we had to wear gloves while we worked.”
In the short time we’d worked together Brian and I had already developed a brotherly rivalry. Hence his ribbing about having been at the company back in the “tough times,”
before life at Alibaba had become more comfortable.
“Yeah, it must have been a lot tougher than living with your parents in Palo Alto,” I jabbed back. “You must have been jones-in’ all winter for a Starbucks
frappuccino.” Brian chuckled.
We picked up Justin and began the two-hour drive to Nanbei Lake, a lakeside resort area between Shanghai and Hangzhou. Justin, who is tall, skinny, and slightly bookish, had just been named the
Asia bureau chief for
Forbes
magazine. He wasbased in Singapore and had traveled to Shanghai to write about Jack Ma and Alibaba.
For me, as the company’s new PR person, it was a bit of a gamble to bring the Asia bureau chief of a major business magazine along on my first trip to the Alibaba headquarters, as I had no
idea what the company was actually like. It was like bringing a restaurant customer into the kitchen. And it didn’t help that, because of a shortage of rooms, Justin had been assigned to
share one of the resort’s cabins with me, a notorious snorer. But I figured that, for a start-up company, any publicity was good publicity, and it was better to err on the side of
openness.
We arrived at Nanbei Lake and found Alibaba staff members, about 100 young men and women, excitedly buzzing between the resort’s small cabins. This was the company’s first off-site
retreat and an opportunity for the company to catch its breath after growing so quickly without a break. None of the expats had made the trip up from Hong Kong to attend the retreat, which I
thought was strange for an all-hands outing, as I felt they were missing an important opportunity to bond with their local counterparts.
First we headed to dinner in a large dining hall with round tables. Filled with excitement and anticipation, people settled in for a long meal, laughing and chatting while course after course of
local dishes was set on the table. Lazy Susans spun, and staffers picked off delicious local food with chopsticks while clinking their beer glasses at toast after toast.
I was struck by the warmth of the gathering. It didn’t feel like a typical company. It felt much more like a family. Justin and I were invited to join a table full of my new colleagues.
They were almost all in their mid-twenties and came from a range ofbackgrounds. The sons and daughters of farmers, factory workers, and businesspeople, most had joined
the company in the four weeks since I’d signed my contract.
As I chatted with the staff, I was struck by how much all this meant for them. Several years earlier, even Chinese with college degrees would have been assigned to jobs by the government, with
little choice about their future. The options for young people were terribly limited. The best they could hope for was to get a job in a state-owned enterprise, with the government, or—if
they really dreamed big—with a multinational company. Compared to the opportunities available to the expat staff in Hong Kong, few places in China allowed young people to forge their own
paths. Alibaba represented hope for them.
Thinking about all this made me feel a little guilty. Here I was, an expat making nearly 50 times more than many of the local colleagues who had hired me. Yet they were welcoming me with open
arms. My earlier concern about money began to melt away as the full significance of Alibaba’s mission dawned on me. If we could make Alibaba a true success story, it could reshape the future
for this bright young team.
After dinner we were sent into a dance hall, its drabness dressed in velvet drapes and sparkling with multicolored disco lights. The room was at full capacity, and the walls were lined with
chairs. We sat along the perimeter facing each other. Jack took the stage and addressed us over
In the short time we’d worked together Brian and I had already developed a brotherly rivalry. Hence his ribbing about having been at the company back in the “tough times,”
before life at Alibaba had become more comfortable.
“Yeah, it must have been a lot tougher than living with your parents in Palo Alto,” I jabbed back. “You must have been jones-in’ all winter for a Starbucks
frappuccino.” Brian chuckled.
We picked up Justin and began the two-hour drive to Nanbei Lake, a lakeside resort area between Shanghai and Hangzhou. Justin, who is tall, skinny, and slightly bookish, had just been named the
Asia bureau chief for
Forbes
magazine. He wasbased in Singapore and had traveled to Shanghai to write about Jack Ma and Alibaba.
For me, as the company’s new PR person, it was a bit of a gamble to bring the Asia bureau chief of a major business magazine along on my first trip to the Alibaba headquarters, as I had no
idea what the company was actually like. It was like bringing a restaurant customer into the kitchen. And it didn’t help that, because of a shortage of rooms, Justin had been assigned to
share one of the resort’s cabins with me, a notorious snorer. But I figured that, for a start-up company, any publicity was good publicity, and it was better to err on the side of
openness.
We arrived at Nanbei Lake and found Alibaba staff members, about 100 young men and women, excitedly buzzing between the resort’s small cabins. This was the company’s first off-site
retreat and an opportunity for the company to catch its breath after growing so quickly without a break. None of the expats had made the trip up from Hong Kong to attend the retreat, which I
thought was strange for an all-hands outing, as I felt they were missing an important opportunity to bond with their local counterparts.
First we headed to dinner in a large dining hall with round tables. Filled with excitement and anticipation, people settled in for a long meal, laughing and chatting while course after course of
local dishes was set on the table. Lazy Susans spun, and staffers picked off delicious local food with chopsticks while clinking their beer glasses at toast after toast.
I was struck by the warmth of the gathering. It didn’t feel like a typical company. It felt much more like a family. Justin and I were invited to join a table full of my new colleagues.
They were almost all in their mid-twenties and came from a range ofbackgrounds. The sons and daughters of farmers, factory workers, and businesspeople, most had joined
the company in the four weeks since I’d signed my contract.
As I chatted with the staff, I was struck by how much all this meant for them. Several years earlier, even Chinese with college degrees would have been assigned to jobs by the government, with
little choice about their future. The options for young people were terribly limited. The best they could hope for was to get a job in a state-owned enterprise, with the government, or—if
they really dreamed big—with a multinational company. Compared to the opportunities available to the expat staff in Hong Kong, few places in China allowed young people to forge their own
paths. Alibaba represented hope for them.
Thinking about all this made me feel a little guilty. Here I was, an expat making nearly 50 times more than many of the local colleagues who had hired me. Yet they were welcoming me with open
arms. My earlier concern about money began to melt away as the full significance of Alibaba’s mission dawned on me. If we could make Alibaba a true success story, it could reshape the future
for this bright young team.
After dinner we were sent into a dance hall, its drabness dressed in velvet drapes and sparkling with multicolored disco lights. The room was at full capacity, and the walls were lined with
chairs. We sat along the perimeter facing each other. Jack took the stage and addressed us over
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