Zhang Yiming’s Last Speech

We rarely do translations on Interconnected, because this newsletter is focused on original work and thinking. Today’s post is an exception -- an English translation of a Zhang Yiming speech delivered at the ByteDance company annual all-hands meeting in March 2021, and his last one as CEO. (Our only other translation is Jack Ma's Bund Finance Summit Speech.)

This speech is translation-worthy, because it’s one of the most philosophical company anniversary speeches by a CEO I’ve ever read. It reads more like something you’d hear at a meditation retreat. Putting the timing of the speech in context, it was delivered after ByteDance had one of the most tumultuous years any tech company could have -- from meteoric global user growth, to facing a possible ban by the Trump administration. (See other ByteDance related posts during that time.)

In summing up 2020 and looking ahead, Zhang Yiming asked everyone at ByteDance to “slow down” (a rare sentiment in a tech industry that’s all about moving fast), called out the popular “all-in” business attitude as mental laziness, shared his favorite products (Google Maps, Roblox, Scratch), mentioned the “Free Solo” documentary protagonist Alex Honnold as an inspiration, and telegraphed his desire to step down as CEO that became official two months later, which I wrote also about.

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