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

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: 麗玲 辛

Two years ago,

兩年前，我意外成為內部創業者，

I became an accidental intrapreneur.

Meaning an entrepreneur,

也就是在更大企業裡面的創業者。

but within a larger company.

Didn't mean to.

並非我刻意的。

2020 年我開始在「直覺」 電腦軟體公司工作，

When I started at Intuit in 2020,

my job was to do marketing and advertising for QuickBooks,

我負責做 QuickBooks 的 行銷及廣告。

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

但我在那個職位上看到了一個機會，

直覺公司的機會，

an opportunity for Intuit,

to help connect our small-business customers

可以協助連結我們的小型企業客戶，

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

關鍵在於用互補性產品及服務 來協助客戶成長與發展，

同時也對我們的生意有益。

while also being good for our business.

Now, I sat on the idea for a while,

我把這個想法擱置了一段時間，

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

我真心想專注在我手邊的工作，

但我無法忘懷。

but I couldn't shake it.

So I eventually pulled together a proposal,

所以，最終，我整理出一份提案，

brought it to our leadership team,

交給我們的領導團隊，

出乎我的意料， 他們說：「去做吧。」

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

And it was at that moment

從那一刻起，

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

我在嘗試實現這個想法的 過程中，把能犯的錯都犯了。

But through those mistakes,

但，透過這些錯，

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

我學到了成功內部創業者的真締，

and I'm going to share those mistakes today

今天我想分享那些錯，

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

希望如果任何人想出了點子

and wants to build something from within,

且想要從內部實現它，

that this can be helpful.

我的分享能有所助益。

So the first lesson I learned

我學到的第一課

was to socialize your vision early and often.

是要與人分享你的遠景， 盡早分享且頻繁分享。

I had romanticized the idea

我美化了「在直覺公司內部創建類似 臭鼬工廠的新創公司」這個想法。

of a skunkworks-like start-up within Intuit.

I built a lean team.

我建立了一支精簡的團隊。

We worked in the shadows.

我們在暗處工作，一切都是 只讓需要知道的人知道。

Everything was on a need-to-know basis.

The more people that got involved,

牽扯的人越多，

the more process, the more bureaucracy,

流程就越多，

繁文褥節就越多，意見就越多， 就是會拖慢我們的速度。

the more opinions,

it was just going to slow us down.

And it worked, but not very long.

這招行得通，但沒持續很久。

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

問題在於，當我們開始成長 並成為合法的企業，

I needed the support from a lot more teams

我需要更多更多團隊的支持，

and I didn't have it.

但我沒得到。

Some of the most uncomfortable conversations I had with my coworkers

有幾次，我和同事進行過 最讓人不舒服的部分談話，

was going to someone that I knew was stretched thin,

我明知道對方已經忙得不可開交，

had no idea what I was working on,

也完全不了解我的工作內容，

and telling them that they needed to carve out additional time

我卻還請對方騰出額外的 時間來支援我的工作。

to help support it.

I was not very popular in those moments.

在那些時刻，我不太受歡迎。

In my attempt to move fast,

我試圖加速進程， 卻反而拖慢了我們，

I made us move slow

because with every new team that we approached,

因為每次我們去找一個新的團隊，

we were starting from scratch

我們都得從零開始，

and had to paint that picture over and over again.

且得一遍又一遍描述同樣的藍圖。

這段時間我也學到了

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

精心安排歡樂時光或 午茶休息時間是很重要的。

or coffee break.

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

我意識到，很重要的是我應該建立 與人的連結，而非交易關係，

and not a transactional one.

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

所以我會找同事出去 喝杯啤酒或咖啡，

and we would talk.

我們也會交談。

And in those conversations,

從那些談話中，我就會了解

I would learn about their workload, their resource constraints,

他們的工作量、他們的資源限制，

about what energizes them and their teams.

以及什麼能激勵他們和他們的團隊。

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

那對我也是個機會， 可以分享我的遠景、

why I was excited,

為什麼我感到振奮，

以及我認為我可以為 我們的客戶及公司做些什麼。

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

The second lesson that I learned,

我學到的第二課，

和第一課很像，但是從另一個面向，

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

那就是盡早聆聽且頻繁聆聽。

is this idea of listening early and often.

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

那時我已經有近二十年的行銷經歷。

我做過超級盃廣告、全球品牌活動，

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

I thought I knew everything that there was to know

我以為在行銷和廣告方面， 該知道的我都知道了。

about marketing and advertising.

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

也因此，我腦中有清楚的藍圖，

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

我知道我希望這個新計畫中的 每個部分要如何運作。

When someone would say that something wasn't possible

當有人說某件事不可能 或抱持不同意見的時候，

or had a difference of opinion,

I immediately labeled them as blockers.

我會立刻把他們貼上阻礙者的標籤。

They were either not understanding what we were doing,

他們若不是不懂我們在做什麼，

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

就是害怕了，或者 單純不想做辛苦的事。

The truth was,

事實是，

I was grossly overconfident in my understanding of everything.

我太過自信，以為自己什麼都懂。

I knew very little about corporate accounting principles.

我對企業會計原則的了解甚少。

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

我對隱私法的了解程度， 足以帶來風險，

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

而那些「阻礙者」

其實積極投入追求成功，

and were trying to prevent me from making the mistakes

他們試圖防止我犯錯、 進而毀了計畫。

that would get the project killed.

讓我說清楚，我犯了很多錯。

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

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

正因為他們，

這個計畫不但延續下去，還很成功。

but thrived.

Listening became so important to the project

聆聽變成這個計畫很重要的一部分，

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

以致於我們實施了我們所謂的 「蠢問題大會」活動，

These were a safe-place, judgment-free zones

這種大會很安全，沒有任何評斷，

where myself and others could ask questions

在大會上，我自己和其他人可以提出

that maybe we were nervous to ask in other forums,

在其他討論場合 我們可能會不敢提出的問題，

maybe because we should have known the answer to those,

也許這些問題我們原本 就應該要知道答案，

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

也許是組織中其他人 會覺得答案很明顯，

但我們的工作職掌 卻從來沒有接觸過。

but just because of the role that we sit in,

we were never exposed to it.

不論如何，此活動的目的就是

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

要讓大家對於業務的各面向 都有共同的了解。

of all parts of our business.

I remember one specific example

有個例子我記得很清楚，

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

有個縮寫，已經被用了好幾週，

and I didn't know what it was.

而我不知道它是什麼意思。

I didn't ask early on.

我一開始沒有問。

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

時間就這樣過去了， 而我覺得我被困住了。

I didn't want to ask at that point.

那時我並不想再問出來。

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

我以為我得帶著這個謊言過一輩子。

But it was because of the dumb-question session

但因為有這個蠢問題大會，

and the judgment-free zone

這個沒有評斷的地方讓我 能問出來，補足我不懂之處。

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

And actually, one note on that last example,

讓我對最後這個例子補充一點：

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

我很確定那時還是有點評斷， 但我想那也是我應得的。

but I think I deserved it.

So the last lesson that I learned,

我學到的最後一課，

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

我認為是最重要的， 可能也和大家的直覺相反，

is that the stakes can be quite high.

那就是，賭注可能很高。

Your personal risk tolerance doesn't matter.

你個人的風險容忍度無所謂。

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

如果你去外面展開 你自己的事業，結果失敗了，

it is not a good thing.

那不是好事。

It can add stress to your family,

可能會讓你的家人承受壓力，

obviously financial implications.

顯然會在財務方面有影響。

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

直覺公司成立的目的就是想要 確定這個狀況不會發生，

but if it does, it's relatively contained.

如果發生了，至少 是在相對可控制的範圍。

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

如果我做的某件事 會危及到我們客戶的信任，

in our products and our brand,

對我們的產品及品牌的信任，

or create a poor product experience for our QuickBooks product,

或者給我們的 QuickBooks 產品 帶來不佳的使用體驗，

the implications can be far-reaching.

影響可能會十分深遠。

It can impact a lot of small businesses.

可能會衝擊到許多小型企業。

You can't shoot from the hip.

你不能即興行事。

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

意思並不是說你要 帶著恐懼感去工作。

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

你只是必須要超級謹慎地 去做每一個決策，

how every action you take,

採取每一個行動，

could impact the broader organization.

深思熟慮它們對 更廣大的組織有何影響。

To wrap up, again,

總結一下，如果你有個有趣的點子，

if you are someone that has an interesting idea

that you feel like you want to build from within,

且你想在組織內部實現它，

I encourage you, work with the system.

我鼓勵你配合體制來做，

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

這些大型組織都累積有大量的實力。

Lean on the experts, learn from them.

依靠專家，向他們學習。

Will you go a little bit slower at times?

有時你的進度會有點緩慢？是的。

Yes.

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

你會需要做出你不想做的妥協？

Absolutely.

絕對會。

Will the product be better for it?

這樣會讓產品變得更好嗎？

One hundred percent.

百分之百會。而那就是你想要的。

And that's what you want.

And that's what it takes to be successful.

這就是成功所需要的。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）