What should we talk about tonight? Let's start with the updates on the South Korean martial law incident.
Today, the National Assembly voted on two bills consecutively. The first one is about investigating Kim Jae-hee, the president's wife. The final vote was 198 in favor and 102 against, failing to reach the 2/3 requirement (200 votes), so the bill did not pass.
The second proposal was aimed at the impeachment of Yoon Seok-youl. Before the vote, 107 of the 108 members from the ruling party (People Power Party) where Yoon Seok-youl belongs voluntarily left the venue, giving up their votes. As a result, even if all remaining attendees agreed, they couldn't meet the 2/3 requirement (200 votes), so the bill did not pass.
Here’s a little knowledge: these two proposals are different. Kim Jae-hee's is an ordinary bill, requiring 2/3 of the attending members to vote, while the impeachment of Yoon Seok-youl is a special bill requiring 2/3 of the 300 members to vote.
Can you see the difference? One is counting 2/3 of the attending members, while the other requires 2/3 regardless of whether the members are present or not.
So the proposal to vote for Kim Jae-hee was attended by people from the People Power Party, who cast 102 opposing votes because if they didn't show up, that proposal would have passed. When it comes to voting for Yoon Seok-youl's proposal, it doesn't matter; they simply left collectively and stopped playing with the opposition.
It can be seen that although the People Power Party considered abandoning Yoon Seok-youl earlier, after weighing the pros and cons over the past two days, they ultimately decided to protect him for now. This may be a lesson learned from the impeachment of Park Geun-hye (the former female president of South Korea); after she stepped down, the party behind her quickly became marginalized and left the center of political power.
The political ecology in South Korea is different from that in the U.S. The U.S. has the Democratic and Republican parties, where each side selects a candidate every four years to compete. In South Korea, political parties are centered around individuals; a political star emerges first, and then a party is formed around them. Once this leader collapses, the organization also wavers.
I didn't expect that a president who failed a coup could still continue. The democratic system of the Republic of Korea is quite resilient.
……
Today, there is also a matter that has sparked some discussion in the industry, which is an internal speech by Fan Luyuan, a senior executive of Alibaba's entertainment division, at a game company, which went viral due to his overly paternalistic tone.
If you are curious about the full speech, you can search for it. It's too long, so I won't copy and paste it.
The audience for the speech was the veteran employees of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, a game company acquired by Alibaba. Their relatively successful product is the 'Three Kingdoms Strategy' version. I used to see ads with Gao Xiaosong as the spokesperson, but it wasn't my type, so I never played it.
Let me summarize the content of Fan Luyuan's speech:
1. You need to respect Alibaba; you need to be grateful to Alibaba.
2. Your team came from NetEase, but your startup wasn't successful. You were taken over like those who sought refuge with Yuan Shao in the Three Kingdoms. Without Alibaba's acquisition, you would have gone bankrupt and been nothing.
3. (Three Kingdoms Strategy) Three key factors for success: 1 is team development, 2 is Alibaba going to Japan to buy IP, 3 is finding Guo Degang and Gao Xiaosong for promotion, investing a lot in advertising. Without Alibaba, you wouldn't be able to produce hit games.
4. Alibaba is investing heavily in AI. Just wait and see, within five years, Tencent and NetEase's talent will lose their edge. In the future, AI will be the advanced productive force of the gaming industry. Within eight years, Lingxi aims to be third in China, second in 10-12 years, and third globally within 15 years, only behind Netflix and Disney.
5. Although I don't understand games, they are 85% similar to movies. We should show some respect to Tencent, so the goal of being second in the country is relatively realistic.
6. Your team was previously obsessed, but now you are re-learning Alibaba's value system. If the company says you can't do it, then you can't. Guangzhou used to be a place where exiled officials were sent; back then, it was all barbaric, speaking in languages that were unintelligible.
7. A considerable part was directed at Zhou Bingshu, the producer of 'Three Kingdoms Strategy,' who was later promoted to president of Lingxi. Fan Luyuan said Zhou is a kid; he was promoted from P7 to M4 under him, but he shouldn't be arrogant. He only managed to create something after he joined Alibaba following his failed startup, so he should be grateful to Alibaba.
Haha, that's about it. To be honest, if I were an employee listening to this speech, I would find this kind of leader quite interesting. The content is far more engaging than those poker-faced people who read from a script. Every sentence deviates from the norm, and you can't predict who he will criticize next; it's quite stimulating.
However, his speech revealed some situations: Alibaba, which has been established for over 20 years, is no longer young, at least the executives are not young. There is a clear elder-like mentality and tone when managing subordinates, with a heavy paternalistic vibe. They often talk about gratitude to establish Alibaba's authority, repeatedly pua-ing the subordinate team - without Alibaba you would go bankrupt, without Alibaba you wouldn't succeed, without Alibaba you are nothing. If I were an employee, I would be somewhat unhappy.
Additionally, he openly admitted he doesn't understand games and probably doesn't play much. It feels somewhat random for Alibaba to put such a person in charge of the entertainment sector. Fan Luyuan took over in 2017, and it's been seven years. In these seven years, Alibaba's entertainment development can't be said to be very optimistic, still struggling in a loss-making quagmire. Claims of surpassing NetEase in ten years and Tencent in fifteen years—I personally don't believe it.
I went to search for this guy; he was born in '73, ten years older than me. I feel that in ten years, I won't speak with such a paternalistic tone. But then again, I realize the gap between him and me is not just about age. He is a senior executive in a large company, with thousands of employees under him. Daily work and life may have become second nature to him. I'm just a homebody who has never led a team of more than five people; who can I act tough with?
Let's casually chat about these things tonight. Have a great weekend, everyone.