“Zhang Yiming’s Last Speech”
We rarely do translations, but Zhang Yiming’s last speech as ByteDance CEO is one of the most philosophical company anniversary speeches & translation-worthy.
Here’s a thread highlighting some poignant sections of his speech.
(thread)
We rarely do translations, but Zhang Yiming’s last speech as ByteDance CEO is one of the most philosophical company anniversary speeches & translation-worthy.
Here’s a thread highlighting some poignant sections of his speech.
(thread)
1/ On “ordinary mind”:
“I’d like to talk about the topic of ‘ordinary mind’ (平常心) today... an ordinary mind is: when hungry, eat; when tired, sleep... treat yourself with an ordinary mind... realize that everyone, including yourself, is an ordinary person.”
“I’d like to talk about the topic of ‘ordinary mind’ (平常心) today... an ordinary mind is: when hungry, eat; when tired, sleep... treat yourself with an ordinary mind... realize that everyone, including yourself, is an ordinary person.”
2/ Ordinary people, extraordinary things:
“From a 'human' pov… we are all ordinary people. But… people who achieve great things… maintain a very ordinary mentality... if you keep an ordinary mind, accept yourself as you are, do well for yourself, you can often do things well”
“From a 'human' pov… we are all ordinary people. But… people who achieve great things… maintain a very ordinary mentality... if you keep an ordinary mind, accept yourself as you are, do well for yourself, you can often do things well”
3/ On expectation & label:
“When you really care about outcome, you are likely to play poorly.”
“Titles... make people compare: VP should be in charge of this many people, have this form of reporting, correspond w peers of that particular level, resulting in various bondages.”
“When you really care about outcome, you are likely to play poorly.”
“Titles... make people compare: VP should be in charge of this many people, have this form of reporting, correspond w peers of that particular level, resulting in various bondages.”
4/ Focus on the present and slow down:
“Some people often ask me: ‘How do you deal with anxiety? Your company went up 100% last year, but will it still go up by 100% next year?’
I usually reply by saying: Why must our company grow 100% next year?”
“Some people often ask me: ‘How do you deal with anxiety? Your company went up 100% last year, but will it still go up by 100% next year?’
I usually reply by saying: Why must our company grow 100% next year?”
5/ On competition:
“Treating competitors w an ordinary mind is to see competition as norm… Competitors may have good approaches… [to] learn from… [but] don’t compete for the sake of competition... In the case of such an unordinary mindset, the company may 'lose its eyesight'”
“Treating competitors w an ordinary mind is to see competition as norm… Competitors may have good approaches… [to] learn from… [but] don’t compete for the sake of competition... In the case of such an unordinary mindset, the company may 'lose its eyesight'”
6/ On “all-in”:
“All-in is sometimes a type of mental laziness… my feeling is that in many cases, it’s just ‘I don’t want to think about it anymore, let’s just do it, let’s just go all-in, let’s just gamble.’”
“All-in is sometimes a type of mental laziness… my feeling is that in many cases, it’s just ‘I don’t want to think about it anymore, let’s just do it, let’s just go all-in, let’s just gamble.’”
7/ On abstraction:
“There is another way to take shortcuts: excessive abstraction, excessive pursuit of methodologies. My own feeling is that methodology is actually not that useful… Avoiding excessive abstraction is also a kind of ordinary mind.”
“There is another way to take shortcuts: excessive abstraction, excessive pursuit of methodologies. My own feeling is that methodology is actually not that useful… Avoiding excessive abstraction is also a kind of ordinary mind.”
8/ On @googleearth, @scratch, @Roblox:
“... they are very imaginative… one has to be very patient & work on them for a very long time... I was thinking if our company could make a similar product…
“... they are very imaginative… one has to be very patient & work on them for a very long time... I was thinking if our company could make a similar product…
@googleearth @scratch @Roblox 9/ ... if the thing needs to be very imaginative, and you've only been doing it for two years, while a lot of people are saying, ‘Geez, this won't work’, will these strong expectations from the outside affect our continuous investment?”
@googleearth @scratch @Roblox 10/ On “Free Solo” protagonist @AlexHonnold:
“... you can’t look back too much & be afraid of what’s behind you… Nor can you look forward & realize there is still such a long way to go. One thing very worth learning from Alex: he was very focused on the present at every moment”
“... you can’t look back too much & be afraid of what’s behind you… Nor can you look forward & realize there is still such a long way to go. One thing very worth learning from Alex: he was very focused on the present at every moment”
@googleearth @scratch @Roblox @AlexHonnold 11/ Lastly, Zhang Yiming shared his four-part series on dealing with mistakes: realize it, correct it, learn from it, and forgive it.
Full post w audio narration below👇
interconnected.blog/zhang-yiming-l…
Full post w audio narration below👇
interconnected.blog/zhang-yiming-l…
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