“要是時(shí)間多些,我就能寫(xiě)封短點(diǎn)的信了?!边@句話揭露真相的手法老道,難怪很多人因此誤以為它出自美國(guó)幽默大師馬克·吐溫。不過(guò),一眾有名的思想家——從希臘哲學(xué)家西塞羅、美國(guó)社會(huì)活動(dòng)家馬丁·路德·金、美國(guó)國(guó)父本杰明·富蘭克林到美國(guó)哲學(xué)家亨利·戴維·梭羅都說(shuō)過(guò)類(lèi)似的話。 有報(bào)道稱,有人問(wèn)美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)伍德羅·威爾遜準(zhǔn)備個(gè)人演講花多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間時(shí),他說(shuō)十分鐘的演講要花兩周準(zhǔn)備,半小時(shí)的演講只用一周。他說(shuō):“如果講多久都行,我根本不用準(zhǔn)備,現(xiàn)在就能開(kāi)講?!?/p> 簡(jiǎn)練比冗長(zhǎng)珍貴。簡(jiǎn)明比復(fù)雜價(jià)值高得多。很多關(guān)鍵領(lǐng)域里都是越少越好。 現(xiàn)在更是如此。專(zhuān)心做自己擅長(zhǎng)的事乃成功的關(guān)鍵。不論是經(jīng)營(yíng)事業(yè)、企業(yè),還是對(duì)外溝通交流,都要遵守該原則。遺憾的是,反其道行之的人日益增多,尤其一些雄心勃勃的企業(yè)家手頭工作越來(lái)越多,結(jié)果精力太過(guò)分散,問(wèn)他們“你做什么工作”五秒都回答不出來(lái)。一旦如此,失敗就不遠(yuǎn)了。 如今,越來(lái)越多人放棄企業(yè)里的工作,選擇看似自由和靈活的創(chuàng)業(yè)生活。問(wèn)題是他們并沒(méi)有把集中精力成立創(chuàng)新的初創(chuàng)公司,只是加入日益龐大的零工經(jīng)濟(jì)隊(duì)伍,涉獵業(yè)務(wù)不少,卻都淺嘗輒止。 數(shù)據(jù)是驚人的。美國(guó)勞動(dòng)力參與率和新企業(yè)成立數(shù)量都已經(jīng)或接近幾十年來(lái)最低水平。據(jù)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》報(bào)道,普林斯頓大學(xué)的研究顯示,自由職業(yè)者在勞動(dòng)力中占比激增,由十年前的10%升至16%。 為什么有問(wèn)題?簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)就是影響生產(chǎn)率。職業(yè)咨詢公司MBO Partners最近的一份報(bào)告稱,自由職業(yè)者對(duì)美國(guó)GDP的貢獻(xiàn)僅占7%,換言之,自由職業(yè)者的生產(chǎn)率還不到全職員工的一半。這真的是個(gè)問(wèn)題。 這里討論的自由職業(yè)者可不僅包括共享用車(chē)公司Uber的簽約司機(jī)、共享租房平臺(tái)Airbnb的房東和手工藝品電商平臺(tái)Etsy的商家。當(dāng)前自主創(chuàng)業(yè)的潮流橫跨多個(gè)行業(yè)、不同地區(qū)和人群。人們通常做多份兼職打零工謀生。這就是問(wèn)題所在。 打的零工越多,培養(yǎng)獨(dú)特?fù)屖值募寄軝C(jī)會(huì)就越少,基本不可能精通某個(gè)領(lǐng)域。打多少份零工算太多?超過(guò)一份就算。 如果把社交媒體的個(gè)人介紹頁(yè)面當(dāng)成指標(biāo)可以發(fā)現(xiàn),人們手頭兼顧的工作比以往多多了。職業(yè)社交網(wǎng)站LinkedIn上的個(gè)人簡(jiǎn)介開(kāi)始變得洋洋灑灑,名頭都是一長(zhǎng)串,最近我就看到有人這樣自我介紹:企業(yè)家、慈善家、轉(zhuǎn)職教練、商業(yè)策略師、企業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)型專(zhuān)家、作家和演說(shuō)家。 要知道,職業(yè)體育運(yùn)動(dòng)員專(zhuān)攻某項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)中某個(gè)細(xì)分項(xiàng)目是有道理的。只有精通才有可能在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的賽場(chǎng)上獲勝。參加奧林匹克的選手是可能摘得多枚金牌,但肯定在同一類(lèi)項(xiàng)目里。當(dāng)然,運(yùn)動(dòng)員年輕時(shí)多嘗試也不無(wú)道理,但越早專(zhuān)攻某個(gè)領(lǐng)域獲得好成績(jī)的機(jī)會(huì)越高。 蘋(píng)果公司向來(lái)以專(zhuān)注和守原則聞名于世,這正是取得突破性成功的關(guān)鍵。蘋(píng)果之父史蒂夫·喬布斯和現(xiàn)任蘋(píng)果首席執(zhí)行官蒂姆·庫(kù)克都曾談到,對(duì)蘋(píng)果來(lái)說(shuō),關(guān)鍵是只專(zhuān)注公司最擅長(zhǎng)的領(lǐng)域,其他都不碰。這就是為何蘋(píng)果從概念設(shè)計(jì)到客戶體驗(yàn)全方位都能做到掌控產(chǎn)品。 谷歌跟蘋(píng)果不太一樣。成立初期,谷歌的十大企業(yè)哲學(xué)中有一條提到“能把一件事做到極致是最棒的”。不過(guò)埃里克·施密特2011年卸下首席執(zhí)行官職位后,谷歌啟動(dòng)了一系列令人眼花繚亂的大項(xiàng)目,比如臭名昭著的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車(chē),谷歌智能眼鏡Google Glass,利用熱氣球建立Wi-Fi的Project Loon,研究抗衰老技術(shù)的Calico。長(zhǎng)達(dá)四年時(shí)間里,漲幅曾所向披靡的谷歌股價(jià)幾乎跟納指同步。 2015年,谷歌聘請(qǐng)了前摩根士丹利首席財(cái)務(wù)官露絲·波拉特,由此風(fēng)格逆轉(zhuǎn)。谷歌重組為新控股公司Alphabet,也理順了非主營(yíng)業(yè)務(wù),現(xiàn)在統(tǒng)稱為“其他投資”。公司財(cái)政紀(jì)律性更強(qiáng),增強(qiáng)問(wèn)責(zé)機(jī)制。Alphabet的股價(jià)隨之走高,短短15個(gè)月漲幅達(dá)45%。 每位風(fēng)險(xiǎn)資本家和初創(chuàng)公司的創(chuàng)始人都會(huì)說(shuō),創(chuàng)業(yè)成功的關(guān)鍵是專(zhuān)注和原則。職業(yè)生涯同樣道理。越早找到應(yīng)該專(zhuān)注的領(lǐng)域越好,別把心思浪費(fèi)在其他沒(méi)意義的事上。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:Pessy |
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” Considering its ironic truth, it’s not surprising that the quote has been widely misattributed to Mark Twain. Nevertheless, a veritable who’s who of great thinkers, from Cicero and Martin Luther to Ben Franklin and Henry David Thoreau, have made strikingly similar statements. When asked how long it takes to prepare his speeches, President Woodrow Wilson reportedly said that it takes two weeks for a 10 -minute speech, one week to prepare a half-hour speech, and “if I can talk as long as I want,” he said, “it requires no preparation at all. I am ready now.” Brevity is more precious than verbosity. Simplicity is far more valuable than complexity. In so many important ways, less is more. Now more than ever, having the discipline to focus only on what you do best is critical to success. It’s as true in your career and your business as it is in your communication. Sadly, more and more people – particularly aspiring entrepreneurs – are doing more and more. They’re spreading themselves too thin, unable to answer “What do you do for a living?” in less than five seconds. And that’s a recipe for disaster. A growing segment of the population is abandoning the corporate world and opting for the perceived freedom and flexibility of entrepreneurship -- or so they think. The problem is they’re not focusing on creating innovative startups, but joining the growing ranks of the gig economy and doing a little of this and a little of that. The data is startling. The U.S. labor force participation rate and new business creation are both at or near their lowest level in decades. At the same time, self-employed workers have ballooned to 16% of the workforce, up from 10% a decade ago, according to research from Princeton University reported in the Wall Street Journal. Why is that a problem? In a word, productivity. A recent report by MBO Partners says that independent workers contribute just 7% of the nation’s GDP. In other words, self-employed workers are less than half as productive as their counterparts with full-time jobs. And that’s a real problem. This isn’t just about Uber drivers, Airbnb renters and Etsy marketers, mind you. The self-employment trend cuts across a broad swath of industries, geographies and demographics. Those workers often make ends meet by doing multiple gigs on a part-time basis. And therein lies the rub. The more gigs you have, the less chance you have of developing differentiated, marketable skills and excelling in any single field. How many gigs is too many? More than one. If social media profiles are any indication, folks certainly appear to have more irons in the fire than ever before. LinkedIn profiles are starting to resemble laundry lists like this one I recently came across: “Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Career Transition Coach, Business Strategist, Transformational Catalyst, Author, Speaker.” Look, there’s a very good reason why athletes focus only on one position in one sport. That’s what it takes to make it in a competitive world. Olympians may take the gold in multiple events, but always in the same category. Granted, it makes sense to cast a wider net when they’re young, but the sooner they focus, the better. Apple has long touted focus and discipline as key to its breakout success. Both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook have talked about the importance of doing only what the company does best and saying no to everything else. That’s why Apple can afford to control every aspect of its iconic products, from conceptual design to the customer experience. Google is a different story. In the early days, its 10-point philosophy included, “It’s best to do one thing really, really well.” But when Eric Schmidt stepped down as CEO in 2011, the company unleashed a dizzying array of moonshots, from the infamous self-driving car and Google Glass to Wi-Fi balloons and the Calico anti-aging project. For four long years, the search giant’s once high-flying stock barely kept pace with the Nasdaq. Since hiring Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat, it’s like night and day. The search giant reorganized as Alphabet to increase visibility of its non-Google operations – projects it now calls “other bets.” That provided some much-needed fiscal discipline and accountability, and shares of Alphabet have responded, rising 45% in just 15 months. Every venture capitalist and startup founder will tell you the key to entrepreneurial success is focus and discipline. The same is true of your career. The sooner you figure out what to focus on doing and quit screwing around with everything else, the better. |