The spirited founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg
Introduction: The American "San Jose Mercury News" website today wrote an article stating that Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, might be the only American entrepreneur who has achieved such great success at such a young age, but his success is no accident. It stems from his confidence and focus from start to finish.
The following is the full text of the article:
Full of Confidence - Zuckerberg gained fame at a young age, reminiscent of Steve Jobs' style.
In the fall of 2004, Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg), who had just moved to Silicon Valley, appeared in front of Judy Fusco (Judy Fusco) to rent her house in Los Altos (Los Altos). This landlord was immediately impressed by his confidence.
"I said, 'Wow, how old are you?' He replied, 'Twenty.'" Fusco recalled during a recent interview, "I said, 'Do you think I would rent my $1 million house to you?' He answered, 'Yes.'"
Later, Fusco discovered that this tenant had a very clear purpose. When she ran into him two years later in downtown Palo Alto, she asked Zuckerberg why he rejected Yahoo's $1 billion acquisition offer? "He said, 'Judy, I didn't do this for the money,'" Fusco said, "Money was just a tool for him to realize his dream."
As Facebook begins its IPO (Initial Public Offering), this Facebook founder and CEO will also enter a new phase: now, he must pay close attention to financial matters. Inevitably, there will be many questions in the coming months, such as how much has the boy who stood at Fusco's door grown up? Is his passion for being CEO as high as when he created this fascinating social software?
"Zuckerberg will set the strategy, and this kid's IQ is obviously much higher than any of us imagined. But is he a great businessman? Can he build a company that maximizes profits?" said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, an American securities company, "Future shareholders will demand increased investment returns, and he may not like it."
Adapting to Challenges
It's hard to say how he will adapt. Looking back at his past growth process, we find that "Zuck" - almost everyone calls him that - is a rare combination of humility, focus, and extreme confidence. He has shown signs of idealism many times. But there is also a lot of evidence showing that his focus and vision can make him exceed all expectations and become a successful CEO of a listed company.
"He's still the same person," said David Kirkpatrick, author of "The Facebook Effect," "He has always been humble, without a trace of arrogance, even though he has every right to be."
There may be no merchant in American history who has achieved such great success at such a young age. Few people can hide the essential qualities of an excellent leader under a youthful appearance like Zuckerberg does.
Think about his previous clothing choices. Initially, Zuckerberg's daily outfit was a hoodie and a pair of Adidas slippers. Recently, it has changed to T-shirts, jeans, and New Balance running shoes. But similar to Apple CEO Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs), this almost unchanging dressing style highlights Zuckerberg's meticulous and extremely focused life philosophy.
Every year, Zuckerberg sets himself a challenge goal. In 2009, he decided to wear a tie almost every day. In 2010, he focused on learning Chinese. In 2011, he almost became a vegetarian - eating only animals he slaughtered himself.
Leadership Qualities
But in the IPO year, Zuckerberg has chosen a more professional challenge goal. He told his friends that his goal for 2012 is to "strictly manage time."
Some Facebook employees who wished to remain anonymous were impressed by Zuckerberg's clear vision. Occasionally, he lacks basic communication skills and becomes an emotionally harsh boss. However, within Facebook, Zuckerberg never uses a separate office but sits with other engineers. Insiders say he has gained high personal credibility within Facebook.
"He is very focused. Once he decides something, he won't change it, which makes him seem arrogant. I think he also wants to implant this arrogance and confidence into the company," an insider said, "This helps him become a great leader, a leader worthy of trust and following."
For engineers at the core of high-tech enterprises, nothing is more attractive than the boss fully committing to product development.
Andrew Bosworth, who was Zuckerberg's teaching assistant at Harvard, joined Facebook and was responsible for redeveloping the information system to seamlessly integrate with email, text messages, and instant messaging. Bosworth said in last year's interview that Zuckerberg not only planned the initial ideas but also worked overnight with the engineers on Sunday nights before the product launch to fix bugs.
"In terms of demanding details, Zuckerberg seems to have Jobs-like qualities," he said, "He has great vision."
Youthful Arrogance
Zuckerberg grew up in Dobbs Ferry, a small town in New York State. Located north of New York City, it has a population of only 11,000. His father, Edward, still works as a dentist there and runs a clinic called "Dr. Z's Painless Clinic." His mother, Karen, is a professional psychologist who later also came to work at her husband's clinic.
Zuckerberg was fascinated by computers from a young age and completed many challenging tasks he set for himself. According to The New Yorker, when Edward told his 12-year-old son that he wanted to better understand when patients arrived, Zuckerberg developed a program called "Zucknet," a simplified version of internet instant messaging services.
After entering Harvard University, Zuckerberg developed addictive software like Facemash. This software could randomly combine photos of any two Harvard undergraduates and let users choose which one was "sexier."
This got Zuckerberg, then a sophomore, into trouble. By 2010, when his chat records from those days were exposed, he drew criticism from around the world. These chat records, disclosed by the American tech blog Silicon Alley Insider, showed Zuckerberg boasting about having access to his classmates' email accounts and other sensitive information.
"They just gave it to me," Zuckerberg wrote, "They 'trust me,' the fools."
Zuckerberg has apologized and stated that he hopes everyone understands that he has matured.
On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched the site then known as thefacebook.com, allowing Harvard students to "make friends" with each other. This service quickly spread and was introduced in other schools.
Continuous Growth - Zuckerberg's relationship with his girlfriend is stable
Since then, Facebook's pace of development has not stopped. Moreover, there is evidence that Zuckerberg himself has also continued to grow. His personal life shows that he is no longer the arrogant Harvard student he once was.
He and his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, have moved from their inconspicuous rental apartment to a $7 million, five-bedroom, 5000-square-foot mansion. This property, located near University Avenue in Old Palo Alto, was purchased by Zuckerberg last year.
His relationship with Priscilla Chan might also change. They established their relationship on November 13, 2003, and she told The New Yorker that she fell in love with him at first sight, saying, "This guy seemed to be the one I was looking for." Their friends and Facebook colleagues said they don't know if the couple has considered marriage. But recently, 26-year-old Priscilla Chan changed her relationship status with Karen on Facebook from "future mother-in-law" to "mother-in-law." Priscilla Chan did not comment on this, and Facebook refused to comment.
"He loved her before he founded Facebook, and he still does," Kirkpatrick said, "If you hang out with them, you wouldn't feel that he's the most powerful 27-year-old in the world. You'd just think he has some brilliant ideas, cooks for his girlfriend, and has dinner with his Harvard friends."
Hacker Way
Of course, his life goes far beyond this.
The most eye-catching part of Facebook's IPO prospectus released last Wednesday was a letter from this founder, over 2000 words long. In the letter, Zuckerberg explained several guiding principles of the company, which he called the "Hacker Way." This letter clearly explained how he plans to blend idealism with business strategies.
Zuckerberg also described a utopian vision in the letter. He said that the company will promote the reorganization of global information, focusing on grassroots rather than the current top-down hierarchical system.
"We live in an era where most people can use the Internet and mobile phones - these are basic tools for sharing our thoughts, feelings, and actions," Zuckerberg wrote.
However, the IPO prospectus also shows that Zuckerberg craves power. When Zuckerberg sold shares early on, he required investors to return voting rights to him. Combined with the shares he holds, he will control 57% of the voting rights in the early stages after Facebook's listing.
Why is he so goal-oriented? Kirkpatrick said that Zuckerberg is not a person good at self-reflection, and perhaps even he doesn't know. "You can't get answers from him," the writer said, "Because I've tried, believe me." (Ding Hong)
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