Forget the Corporate Ladder — Winners Take Risks | Molly Graham | TED

翻译人员: Evelyn LIAO 校对人员: Bruce Wang

There's a lot of pressure around what it takes to build a great career.

建立良好的职业生涯需要 哪些条件，压力很大。

And it all comes back to this idea

这一切都回归到这样的想法，

that you're supposed to know what you want to do.

即你应该知道自己想做 什么。

It’s an idea that I like to call “the stairs.”

我喜欢把这个想法称为 “楼梯”。

Here's how the stairs go.

楼梯是这样走的。

You show up in college,

你出现在大学里，

and you're supposed to know what you want to major in.

你应该知道自己想主修 什么。

That major is supposed to lead you to your first job,

那个专业应该 引导你找到第一份工作，

and then you get another job,

然后你得到另一份工作，

and you get promoted and promoted and promoted forever.

然后你不断晋升、晋升、晋升到永远。

The best part about the stairs is safety and security.

楼梯最好的部分是安全和保障。

It feels like you know what you need to do to get ahead.

感觉就像你知道需要做些 什么才能取得成功。

The worst part of the stairs is that it's like a weird video game

楼梯中最糟糕的部分 是，它就像一款奇怪的电子游戏，

that you can get stuck inside of for years.

你可能会被困在里面好几年。

The stairs will make you feel

楼梯会让你

like your self-worth is tied to your title,

感觉自己的自我价值 与头衔、上次绩效评分

or your last performance rating, or your next promotion.

或下一次晋升息息相关。

But the truth is that the stairs are an illusion.

但事实是，楼梯是一种幻觉。

These days, excellent careers are not built by excellent stair climbers.

如今，优秀的职业生涯 不是由优秀的爬楼梯者创造的。

Said differently,

换句话说，

one of the most important things you can get good at in your career

你在职业生涯中能擅长的最重要的事情之一

is taking risks.

就是冒险。

Or, as I like to call it, jumping off cliffs.

或者，我喜欢称之为，跳下悬崖。

Let me explain what I mean with a story.

让我用一个故事来解释我的意思。

When I was 25, I got offered a crazy job.

当我25岁的时候，我得到了一份疯狂的工作。

I had spent a couple of years climbing the stairs

我花了几年时间

in Human Resources at Facebook

爬上Facebook人力资源的阶梯，

when the leader of another department came to me and asked me to help him

当时另一个部门的负责人来找我， 让我帮助他

start a new project,

开始一个新项目，

doing something that I knew nothing about.

做一些我一无所知的事情。

It was a long-term project,

这是一个长期项目，

it was risky, and a lot of people told me it would probably fail.

风险很大，很多人告诉我它可能会失败。

I was intrigued, but I was also scared.

我很感兴趣，但我也很害怕。

So I talked to a bunch of different people,

所以我和一群不同的人聊了聊

and I have to admit, a lot of them told me not to take it.

我不得不承认，他们中的很多人叫我不要接受。

But there was this little voice inside me that just kept saying,

但是我内心 有个小声音一直在说：

"I wonder.

“我想知道。

I wonder if I can be capable in this completely new environment."

我想知道我是否在这个全新的环境中能胜任。”

So I took a risk and I took the job.

所以我冒了风险，接受了这份工作。

Now I'd like to say that what happened next

现在我想说的是，接下来发生的事情就是

was that it was obviously a great decision and I was immediately successful.

这显然是一个很好的决定，我很快就成功了。

But actually,

但实际上，

the first nine months on this project

这个项目的前九个月

felt a lot more like falling off of a very steep cliff.

感觉更像是从非常陡峭的悬崖上掉下来。

I had gone from feeling competent and capable in HR

我已经从感觉自己在人力资源领域有竞争力并且能胜任

to feeling like an absolute idiot all the time.

到变成了一直觉得自己像个白痴。

I was sitting in rooms with brilliant people

我和有才华的人坐在同一个房间，

asking very dumb questions.

问着非常愚蠢的问题。

Six months into this job,

在开始这份工作六个月后，

I got the lowest performance rating of my entire life.

我拿到了一生中最低的绩效评分。

I had so many moments when all I wanted to do

曾经有很多时刻，我只想做的

was run back to the safety and security of the stairs.

就是跑回有安全有保障的楼梯里。

But about nine months in, something interesting happened.

但是大约九个月后， 发生了一件有趣的事情。

I had to lead a meeting.

我必须主持一次会议。

It sounds simple, but it was a big meeting.

听起来很简单， 但那是一次重要的会议。

It was a complicated debate about a nuanced part of this project.

那是一场复杂的辩论，关于这个项目中很小的一部分。

I was successful,

我成功了，

and I so vividly remember walking out of that meeting

我清楚地记得 那次走出会议室后

feeling like myself again.

我又感觉到了我自己。

I had gone from feeling like a beginner in this new environment

在这个新环境中，

to feeling confident and capable.

我已经从一个初学者变成得自信和有能力。

I spent another three years on this project,

我在这个项目上又花了三年时间，

learning and growing,

不断学习和成长，

and on the other side of it, I was a completely different person.

另一方面， 我变成了一个完全不同的人。

I was offered jobs that no one would have offered me

我被提供了一些工作，

if I had stayed in HR.

如果我留在人力资源部门，没有人 会为我提供这些工作。

That's the thing about jumping off cliffs.

跳下悬崖就是这样。

It doesn't just take you a couple flights up on the stairs.

它不只是带你飞上楼梯，

It's like a weird elevator that takes you to a whole new place.

它就像一部奇怪的电梯 把你带到一个全新的地方。

Cliff jumps teach you who you are and what you are capable of

跳下悬崖是以楼梯永远无法做到的方式

in ways that the stairs can never.

教会你自己是谁 以及你能做什么。

To get good at jumping off cliffs, you have to get good at three things.

要想善于跳下悬崖， 你必须擅长三件事。

The first is actually jumping off the cliff.

第一个实际上是 跳下悬崖。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

After many years of coaching people through career decisions,

在指导人们做出职业决策多年之后，

I know that sometimes it is just not the right time to take a risk,

我知道有时候不是冒险的合适时机，

but I can also tell you that most people

但我也可以告诉你，大多数人

do not stay stuck on the stairs out of necessity.

并非出于必要而被困在楼梯上。

They stay there out of fear.

他们呆在那里是出于恐惧。

The trick is to learn to tell the difference

诀窍是学会区分

between the kind of fear that says,

所说的这种恐惧——

"I'm scared I might run out of money,"

“我害怕我可能会没钱”，

which you should actually listen to,

这句话你应该真的听从；

and the kind of fear that says,

和所说的那种恐惧——

"I'm scared I might fail,"

“我害怕我可能会失败”

which you should take as a giant green flashing light to jump.

你应该把后者当作巨大的绿色信号灯 然后跳下。

Cliff jumps teach you what you are capable of in spite of fear.

尽管有恐惧，悬崖跳跃能教你 所能做的事情。

The second thing you have to get good at in order to get good at jumping off cliffs

要想善于跳下悬崖， 你必须擅长的第二件事

is surviving the fall.

就是在下落中幸存下来。

Jumping off a cliff is taking a giant step backwards

跳下悬崖 就是向后退一大步，

into the land of being a beginner again.

进入了再次成为初学者的世界。

That means it's a very big learning process.

这意味着这是一个非常大的 学习过程。

And with that comes a huge emotional roller coaster.

随之而来的是 激动人心的巨大过山车过程。

Daily. Weekly. Sometimes hourly.

每天。每周。有时每小时。

All of my jumps have involved vacillating wildly

我所有的跳跃 都涉及疯狂的摇摆不定

between feeling like, "Oh, maybe I'm going to be good at this,"

介于 “哦，也许我会擅长这个”的感觉，

and then immediately feeling like,

然后立刻觉得：

"Who the hell even gave me this job in the first place?"

“一开始到底谁给了我这份工作？”

All of that is normal, and it doesn't actually mean that anything is wrong.

所有这一切都是正常的， 实际上并不意味着有什么问题。

You have to learn to expect the roller coaster

你必须学会期待过山车，

and ignore it at the same time.

同时忽略它。

The most valuable mantra for me in this phase has been: give it two weeks.

在这个阶段，对我来说最有价值 的口头禅是：给它两个星期。

A lot of people will tell you to sleep on it.

很多人会叫你把问题留在第二天解决。

I can tell you most of these emotions don't go away overnight.

我可以告诉你，大多数情绪 不会在一夜之间消失。

Two weeks is a great barometer

两周是一个很好的晴雨表

for things that you should actually pay attention to.

对于检测你应该真正注意的事情。

The third thing you have to get good at in order to get good at jumping off cliffs

要想擅长跳下悬崖，你必须擅长的第三件事

is becoming a professional idiot.

就是成为一个职业白痴。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I can tell you that this is one of my greatest strengths.

我可以告诉你，这是我最大的优势 之一。

I am comfortable sounding like a moron.

我对听起来像个白痴没什么不满。

I am great at sitting in rooms with brilliant people

我很擅长和聪明的人 一起坐在房间里

asking very dumb questions.

问她们非常愚蠢的问题。

But what that actually means

但这实际上意味着

is that I have become an extraordinary learner.

我已经成为一个非凡的学习者。

My favorite phrase is, "Sorry if this is a stupid question, but."

我最喜欢的一句话是： “抱歉这可能是一个愚蠢的问题，但是。”

When you ask it that way, everybody wants to make you feel better.

当你这样问的时候， 每个人都想让你感觉好些。

They're like, "No, no, that's not a dumb question."

他们说：“不，不， 这不是一个愚蠢的问题。”

And then they would love to teach you what they know.

然后他们很乐意教你 他们所知道的。

People love being teachers.

人们喜欢当老师。

It makes them feel smart.

这让他们感到聪明。

The other thing you discover is that most stupid questions

你发现的另一件事是， 大多数愚蠢的问题实际上

aren't actually stupid.

并不愚蠢。

So many people are afraid of sounding dumb

如此多的人害怕自己问得很愚蠢，

that the world is littered

以至于世界上到处都是

with important questions that never got asked.

从未被问过的重要问题。

Questions like,

诸如

"Can you define that word for me?",

“你能为我定义这个词吗？”，

"Why are we doing this?",

“我们为什么要这样做？”，

"Why are we having this meeting?"

“我们为什么要开这个会议？”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Embracing being a professional idiot

坦然接受成为专业的白痴

often actually makes you the most valuable person in the room.

往往会让你成为房间里 最有价值的人。

There's a last thing, part of the illusion of the stairs,

还有最后一件事， 即楼梯幻觉的一部分，

that becomes really obvious the more cliffs that you jump off of.

也是你跳下来的悬崖越多， 就会变得非常明显的一件事。

And that is the idea that there is one set of stairs,

这个想法是，只有一组阶梯，

one definition of success.

一个成功的定义。

I have a lot of friends that have climbed up the stairs

我有很多朋友爬上楼梯

to some version of the top --

到了某个版本的顶峰——

a fancy title, a lot of money, fame --

一个高大上的头衔，很多钱，名声——

and then they've realized that they're miserable.

然后他们意识到自己很痛苦。

One friend described becoming CEO of her company

一位朋友描述自己 成为公司的首席执行官后

and immediately thinking,

立刻想到：

"Is this all there is?"

“仅此而已？”

You know what she did next?

你知道她接下来做了什么吗？

She jumped off a professional cliff.

她跳下了职业悬崖。

She went from being the CEO of a marketing agency

她从一家广告公司的首席执行官

to helping people who were dying in hospice.

变成了帮助人们在临终关怀中死亡的人。

Success is not the same for everyone.

成功对每个人来说都不一样。

I know that what I'm talking about isn't easy.

我知道我说的这些并不容易。

It takes bravery to trade the known for the unknown.

用已知的东西换未知的事物 需要勇气。

It takes courage to do something

做一些对别人来说

that might seem like a step sideways or backwards to someone else.

似乎是侧身或倒退的事情 需要勇气。

But you will never really know who you are or what you are capable of

但是，在你学会如何尝试之前

until you learn how to try.

你永远不会真正知道自己是谁 或你有能力做什么。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）