From Shanghai to Alibaba: Leadership Lessons, Accountability, and Continuous Growth

01

After eight years in Shanghai, department manager Qian Lei left his home and wife to move to Hangzhou and join Alibaba, feeling that the next step in his career was to become a true technical leader.

02

His early days at Alibaba were tough – no "honeymoon" period, pressure from senior engineers, and a feeling of being out of place. He stayed in a hotel for two weeks while searching for housing, and realized that discomfort was a sign of growth.

03

Tasked with rebuilding the earliest Alibaba B2B CRM backend, Qian built a new development framework in two weeks, shouldering the responsibility for the system that thousands of users relied on daily. The project taught him that technology should lead business, not merely follow it.

04

Later, as head of the user‑permission center, he shifted from pure technical architecture to a business‑driven approach, creating a productized "rights‑package" that reduced configuration time from days to hours and solved a major pain point for the ICBU.

05

He learned that proving oneself is meaningless; creating value for users and the business is the real goal. This insight helped him accept a promotion to P10 (researcher) after a "green channel" interview.

06

Qian emphasizes the habit of monthly summarizing and reflection, believing that continuous documentation and analysis provide the acceleration needed for personal development.

07

When hiring, he focuses on curiosity and the ability to answer three "Why" questions: why the action, the underlying problem, and the business value. He expects senior engineers to withstand rigorous questioning.

08

His management philosophy is "lead by example": keep personal standards high, avoid KPI‑only thinking, and ensure the team’s KPI ties back to solving real business scenarios.

09

In 2017, after two sleepless nights during Double‑11, he reflected on his nine‑year growth, recognizing that every step, even the painful ones, contributed to his development and the company’s success.