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Jack Ma: ‘If You’re Not Arguing, You’re Not Doing Business’

If you’re looking for advice from people who have had success in the Chinese internet game, you could do a lot worse than Jack Ma. His company Alibaba does pretty well, so he probably knows a thing or two, and he’s dispensing free advice on his blog today, answering a net user’s question about how to deal with investors or business partners who are family members when there’s a disagreement — an issue that’s of particular relevance to startups. Ma says the problem isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Even if it’s a family member, he wrote:

…it’s also a major stakeholder; you’ve either got to obey them or convince them. Or choose to leave them and go do it yourself. Obey or convince, stay or leave; there are only a few simple choices, don’t overcomplicate things. It doesn’t matter if it’s a family member or not, you will have disagreements with any cooperative partner. There’s no such thing as cooperation without argument; if partners aren’t arguing they definitely won’t be able to work together successfully. Alibaba has certainly had its share of arguments with its shareholders (especially Yahoo), so it’s probably fair to assume Jack Ma knows what he is talking about. There’s no real collaboration without conflict, so while it’s unwise to piss off your shareholders on purpose — especially if they’re also your family members — you can’t succeed while dodging conflict completely, either.