The “EMPTY SEAT PRINCIPLE” is how Jack Ma turned one embarrassing moment before Alibaba became one of the most valuable companies in the world. He lived through a moment most people would never recover from.
In the early days of his English school in Hangzhou, Jack held a small seminar and invited 20 local business owners.
He was excited.
He prepared notes.
He rehearsed every line.
He set out 20 chairs.
When the seminar began… only one person showed up. Not twenty. Not ten. Not five. One. A single man sat in the front row surrounded by nineteen empty seats. Jack Ma felt his stomach drop. He considered cancelling. He considered apologizing. He considered quitting. But instead, he walked to the podium, bowed, and said: “If you showed up, I will give you everything I prepared as if the room was full.” He taught for 2 hours.
He delivered every example. He shared every idea. He gave his absolute best… To an audience of one. Years later, when Alibaba had thousands of employees, Jack Ma referenced that day and said: “If you cannot serve one person well, you cannot serve a million.” That moment, that humiliation, became the seed of his entire philosophy: Small audiences’ matter. Small beginnings matter. Small rooms matter. One person matters. The empty seats never discouraged him. They disciplined him. Because Jack Ma understood something most entrepreneurs forget: Success is not built when the room is full. Success is built when you perform even when the room is empty.
The “Empty Seat Principle” teaches this: Excellence is not a performance for the crowd. Excellence is a habit you practice long before the crowd arrives. Small numbers are not a problem. Small effort is. Show up fully, even when no one else does. Because the day you stop despising small beginnings is the day your reputation starts growing bigger than your audience.
Reference:
Post by Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad, https://www.linkedin.com/
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