-corruption department" and continues to work hard to maintain Ali's atmosphere, far from the front-line business.
Only the low-key Dai Shan gradually moved to the core of power.
This can't help but make people wonder, why was she not suppressed by Ma Yun, but her career was stable?
This is mainly due to three aspects.
Inside and outside, the wizard of managers
Ma
The first and most important reason is the mutual trust between Dai Shan and Ma Yun, which is the trust based on the friendship between teachers and students, and the absolute obedience of subordinates to superiors.
"The boss let me go to the customer service department, let me go to the sales department, I won't think too much, I just know to smile and do it!"
This is what Dai Shan said, but in the more than 20 years of her tenure, she has also resisted Ma Yun's instructions.
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In 2014, Dai Shan was placed in the position of chief customer service officer (COO), but she felt that the work of calling in the background was too boring, so she complained to Ma Yun.
It turned out that Dai Shan's reluctance was ultimately defeated by obedience. She also understands that only by obeying the tasks arranged by the leadership and doing a good job can we steadily promote and raise salaries and achieve the future.
Therefore, Dai Shan often comforted his subordinates: "Ali does not have the life of getting rich overnight, and the only thing he can do is to endure loneliness and slowly stew like 'old duck soup' in order to taste a different flavor." ”
Dai Shan
The second is the business foundation, which is the basic requirement for every enterprise to assess employees.
Since the listing of ants was stopped, Ali is no longer the former Internet giant of "how to see it, how to fight it", and any move will make people have a bad imagination.
Especially after the 807 incident, Ali's values have been attacked internally and externally, and managers are in urgent need of rejuvenation, and Dai Shan is the best candidate.
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First of all, Dai Shan once cut a project for small and medium-sized enterprises with an annual profit of tens of millions, the reason is not in line with "Ali values".
Then, a subordinate wrote more than a dozen thank-you letters because he got help from his colleagues in his business. But Dai Shan thought it was useless, and replied to the other party: "The time you write to express your gratitude is enough to bring in a customer for the company and create more value." ”
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Second, since Dai Shan took over the B business, its commercial sector has become larger and larger. First of all, Taote, which competes with Pinduoduo, is online, and then it is the community group purchase of major Internet enterprise giants such as Meituan and Pinduoduo.
Dai Shan has always been active in the front line of the business. When running a business in the mountains, because a car of people was too involved in the discussion, it almost hit the oncoming truck.
Dai Shan
At that time, some people joked: "This is probably the most expensive van on the mountain!" ”
The third is humanity. For managers, relaxation is the most important.
From the perspective of a woman, Dai Shan has a delicate and unique perceptual perspective that can help employees better integrate into the collective and play a greater role.
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Coupled with the fact that the main customers of Taobao and Tmall are concentrated in women, more appropriate adjustments can be made in terms of business operations and user experience.
In general, in addition to commercial records, humanity is a weapon that Ali urgently needs at the moment.
After all, in the era of developed network technology, the competition of any enterprise will eventually become the competition between people. Who can laugh to the end, the decision is in the hands of the enterprise, but also in the hands of the leader.
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"He who wins the hearts and minds of the people wins the world." I hope that Ali can reopen the era of the strong under the leadership of the new chairman Dai Shan and lead the entire Internet industry to go further and better.