Jack Ma, Demi Lovato, Misty Copeland, and others explain why successful businesses think in decades, not quarters. Ma's Alibaba reviews every five years and plans ten-plus years ahead, solving large social problems. A dance school prioritizes belonging over technique; Copeland uses her platform to serve underserved communities.
Chapters
My favorite movie, Forrest Gump. You know, life's tough. This is I learned and that inspired me.
If you want to win in business, you have to think bigger than the service or product you provide.
I feel like if I didn't have music, I don't know what I would have.
Rise and shine, it's InSpresso time. Good morning, Believe Nation. My name is Alex and my one word is belong. I believe that the world would be a better place if more people felt that they belong. So to start off your day right, grab a cup of coffee and sip on today's message, "Think Big." Over to you, Jack Ma.
Every 5 years we have a review for our strategy. Now our strategy is always look at the 30 years and 10 years. Every strategic decisions we make, we have to ask one question: this decision we made solve society problem? Because we believe the bigger social problem you solve, the more successful you are. So if we do this cannot solve any social problems, we don't do it. Second, is this project going to be successful in 10 years? If it's going to be successful in 10 years, let's do it. If it's going to be successful in 1 year or 1 month, now more I say forget about it. Because why you can be successful in 1 year or 1 month? So we all have to put— and 5 years ago, we had a big debate about 10 years later, 20 years, what are the things that China society, the world, want? So we say happiness and health, 2H strategy. So happiness and health. We believe Hollywood, the movie industry, bring people happy. Because today, nobody is happy. Rich people not happy, poor people not happy. At least when I watch movie, I feel happy, right? So I think we should partner with Hollywood, especially like a lot of— we have a different way of living in China. The movie. We have a lot of heroes, but China movies, heroes always dead. The American movie hero never die. If all the heroes die, who want to be the hero? So my movie, I want to make the hero live. Right, so this is, this is, I think we should learn a lot. And it's only about 2 years, so we have another 8 years to go. I want to make our company that it's not e-commerce. It's something that's giving people inspirations. Giving people— because I learned a lot. For example, I always say that my favorite movie, Forrest Gump. You know, life's tough. This is what I learned, and that inspired me. That is why when people call me crazy, stupid, past 17 years, you're crazy, doing something that will never work. You're stupid, how can you do that model? Amazon this model, eBay this model. Why Alibaba this model? I told myself Forrest Gump said, go ahead, never care about what the other people. And the other thing Forrest Gump said, nobody make money out of the catching whales, people make money by catching shrimps. So we serve small business.
Fair enough.
If you want to win in business, you have to think bigger than the service or product you provide. At Toronto Dance Salsa, we don't just focus on how to do a right turn. Toronto Dance Salsa is the largest dance school in Canada, and the reason that we got so big was because we looked outside of the moves that we teach. All the tricks, all the turns, all the dips, all the tosses in the air didn't matter as much as the experience we provided to students. Every person wants to feel loved. Every person wants to feel like they belong, but they want to feel wanted, appreciated, validated, and seen. And so we've always at our school thought bigger. We thought about, they may come in for a service, but they come back and they refer others because we enrich their lives. We focus on the essential human needs like love, like care, like belonging, that across cultures, across demographics, everybody wants to feel or experience. I love Jack Ma's message, thinking 5 or 10 years from now, because what people are worried about, let's say right now for the next 6 months, it's gonna come and go. But what stands the test of time are the deep-down worries and fears that we all share. So if you wanna have a successful business, you have to think bigger than the service or product you provide. Because people may come to your dance school, people may come to your coffee shop by random chance, but that's not what's gonna keep 'em there, and that's not what's gonna make them refer clients to you. Now I've got a special bonus clip for you, but before we get to it, today's question is, how have you been thinking small in your business and what can you do to change that to really make an impact on your customers? Leave it in the comments below and we look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thank you so much for watching. We believe in you and we hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. We'll see you tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. Enjoy the bonus clip.
I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.
When I look back at my life, I feel like if I didn't have music, I don't know what I would have. I have my friends and my family, but music gave me a purpose when I was bullied in school. It gave me the motivation to keep going and prove to everyone that didn't believe in me that I was gonna be something someday.
I look back and I look at someone who slept 18 hours a day used drugs every day. And then you see someone today who's inspired to make better music, to talk about her own story, to help other people, and to make the world a better place. And that's a miracle.
She has lived through a lot of stuff, and she tries to put that stuff into her art because she's so authentic. And that's why people love her. She doesn't come in and go, "Well, I need a hit." She comes in with a passion for, "This is how I'm feeling right now, and this is how the people that I know listen to my music are feeling." There's other great singers out there, but like, Demi's voice is Demi's voice, and Demi's attitude is Demi's attitude.
Everything I need is standing right in front of me. I know that we will be all right, all right, yeah. Woo! Woo!
I know what music can get you through. I know what music can do emotionally for somebody because I've experienced it myself, and I wanted to create that for other people. There's nothing more beautiful than being able to connect with people through music in my eyes.
I understand the importance of me having a voice. And exposing people beyond, you know, the typical ballet world to this art form. I think it saved my life, and I want to introduce it to more people. And, you know, coming full circle, that's something that I'm trying to do now is to give back to those communities through Boys and Girls Clubs, being an alum. To invite people into my world as it's happening, I think is really amazing. To have grown men that, you know, never have seen a ballet in their life, look at me and see a woman that they can relate to, someone who looks like their sister, their daughter, their mother, and to say, "Well, I'm gonna put my child in that," because they can see themselves through you. I think it's creating a completely different path for these people that never saw themselves in this world, and to watch me still growing and on my path, I think is really powerful.
Raise your standard.
Apple, at the core, its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. Not one drop of my self-worth depends on your acceptance of me. I don't ever give up. I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated.
Hey, Believe Nation, if you want to see my all-time favorite top 10 rules of success, I have a very special secret video for you. These are the individual clips that I have personally learned the most from and applied to my life and my business. Check the link in the description for details.
