Alibaba’s co-founder and chairman Joe Tsai has shared two essential qualities he believes every good employee should possess to drive innovation within large organizations. Speaking in an interview at Stanford University released on Wednesday, Tsai emphasized the importance of an ownership mindset and agility—traits he says are critical for sustained progress, especially in fast-moving technology industries. “We’ve gone through periods where we stopped innovating, and we suffer from it as a large company,” Tsai said. “Everybody has their role. It’s very difficult to get people to think about new things about the future, innovate.” He noted that creating a separate innovation division isn’t the answer. Instead, he stressed the need to instill a sense of ownership across the entire workforce. “Everybody should work for their customers,” Tsai said, echoing a core principle once championed by Alibaba’s former CEO Jack Ma. The idea is to shift focus from pleasing bosses to truly understanding and anticipating customer needs. When employees think like owners, they become more proactive in identifying problems and shaping future solutions. The second key trait Tsai highlighted is agility—especially vital in technology, where information is often incomplete. “You’d have to be able to tolerate not having full information and then just making a decision and committing to it,” he explained. “Then if you find out you’re wrong, pivot fast in a different direction.” This mindset, he argued, is what allows companies to experiment, learn quickly, and adapt—essential for staying competitive. Alibaba has demonstrated this in recent years, staging a strong comeback over the past two years fueled by AI advancements and a strategic overhaul of its e-commerce operations. On a recent earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu dismissed concerns about an AI bubble, stating the company is fully committed to investing in the technology. “We’re not even able to keep pace with the growth in customer demand,” Wu said, adding that AI resources will remain in high demand over the next three years. He emphasized that the surge in demand stems not from hype, but from real-world adoption of AI across industries. Alibaba’s Qwen series of AI models have proven competitive on global benchmark tests, showcasing the company’s growing technical capabilities. As the AI race intensifies, Tsai’s insights underscore a broader lesson: innovation isn’t just about technology—it’s about cultivating the right culture, mindset, and behavior in people.