我投街頭智慧一票。雖然我很尊重我的母校,但在本科階段攻讀經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)時(shí),我并沒(méi)有真正學(xué)到怎樣才能在職業(yè)生涯中獲得成功。雖然我的確通過(guò)書(shū)本學(xué)到了很多商業(yè)和媒體經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)知識(shí),但真正的學(xué)習(xí)還是從離開(kāi)校園之后開(kāi)始的。 大學(xué)畢業(yè)后第一年,我在加州門(mén)洛帕克市參與創(chuàng)辦了一家小型公關(guān)公司。當(dāng)時(shí)我還打算再去讀一所商學(xué)院,所以我還在準(zhǔn)備GMAT考試,忙著填寫(xiě)各種申請(qǐng)表。就是在那時(shí)候,我和朋友麥克進(jìn)行了一場(chǎng)意外的談話。麥克幾年前從一所頂級(jí)商學(xué)院畢業(yè),正準(zhǔn)備從事投資管理工作。 麥克請(qǐng)我喝了一杯咖啡,然后毫不客氣地建議道:“你瘋了嗎?在這個(gè)行業(yè),你每天都能獲得寶貴的經(jīng)驗(yàn),而且科技行業(yè)正在高速發(fā)展,更何況你經(jīng)營(yíng)的這家公司已經(jīng)有了成功的跡象。你現(xiàn)在竟然打算離開(kāi)?商學(xué)院能教給你的東西,根本比不上你在這里受到的教育。”他的話讓我徹夜難眠,第二天早上我就扔掉了商學(xué)院申請(qǐng)表。我原以為幾年后我還會(huì)再次申請(qǐng),沒(méi)想到這一拖就是幾十年。15年后,愛(ài)德曼公關(guān)公司收購(gòu)了我的公司,這時(shí)麥克的話又在我耳邊響起。我成了愛(ài)德曼公司硅谷團(tuán)隊(duì)的一員,并且成了公司科技部的全球總裁。我的部門(mén)覆蓋全球52個(gè)國(guó)家,擁有600多名員工。 時(shí)至今日,我并不后悔為了獲得街頭經(jīng)驗(yàn)而放棄書(shū)本智慧。或許將來(lái)的某一天,我還會(huì)去攻讀一個(gè)研究生文憑,但那也是出于個(gè)人提高和樂(lè)趣的目的,與我的職業(yè)無(wú)關(guān)。人生中有很多時(shí)刻,正確的答案并不會(huì)在某本書(shū)中等著你。如果一筆交易的大門(mén)關(guān)閉了,你就需要另辟一條出路。比如說(shuō),你正在一個(gè)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)直播的電視節(jié)目中展示你的產(chǎn)品,這時(shí)產(chǎn)品卻出了“技術(shù)故障”,這時(shí)該怎么辦?你正要去接受采訪的時(shí)候,正趕上總統(tǒng)出行,交通管制,你的出租車(chē)進(jìn)退不得,這時(shí)又該怎么辦?當(dāng)你不知道是通過(guò)收購(gòu)其他公司還是通過(guò)招聘人才來(lái)推動(dòng)公司增長(zhǎng)時(shí),這時(shí)該怎么辦?總之,大多數(shù)致勝之道并不在書(shū)本里。就算書(shū)本里有,終歸是“紙上得來(lái)終覺(jué)淺,絕知此事要躬行”。我們還是要更多地依賴(lài)我們的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和情商。 情商可能是最重要的街頭智慧。智商通常與書(shū)本知識(shí)相關(guān),它決定了我們學(xué)習(xí)和吸收學(xué)術(shù)信息的速度。然而情商卻決定了我們能否較好地領(lǐng)會(huì)、理解其他人的意圖,以及能否成功地與其他人進(jìn)行互動(dòng)。我們需要知道如何解讀情勢(shì),如何解讀他人,如何迅速地評(píng)估局面,如何評(píng)估事情的動(dòng)因和優(yōu)先性,并且相應(yīng)地做出反應(yīng)。隨著科技正在推動(dòng)全球就業(yè)市場(chǎng)轉(zhuǎn)型,未來(lái)的職場(chǎng)也將變得更加社交化和協(xié)作化,上述能力對(duì)于各種工作來(lái)說(shuō)都將越來(lái)越重要。所以你不妨去讀書(shū)、拿學(xué)位,但同時(shí)也要挺進(jìn)職場(chǎng)、追逐自己的夢(mèng)想,在追夢(mèng)的過(guò)程中學(xué)習(xí)。那可能是你能得到的最好的職業(yè)培訓(xùn)。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:樸成奎 審校:任文科 |
I vote for street smart. With all due respect for my alma mater, I didn’t learn what I needed to know to be successful in my career while an undergraduate studying economics. While I did learn a lot about the economics of business and the media, the real learning began once I left. After graduation, I worked for a year helping to build a boutique PR firm in Menlo Park, Calif. I was getting ready to return to academia for business school — prepping for the GMAT and filling out applications — when I had a surprising conversation with my friend Mike. He graduated from a top business school a few years earlier and was off to start a career in investment management. Mike took me for coffee and not-so-gently advised, “Are you crazy? Walk away from this incredible experience you’re getting in business every day, a tech industry in high gear and young agency poised to take off? Business school pales to the education you’re getting right here.” I thought it over all that night, and the next morning I dropped the application process, for what I thought would be a few years but has turned into decades. Mike’s advice sang to me again more than 15 years later, when Edelman came along and acquired my firm. I became part of the Edelman Silicon Valley team and leader of a global technology sector team ranging 52 countries and including 600 people. I have no regrets choosing the street smarts of hard-won experience over book smarts. I may yet return to academia some day for my graduate degree, but it will likely be for personal fulfilment and enjoyment, not my career. The truth is, there are so many moments when the right answer is not waiting in a book. The door to a deal closes and you need to invent an alternative way in. You’re on stage being televised for your product demo when the dreaded “technical glitch” hits — now what? Whether the presidential motorcade has just blocked your taxi on the way to an interview, or you need to choose whether to acquire or hire to grow your company, most winning answers don’t live in a book. Even if they did, we still wouldn’t absorb these lessons as deeply as when we live them. We need to rely on our experience and our emotional intelligence more often. The emotional intelligence part of street smarts may be the most important of all. While our IQ relates to book knowledge — how quickly do we learn and assimilate academic information — our EQ governs our ability to empathize, understand, and interact successfully with others. For many people, EQ outweighs IQ in career — and life — success. We need to know how to read situations and people, quickly assess what is really going on, consider the motivations and priorities in play, and respond appropriately. It is an increasingly important ability in all kinds of careers as our global job market is transformed by technology and the future of work becomes more social and collaborative. So go ahead, get out and read those books and collect those degrees, but also get out there and follow your dreams, and learn as you go. That may be the best career training you get. |