如何走好職業(yè)之路

by Sheryl Sandberg 譯 劉戈

四年風(fēng)雨路，又到畢業(yè)時(shí)。雖不舍舊日的大學(xué)時(shí)光，但依然要打點(diǎn)行裝、準(zhǔn)備出發(fā)。明天的你將要踏上一條全新的職業(yè)之路，那里充滿艱辛和未知，但同樣蘊(yùn)含希望和驚喜。如果這條路讓你感到迷茫，不妨聽聽謝麗爾·桑德伯格于2012年5月23日在哈佛商學(xué)院所作的畢業(yè)演講，相信你從中收獲的不僅是方法，還有力量。

Its an honor to be here today to address HBSs distinguished faculty, proud parents, patient guests, and most importantly, the class of 2012. Today marks a distinct and impressive achievement for this class. So please everyone join me in giving our warmest congratulations to the class of 2012.

It wasnt really that long ago when I was sitting where you are, but the world has changed an awful lot. It used to be that in order to reach more people than you could talk to in a day, you had to be rich and famous and powerful. You had to be a celebrity, a politician, a CEO. But thats not true today. Now ordinary people have voice, not just those of us lucky enough to go to HBS, but anyone with access to Facebook, to Twitter, to a mobile phone. This is disrupting traditional power structures and leveling traditional hierarchy2). Voice and power are shifting from institutions to individuals, from the historically powerful to the historically powerless. And all of this is happening so much faster than I could have imagined when I was sitting where you are today.

As the world becomes more connected and less hierarchical, traditional career paths are shifting as well. In 2001, after working in the government, I moved out to Silicon Valley to try to find a job. After a while I had a few offers and I had to make a decision. One of the jobs was to become Googles first Business Unit general manager, which sounds good now, but at the time no one thought consumer internet companies could ever make money. I was not sure there was actually a job there at all; Google had no business units, so what was there to generally manage? And the job was several levels lower than jobs I was being offered at other companies.

So I sat down with Eric Schmidt3), who had just become the CEO, and I told him that this job meets none of my criteria. He looked at me and said, “Dont be an idiot.” Excellent career advice. And then he said, “Get on a rocket ship. When companies are growing quickly and having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies arent growing quickly or their missions dont matter as much, thats when stagnation and politics4) come in5). If youre offered a seat on a rocket ship, dont ask what seat. Just get on.”

About six and one-half years later, when I was leaving Google, I took that advice to heart6). I was offered CEO jobs at a bunch of companies, but I went to Facebook as COO. At the time people said, why are you going to work for a 23-year-old?

The traditional metaphor for careers is a ladder, but I no longer think that metaphor holds. It doesnt make sense in a less hierarchical world. Lori Goler, a 1997 graduate of HBS, who runs all of People Operations at Facebook has a great metaphor for careers. She says theyre not a ladder, theyre a jungle gym7). As you start your post-HBS career, look for opportunities, look for growth, look for impact, look for mission. Move sideways8), move down, move on9), move off. Build your skills, not your resume. Dont plan too much, and dont expect a direct climb.

You are entering a different business world than I entered. Mine was just starting to get connected. Yours is hyper-connected. Mine was competitive. Yours is way more competitive. Mine moved quickly, yours moves even more quickly.

As traditional structures are breaking down, leadership has to evolve as well—from hierarchy to shared responsibility, from command and control to listening and guiding. Youve been trained by this great institution not just to be part of these trends, but to lead. As you lead in this new world, you will not be able to rely on who you are or the degree you hold. Youll have to rely on what you know. Your strength will not come from your place on some org chart. Your strength will come from building trust and earning respect. Youre going to need talent, skill, and imagination and vision. But more than anything else, youre going to need the ability to communicate authentically, to speak so that you inspire the people around you and to listen so that you continue to learn each and every day on the job.

The workplace is a difficult place for anyone to tell the truth, because no matter how flat we want our organizations to be, all organizations have some form of hierarchy. And that means one persons performance is assessed by someone elses perception. This is not a setup for honesty. People rarely speak the truth clearly in the workforce. And as you get more senior, not only will people speak less clearly to you but they will overreact to the small things you say. A good leader recognizes that most people wont feel comfortable challenging authority, so it falls upon10) authority to encourage them to question. Its easy to say that youre going to encourage feedback but its really hard to get good and honest feedback. One trick Ive discovered is that I try to speak really openly about the things Im bad at, because that gives people permission to agree with me, which is a lot easier than pointing it out in the first place.

As we strive to be more authentic in our communication, we should also strive to be more authentic in a broader sense. I talk a lot about bringing your whole self to work—something I believe in very deeply. Motivation comes from working on things we care about. But it also comes from working with people we care about. And in order to care about someone, you have to know them. If you want to win hearts and minds, you have to lead with your heart as well as your mind.

I recently started speaking up about the challenges women face in the workforce. We need to start talking about how women underestimate their abilities compared to men and how for women, but not men, success and likeability are negatively correlated. That means that as a woman is more successful in your workplaces, she will be less liked. This means that women need a different form of management and mentorship, a different form of sponsorship and encouragement and some protection, in some ways more than men. And there arent enough senior women out there to do it, so it falls upon the men who are graduating today just as much or more as the women, not just to talk about gender but to help these women succeed.

And maybe, most importantly, we need to start talking about how fewer women than men aspire to the very top jobs. We will not close the leadership gap until we close the professional ambition gap. We need more women not just to sit at the table, but to take their rightful seats at the head of the table.

As you and your classmates spread out across the globe and walk across this stage tomorrow, I wish for you four things: First, keep in touch via Facebook. This is critical to your future success! Two, that you make the effort to speak as well as seek the truth. Three, that you remain true to and open about your authentic self. And four, that your generation accomplishes what mine has failed to do. Give us a world where half our homes are run by men and half our institutions are run by women. Im pretty sure that would be a better world.

1. HBS：哈佛商學(xué)院(Harvard Business School)，全世界最著名的商學(xué)院之一，常春藤聯(lián)盟商學(xué)院之一

2. hierarchy [?ha???rɑ?(r)ki] n. 等級(jí)制度，等級(jí)體系

3. Eric Schmidt：埃里克·施密特(1955～)，普林斯頓大學(xué)電子電氣工程專業(yè)學(xué)士及碩士，加利福尼亞大學(xué)伯克利分校電子工程暨計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)(EECS)專業(yè)博士，2001～2011年十年間擔(dān)任Google首席執(zhí)行官。

4. politics [?p?l?t?ks] n. 手腕，權(quán)術(shù)，策略

5. come in：(在某件事中)起作用，發(fā)揮作用

6. take ... to heart：嚴(yán)肅地考慮??

7. jungle gym：孩子們玩的攀緣架，又稱“猴架兒”

8. move sideways：(事業(yè)發(fā)展)在原有水平上；無實(shí)際進(jìn)展

9. move on：改做更好的工作；調(diào)換更好的職業(yè)

10. fall upon：(等于fall on)由……負(fù)擔(dān)

非常榮幸今天能在這里向哈佛商學(xué)院卓越的老師、自豪的家長(zhǎng)、耐心的嘉賓——以及最重要的——2012屆的畢業(yè)生們發(fā)表演講。今天標(biāo)志著2012屆同學(xué)們所取得的顯著而重大的成就。所以請(qǐng)大家和我一起，向2012屆全體畢業(yè)生表示最熱烈的祝賀！

自我從哈佛商學(xué)院畢業(yè)到現(xiàn)在，其實(shí)并沒有多久，但這個(gè)世界已經(jīng)發(fā)生了巨大的變化。在過去，除了可以交談的人之外，你要想在一天內(nèi)接觸更多的人，你就得有錢、有名、有權(quán)。你得是個(gè)名人、政客或者老總?？扇缃癫辉偈沁@樣了?，F(xiàn)在普通人也可以發(fā)出自己的聲音，不僅是我們這些有幸進(jìn)入哈佛商學(xué)院的人，還包括所有能使用Facebook、Twitter和手機(jī)的人。這種變化打破了傳統(tǒng)的權(quán)力結(jié)構(gòu)，推平了傳統(tǒng)的等級(jí)制度。言論與權(quán)力的主體正在轉(zhuǎn)移：從機(jī)構(gòu)轉(zhuǎn)向了個(gè)人，從歷來的有權(quán)有勢(shì)者轉(zhuǎn)向了歷來的無權(quán)無勢(shì)者。這一切發(fā)生得太快了，當(dāng)我像你們今天這樣等待畢業(yè)的時(shí)候，這一切是根本無法想象的。

隨著世界聯(lián)系日漸緊密，等級(jí)區(qū)分日益模糊，傳統(tǒng)的職業(yè)發(fā)展道路也在發(fā)生變化。2001年，在政府供職一段時(shí)間后，我去了硅谷，想在那里找份工作。不久，我收到了幾份工作邀請(qǐng)，我得拿個(gè)主意去哪兒。在這幾份工作中，有一個(gè)是做Google業(yè)務(wù)部門的首任總經(jīng)理，這份工作如今聽起來不錯(cuò)，可那時(shí)沒人相信用戶導(dǎo)向型的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司能賺錢。我甚至不確定Google有沒有這么個(gè)職位；Google都沒有業(yè)務(wù)部門，那要我這個(gè)總經(jīng)理去打理什么？而且這一職位比其他公司為我提供的職位要低好幾個(gè)檔次。

于是，我就與當(dāng)時(shí)剛剛走馬上任的Google首席執(zhí)行官埃里克·施密特一起坐下聊了聊。我告訴他，這份工作完全沒有達(dá)到我的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。他看著我說：“別犯傻。”這是一條極好的職業(yè)建議。他接著說：“趕緊登上這艘火箭飛船吧。如果公司發(fā)展迅速且影響巨大，那么個(gè)人的職業(yè)發(fā)展是自然而然的事?？扇绻景l(fā)展不那么迅速，公司使命也無關(guān)緊要，那么個(gè)人的職業(yè)發(fā)展就會(huì)停滯，手腕和權(quán)術(shù)將大行其道。所以，如果你能在火箭飛船里有個(gè)座，別管它是什么座，趕緊上來就是。”

六年半以后，當(dāng)我離開谷歌時(shí)，我認(rèn)真考慮了這條建議。當(dāng)時(shí)有很多公司邀請(qǐng)我去擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官，可我最終去了Facebook擔(dān)任首席運(yùn)營(yíng)官。那時(shí)人們都問我，你怎么會(huì)去給一個(gè)23歲的小伙子打工？

長(zhǎng)期以來人們總是把職業(yè)比作梯子，可我覺得這樣的比喻已經(jīng)不再恰當(dāng)。在這個(gè)等級(jí)不再森嚴(yán)的世界，這個(gè)比喻根本講不通。洛莉·高勒是哈佛商學(xué)院1997屆的畢業(yè)生，如今負(fù)責(zé)整個(gè)Facebook的人事管理工作，她對(duì)職業(yè)生涯有個(gè)絕佳的比喻。她說職業(yè)生涯不是梯子，而是攀緣架。當(dāng)你們離開哈佛商學(xué)院，開始職業(yè)生涯后，要尋找機(jī)遇，尋找成長(zhǎng)，尋找影響，尋找使命。搜索徘徊，經(jīng)歷低谷，另謀高就，適時(shí)離開。你要錘煉的是技能，而不是簡(jiǎn)歷。別做太多規(guī)劃，別指望一路通途。

你們將要進(jìn)入的商界和我當(dāng)年躋身其中的那個(gè)完全不同。我進(jìn)入的那個(gè)商界，人與人之間的聯(lián)系才剛剛開始建立；而你們進(jìn)入的商界已經(jīng)是一個(gè)超級(jí)“互聯(lián)”的世界。我進(jìn)入的商界競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈，你們進(jìn)入的商界競(jìng)爭(zhēng)更加激烈。我們進(jìn)入的商界瞬息萬變，你們進(jìn)入的商界更加瞬息萬變。

隨著傳統(tǒng)結(jié)構(gòu)的不斷解體，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)方式也必須發(fā)展變化——從等級(jí)森嚴(yán)到責(zé)任分擔(dān)，從指揮控制到傾聽指導(dǎo)。這所偉大的學(xué)校已經(jīng)教育你們不能只做這些潮流的參與者，而要成為潮流的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。要在這個(gè)新世界里擔(dān)當(dāng)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，你們所能依賴的既不是你的身份，也不是你們的學(xué)位。你們只能依賴你們的知識(shí)。你們的力量不是來自你們?cè)诠窘M織結(jié)構(gòu)圖中的位置，而是來自你們建立的信任和贏得的尊重。你們需要的是天賦、技能、想象力以及遠(yuǎn)見。而最為重要的是，你們需要真誠(chéng)溝通的能力，善于表達(dá)從而激勵(lì)身邊的人，善于傾聽從而能讓你在日常工作中不斷學(xué)習(xí)。

在工作場(chǎng)所，人們很難講真話，因?yàn)椴还芪覀兿Ｍ镜慕M織結(jié)構(gòu)多么“扁平”，它總還是有一定等級(jí)區(qū)別的。這就意味著一個(gè)人的表現(xiàn)要靠另一個(gè)人的洞察力來評(píng)估。這樣的安排并不利于誠(chéng)實(shí)。人們?cè)诠ぷ髦泻苌偾宄乇磉_(dá)自己真實(shí)的想法。而等你的職位越來越高，人們不僅跟你說話越來越拐彎抹角，還會(huì)對(duì)你說的微不足道的小事反應(yīng)過度。一個(gè)好的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者應(yīng)該認(rèn)識(shí)到，大多數(shù)人挑戰(zhàn)權(quán)威時(shí)都會(huì)覺得不自在，因此領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者應(yīng)該鼓勵(lì)人們提出疑問。不過，鼓勵(lì)反饋說起來容易，但要獲得有效、誠(chéng)實(shí)的反饋卻非常難。對(duì)此我想到了一個(gè)好辦法：我盡量在人前大談自己的缺點(diǎn)和不足，因?yàn)檫@等于許可人們同意我對(duì)自己的看法，這比讓他們先指出我的不足要容易得多。

在我們努力真誠(chéng)溝通的同時(shí)，還應(yīng)在更廣泛的意義上努力做到真誠(chéng)。關(guān)于要把自己全身心投入到工作中這一點(diǎn)，我已經(jīng)講過很多，對(duì)此我深信不疑。工作的動(dòng)力源自于做我們喜歡的工作，但它同時(shí)也源自于和我們喜歡的人一起工作。而要喜歡這些人，你就得了解他們。你要想贏得人們的感情與尊重，那你作為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者就要給予下屬感情上的支持。

我近來開始就女性在工作中面臨的挑戰(zhàn)暢所欲言。我們需要討論一下，女性相較于男性如何低估了自己的能力，以及對(duì)于女性——而非男性——來說，成功與受喜愛程度又是如何呈負(fù)相關(guān)的。也就是說，作為女性，你在職場(chǎng)上越成功，你就越不招人喜歡。這意味著，女性需要一種截然不同的管理和指導(dǎo)方式，一種截然不同的贊助和鼓勵(lì)模式，而且相較于男性來說，女性在一些方面更需要保護(hù)?？晌覀儧]有那么多位居高層的職業(yè)女性來做這些事，因此這一責(zé)任就落在了今天畢業(yè)的男同胞身上，你們要肩負(fù)起和女性一樣——甚至比女性更重——的責(zé)任，去幫助女性取得事業(yè)的成功，而不僅僅是施與“口”惠。

而最重要的，也許我們需要討論另一個(gè)問題：渴望獲得最高領(lǐng)導(dǎo)職務(wù)的女性遠(yuǎn)少于男性。我們必須先填補(bǔ)男女職業(yè)抱負(fù)上的差異，才能填補(bǔ)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層男女比例差異。我們需要更多的女性不僅進(jìn)入決策層，而且在這個(gè)層次占有應(yīng)得的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)崗位。

同學(xué)們，當(dāng)你們明天上臺(tái)領(lǐng)過畢業(yè)證奔向全球各地時(shí)，希望你們做到以下四點(diǎn)：第一，通過Facebook保持聯(lián)系。這對(duì)于你們未來的成功非常重要！第二，盡力去說真話，求真相。第三，保持你們的真我本色，傾聽別人有關(guān)你們真我的評(píng)論。第四，去完成我們那一代人未竟的事業(yè)：創(chuàng)造一個(gè)半數(shù)家庭由男人打理、半數(shù)機(jī)構(gòu)由女人掌舵的世界。我相信那是一個(gè)更加美好的世界。