Ask Dumb Questions, Embrace Mistakes — and Other Lessons on Innovation | Dave Raggio | TED

翻译人员: Yip Yan Yeung 校对人员: Manlin Fang

Two years ago,

两年前，我意外地成为了一名“内部创业者”。

I became an accidental intrapreneur.

Meaning an entrepreneur,

其实指的就是“创业者”，

but within a larger company.

但在一家大企业内部，

Didn't mean to.

我本没这个打算。

When I started at Intuit in 2020,

当我于 2020 年创立财捷集团（Intuit）时，

my job was to do marketing and advertising for QuickBooks,

我在 Quickbooks 公司 从事市场营销和广告工作，

but it was in that position that I saw an opportunity,

但是我在那个岗位上 发现了一个机会，

an opportunity for Intuit,

一个为 Intuit 准备的机会，

to help connect our small-business customers

帮助撮合小型企业客户

with complementary products and services that would help them grow and thrive,

和与之互补的产品和服务， 帮助它们茁壮成长，

while also being good for our business.

同时有益于我们的业务。

Now, I sat on the idea for a while,

我当时把这个想法搁置了一会儿，

really wanting to focus on the work that was right in front of me,

真的很想关注眼前的工作，

but I couldn't shake it.

但挥之不去。

So I eventually pulled together a proposal,

我最终写出了一份企划书，

brought it to our leadership team,

拿去给我们的领导团队看，

and much to my surprise, they said, “Go pursue it.”

出乎我意料的是， 他们说：“去做吧。”

And it was at that moment

从那时起，

I started making every mistake possible in trying to bring it to life.

我开始在将其实现的途中 犯下一个个错误。

But through those mistakes,

但是通过这些错误，

I've learned what it means to be a successful intrapreneur,

我学到了要成为一位 成功的内部创业者意味着什么，

and I'm going to share those mistakes today

我今天也将在此分享这些错误，

in the hopes that if there's anyone that has an idea

希望如果有人有了一个点子，

and wants to build something from within,

想在内部做出些什么，

that this can be helpful.

它们能帮上忙。

So the first lesson I learned

我学到的第一点就是

was to socialize your vision early and often.

尽早、频繁地宣扬你的愿景。

I had romanticized the idea

我曾理想地想象 Intuit 会像是 臭鼬工厂实验室型的创业公司。

of a skunkworks-like start-up within Intuit.

I built a lean team.

我组织了一个精益团队。

We worked in the shadows.

我们悄悄地工作。

Everything was on a need-to-know basis.

一切都按照“按需知密”的原则。

The more people that got involved,

参与的人越多，

the more process, the more bureaucracy,

流程就越多，官僚就越多，

the more opinions,

意见就越多，

it was just going to slow us down.

只会拖慢我们的脚步。

And it worked, but not very long.

确实有效，但好景不长。

The problem was, as we started to grow and become a legitimate business,

问题是当我们想增长成真正的业务时，

I needed the support from a lot more teams

我需要来自大量团队的支持，

and I didn't have it.

但我没有。

Some of the most uncomfortable conversations I had with my coworkers

我和我的同事有过的 最令人不适的对话

was going to someone that I knew was stretched thin,

就是找到我知道很忙的人，

had no idea what I was working on,

他们都不知道我在做些什么，

and telling them that they needed to carve out additional time

还要告诉他们， 他们得再划出一点时间

to help support it.

支持我的工作。

I was not very popular in those moments.

那些时候我可不太讨人喜欢。

In my attempt to move fast,

我尝试加快脚步的时候，

I made us move slow

却让我们变慢了，

because with every new team that we approached,

因为我们接触的每一个新团队，

we were starting from scratch

都要从零开始，

and had to paint that picture over and over again.

我们要一遍遍地描绘图景。

This is also when I learned the value of a well-placed happy hour

我也在此时领悟 一场正合时宜的欢乐时光

or coffee break.

或者咖啡时间是多么重要。

So I realized it was really important for me to establish a human connection

我发现建立人际联结而不是 交易关系真的很重要。

and not a transactional one.

So I'd ask my colleagues to go out and grab a beer or coffee

我可以邀请我的同事 一起出去喝杯啤酒或者咖啡，

and we would talk.

顺便聊一聊。

And in those conversations,

在这些对话中，

I would learn about their workload, their resource constraints,

我可以了解他们的工作量、 他们的资源限制、

about what energizes them and their teams.

他们和他们的团队会为何振奋。

It was also an opportunity for me to share my vision,

也是一个我分享愿景的机会，

why I was excited,

我为什么兴奋，

and what I thought I could do for our customers and our business.

我认为我能为我们的客户 和业务做些什么。

The second lesson that I learned,

我学到的第二点

very similar to the first, but on the flip side,

与第一点很相似， 但是是相反的角度，

is this idea of listening early and often.

那就是尽早、频繁地倾听。

I’d been in marketing for almost 20 years at that point.

当时，我从事市场营销将近 20 年。

I'd worked on Super Bowl ads, global brand campaigns.

我参与过超级碗广告、 全球品牌营销活动。

I thought I knew everything that there was to know

我以为我已经知道了 有关市场营销和广告的一切。

about marketing and advertising.

And because of that, I had a crystal-clear picture in my head

因此，我心里一清二楚

of how I wanted every piece to work in this new initiative.

我希望这个新项目中的 每一部分该如何运作。

When someone would say that something wasn't possible

当有人说什么是不可能的，

or had a difference of opinion,

或者表达异议，

I immediately labeled them as blockers.

我立即把他们标记为“阻碍”。

They were either not understanding what we were doing,

他们要么不懂我们在做什么，

they were scared or simply just didn't want to do the hard thing.

所以害怕， 要么只是不想啃硬骨头。

The truth was,

真实情况是，

I was grossly overconfident in my understanding of everything.

我对于我对一切的理解 总体过于自信了。

I knew very little about corporate accounting principles.

我对企业会计准则了解甚少。

I knew enough to be dangerous about things like privacy law,

我对隐私法之类的东西了解少到危险，

and those "blockers" were actually deeply invested in the success

而那些“阻碍”其实对成功非常在意，

and were trying to prevent me from making the mistakes

只是为了让我避免犯下错误，

that would get the project killed.

杀死这个项目。

And to be clear, I was making a lot of mistakes.

老实说，我犯了很多错误。

It's only because of them that the project not only lived on,

正是因为他们， 这个项目不仅活下去了，

but thrived.

还蓬勃发展了。

Listening became so important to the project

倾听对于项目变得如此重要，

that we implemented something that we called dumb-question sessions.

以至于我们实行了 我们口中的“愚蠢问题大会”。

These were a safe-place, judgment-free zones

这是个安全的环境、 没有指指点点的地方，

where myself and others could ask questions

我本人和别人可以提出一些 在其他论坛中不好意思提出的问题，

that maybe we were nervous to ask in other forums,

maybe because we should have known the answer to those,

也许是因为我们 本该知道这些问题的答案，

maybe because it's obvious to the rest of the organization,

也许是因为对组织中的其他人 答案都很明显，

but just because of the role that we sit in,

但只是因为我们的角色，

we were never exposed to it.

我们从来不知道这些。

Regardless, the purpose of it was to have a shared understanding

无论如何，大会的目的 是构建对于业务各个部分的共识。

of all parts of our business.

I remember one specific example

我记得一个具体的例子，

where there was an acronym that had been used for weeks,

那就是有一个用了几周的缩写，

and I didn't know what it was.

我不知道它是什么意思。

I didn't ask early on.

我之前没问。

So much time had gone by that I felt like I was trapped.

我感觉我被困住了好久好久。

I didn't want to ask at that point.

当时我也不想问。

I thought I was going to have to live with this lie for the rest of my life.

我以为我这辈子就得这么忍着了。

But it was because of the dumb-question session

但是由于愚蠢问题大会

and the judgment-free zone

和没有指指点点的环境，

that I was able to ask and fill in all the gaps.

我可以问出问题，填补所有缺口。

And actually, one note on that last example,

其实对刚才这个例子我要加一句，

I'm pretty sure there was a little bit of judgment,

我很确定还是有一些指指点点的，

but I think I deserved it.

但我觉得我活该。

So the last lesson that I learned,

我学到的最后一点，

and the one that I feel is most important and possibly counterintuitive,

这也是我觉得最重要的一点， 也许有点违法直觉，

is that the stakes can be quite high.

那就是代价可能很高。

Your personal risk tolerance doesn't matter.

你的个人风险承担能力无关紧要。

If you go out and start your own business and it fails,

如果你跑出去成立自己的公司， 然后失败了，

it is not a good thing.

不是件好事。

It can add stress to your family,

可能会给你的家庭带来压力，

obviously financial implications.

显然有经济上的负担。

Intuit was founded on trying to make sure that that doesn't happen,

Intuit 创立的初衷就是 确保这种情况不会发生，

but if it does, it's relatively contained.

但是如果发生了， 相对来说影响能得以控制。

If I were to do something that compromises our customers' trust

如果我干了些什么事， 损害了客户对我们产品和品牌的信任，

in our products and our brand,

or create a poor product experience for our QuickBooks product,

或者为我们的 QuickBooks 产品 做出了糟糕的产品体验，

the implications can be far-reaching.

影响就深远了。

It can impact a lot of small businesses.

会影响很多小型企业。

You can't shoot from the hip.

你不能为所欲为。

That's not to say that you need to work out of a sense of fear, either.

这也不代表你得担惊受怕地工作。

You just have to be super thoughtful about how every decision you make,

你只是得十分慎重地 做出每一个决策、

how every action you take,

采取每一个行动，

could impact the broader organization.

这会更广泛地影响到公司。

To wrap up, again,

总结一下，再说一遍，

if you are someone that has an interesting idea

如果你有一个有趣的想法，

that you feel like you want to build from within,

觉得想在公司内部把它做出来，

I encourage you, work with the system.

我鼓励你与大环境合作。

There is a lot of horsepower built up in these large organizations.

大公司里的力量很强大。

Lean on the experts, learn from them.

依赖专家，向他们学习。

Will you go a little bit slower at times?

你会时不时放慢脚步吗？

Yes.

会。

Will you make compromises that you didn't want to make?

你会做出不想做出的让步吗？

Absolutely.

当然。

Will the product be better for it?

产品会因此变得更好吗？

One hundred percent.

100% 会。

And that's what you want.

你想要的就是这个。

And that's what it takes to be successful.

你要成功就得付出这些。

Thank you.

谢谢大家！

(Applause)

（鼓掌声）