如何走好职业之路

by Sheryl Sandberg 译 刘戈

四年风雨路，又到毕业时。虽不舍旧日的大学时光，但依然要打点行装、准备出发。明天的你将要踏上一条全新的职业之路，那里充满艰辛和未知，但同样蕴含希望和惊喜。如果这条路让你感到迷茫，不妨听听谢丽尔·桑德伯格于2012年5月23日在哈佛商学院所作的毕业演讲，相信你从中收获的不仅是方法，还有力量。

Its an honor to be here today to address HBSs distinguished faculty, proud parents, patient guests, and most importantly, the class of 2012. Today marks a distinct and impressive achievement for this class. So please everyone join me in giving our warmest congratulations to the class of 2012.

It wasnt really that long ago when I was sitting where you are, but the world has changed an awful lot. It used to be that in order to reach more people than you could talk to in a day, you had to be rich and famous and powerful. You had to be a celebrity, a politician, a CEO. But thats not true today. Now ordinary people have voice, not just those of us lucky enough to go to HBS, but anyone with access to Facebook, to Twitter, to a mobile phone. This is disrupting traditional power structures and leveling traditional hierarchy2). Voice and power are shifting from institutions to individuals, from the historically powerful to the historically powerless. And all of this is happening so much faster than I could have imagined when I was sitting where you are today.

As the world becomes more connected and less hierarchical, traditional career paths are shifting as well. In 2001, after working in the government, I moved out to Silicon Valley to try to find a job. After a while I had a few offers and I had to make a decision. One of the jobs was to become Googles first Business Unit general manager, which sounds good now, but at the time no one thought consumer internet companies could ever make money. I was not sure there was actually a job there at all; Google had no business units, so what was there to generally manage? And the job was several levels lower than jobs I was being offered at other companies.

So I sat down with Eric Schmidt3), who had just become the CEO, and I told him that this job meets none of my criteria. He looked at me and said, “Dont be an idiot.” Excellent career advice. And then he said, “Get on a rocket ship. When companies are growing quickly and having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies arent growing quickly or their missions dont matter as much, thats when stagnation and politics4) come in5). If youre offered a seat on a rocket ship, dont ask what seat. Just get on.”

About six and one-half years later, when I was leaving Google, I took that advice to heart6). I was offered CEO jobs at a bunch of companies, but I went to Facebook as COO. At the time people said, why are you going to work for a 23-year-old?

The traditional metaphor for careers is a ladder, but I no longer think that metaphor holds. It doesnt make sense in a less hierarchical world. Lori Goler, a 1997 graduate of HBS, who runs all of People Operations at Facebook has a great metaphor for careers. She says theyre not a ladder, theyre a jungle gym7). As you start your post-HBS career, look for opportunities, look for growth, look for impact, look for mission. Move sideways8), move down, move on9), move off. Build your skills, not your resume. Dont plan too much, and dont expect a direct climb.

You are entering a different business world than I entered. Mine was just starting to get connected. Yours is hyper-connected. Mine was competitive. Yours is way more competitive. Mine moved quickly, yours moves even more quickly.

As traditional structures are breaking down, leadership has to evolve as well—from hierarchy to shared responsibility, from command and control to listening and guiding. Youve been trained by this great institution not just to be part of these trends, but to lead. As you lead in this new world, you will not be able to rely on who you are or the degree you hold. Youll have to rely on what you know. Your strength will not come from your place on some org chart. Your strength will come from building trust and earning respect. Youre going to need talent, skill, and imagination and vision. But more than anything else, youre going to need the ability to communicate authentically, to speak so that you inspire the people around you and to listen so that you continue to learn each and every day on the job.

The workplace is a difficult place for anyone to tell the truth, because no matter how flat we want our organizations to be, all organizations have some form of hierarchy. And that means one persons performance is assessed by someone elses perception. This is not a setup for honesty. People rarely speak the truth clearly in the workforce. And as you get more senior, not only will people speak less clearly to you but they will overreact to the small things you say. A good leader recognizes that most people wont feel comfortable challenging authority, so it falls upon10) authority to encourage them to question. Its easy to say that youre going to encourage feedback but its really hard to get good and honest feedback. One trick Ive discovered is that I try to speak really openly about the things Im bad at, because that gives people permission to agree with me, which is a lot easier than pointing it out in the first place.

As we strive to be more authentic in our communication, we should also strive to be more authentic in a broader sense. I talk a lot about bringing your whole self to work—something I believe in very deeply. Motivation comes from working on things we care about. But it also comes from working with people we care about. And in order to care about someone, you have to know them. If you want to win hearts and minds, you have to lead with your heart as well as your mind.

I recently started speaking up about the challenges women face in the workforce. We need to start talking about how women underestimate their abilities compared to men and how for women, but not men, success and likeability are negatively correlated. That means that as a woman is more successful in your workplaces, she will be less liked. This means that women need a different form of management and mentorship, a different form of sponsorship and encouragement and some protection, in some ways more than men. And there arent enough senior women out there to do it, so it falls upon the men who are graduating today just as much or more as the women, not just to talk about gender but to help these women succeed.

And maybe, most importantly, we need to start talking about how fewer women than men aspire to the very top jobs. We will not close the leadership gap until we close the professional ambition gap. We need more women not just to sit at the table, but to take their rightful seats at the head of the table.

As you and your classmates spread out across the globe and walk across this stage tomorrow, I wish for you four things: First, keep in touch via Facebook. This is critical to your future success! Two, that you make the effort to speak as well as seek the truth. Three, that you remain true to and open about your authentic self. And four, that your generation accomplishes what mine has failed to do. Give us a world where half our homes are run by men and half our institutions are run by women. Im pretty sure that would be a better world.

1. HBS：哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)，全世界最著名的商学院之一，常春藤联盟商学院之一

2. hierarchy [?ha???rɑ?(r)ki] n. 等级制度，等级体系

3. Eric Schmidt：埃里克·施密特(1955～)，普林斯顿大学电子电气工程专业学士及硕士，加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校电子工程暨计算机科学(EECS)专业博士，2001～2011年十年间担任Google首席执行官。

4. politics [?p?l?t?ks] n. 手腕，权术，策略

5. come in：(在某件事中)起作用，发挥作用

6. take ... to heart：严肃地考虑??

7. jungle gym：孩子们玩的攀缘架，又称“猴架儿”

8. move sideways：(事业发展)在原有水平上；无实际进展

9. move on：改做更好的工作；调换更好的职业

10. fall upon：(等于fall on)由……负担

非常荣幸今天能在这里向哈佛商学院卓越的老师、自豪的家长、耐心的嘉宾——以及最重要的——2012届的毕业生们发表演讲。今天标志着2012届同学们所取得的显著而重大的成就。所以请大家和我一起，向2012届全体毕业生表示最热烈的祝贺！

自我从哈佛商学院毕业到现在，其实并没有多久，但这个世界已经发生了巨大的变化。在过去，除了可以交谈的人之外，你要想在一天内接触更多的人，你就得有钱、有名、有权。你得是个名人、政客或者老总。可如今不再是这样了。现在普通人也可以发出自己的声音，不仅是我们这些有幸进入哈佛商学院的人，还包括所有能使用Facebook、Twitter和手机的人。这种变化打破了传统的权力结构，推平了传统的等级制度。言论与权力的主体正在转移：从机构转向了个人，从历来的有权有势者转向了历来的无权无势者。这一切发生得太快了，当我像你们今天这样等待毕业的时候，这一切是根本无法想象的。

随着世界联系日渐紧密，等级区分日益模糊，传统的职业发展道路也在发生变化。2001年，在政府供职一段时间后，我去了硅谷，想在那里找份工作。不久，我收到了几份工作邀请，我得拿个主意去哪儿。在这几份工作中，有一个是做Google业务部门的首任总经理，这份工作如今听起来不错，可那时没人相信用户导向型的互联网公司能赚钱。我甚至不确定Google有没有这么个职位；Google都没有业务部门，那要我这个总经理去打理什么？而且这一职位比其他公司为我提供的职位要低好几个档次。

于是，我就与当时刚刚走马上任的Google首席执行官埃里克·施密特一起坐下聊了聊。我告诉他，这份工作完全没有达到我的标准。他看着我说：“别犯傻。”这是一条极好的职业建议。他接着说：“赶紧登上这艘火箭飞船吧。如果公司发展迅速且影响巨大，那么个人的职业发展是自然而然的事。可如果公司发展不那么迅速，公司使命也无关紧要，那么个人的职业发展就会停滞，手腕和权术将大行其道。所以，如果你能在火箭飞船里有个座，别管它是什么座，赶紧上来就是。”

六年半以后，当我离开谷歌时，我认真考虑了这条建议。当时有很多公司邀请我去担任首席执行官，可我最终去了Facebook担任首席运营官。那时人们都问我，你怎么会去给一个23岁的小伙子打工？

长期以来人们总是把职业比作梯子，可我觉得这样的比喻已经不再恰当。在这个等级不再森严的世界，这个比喻根本讲不通。洛莉·高勒是哈佛商学院1997届的毕业生，如今负责整个Facebook的人事管理工作，她对职业生涯有个绝佳的比喻。她说职业生涯不是梯子，而是攀缘架。当你们离开哈佛商学院，开始职业生涯后，要寻找机遇，寻找成长，寻找影响，寻找使命。搜索徘徊，经历低谷，另谋高就，适时离开。你要锤炼的是技能，而不是简历。别做太多规划，别指望一路通途。

你们将要进入的商界和我当年跻身其中的那个完全不同。我进入的那个商界，人与人之间的联系才刚刚开始建立；而你们进入的商界已经是一个超级“互联”的世界。我进入的商界竞争激烈，你们进入的商界竞争更加激烈。我们进入的商界瞬息万变，你们进入的商界更加瞬息万变。

随着传统结构的不断解体，领导方式也必须发展变化——从等级森严到责任分担，从指挥控制到倾听指导。这所伟大的学校已经教育你们不能只做这些潮流的参与者，而要成为潮流的领导者。要在这个新世界里担当领导者，你们所能依赖的既不是你的身份，也不是你们的学位。你们只能依赖你们的知识。你们的力量不是来自你们在公司组织结构图中的位置，而是来自你们建立的信任和赢得的尊重。你们需要的是天赋、技能、想象力以及远见。而最为重要的是，你们需要真诚沟通的能力，善于表达从而激励身边的人，善于倾听从而能让你在日常工作中不断学习。

在工作场所，人们很难讲真话，因为不管我们希望公司的组织结构多么“扁平”，它总还是有一定等级区别的。这就意味着一个人的表现要靠另一个人的洞察力来评估。这样的安排并不利于诚实。人们在工作中很少清楚地表达自己真实的想法。而等你的职位越来越高，人们不仅跟你说话越来越拐弯抹角，还会对你说的微不足道的小事反应过度。一个好的领导者应该认识到，大多数人挑战权威时都会觉得不自在，因此领导者应该鼓励人们提出疑问。不过，鼓励反馈说起来容易，但要获得有效、诚实的反馈却非常难。对此我想到了一个好办法：我尽量在人前大谈自己的缺点和不足，因为这等于许可人们同意我对自己的看法，这比让他们先指出我的不足要容易得多。

在我们努力真诚沟通的同时，还应在更广泛的意义上努力做到真诚。关于要把自己全身心投入到工作中这一点，我已经讲过很多，对此我深信不疑。工作的动力源自于做我们喜欢的工作，但它同时也源自于和我们喜欢的人一起工作。而要喜欢这些人，你就得了解他们。你要想赢得人们的感情与尊重，那你作为领导者就要给予下属感情上的支持。

我近来开始就女性在工作中面临的挑战畅所欲言。我们需要讨论一下，女性相较于男性如何低估了自己的能力，以及对于女性——而非男性——来说，成功与受喜爱程度又是如何呈负相关的。也就是说，作为女性，你在职场上越成功，你就越不招人喜欢。这意味着，女性需要一种截然不同的管理和指导方式，一种截然不同的赞助和鼓励模式，而且相较于男性来说，女性在一些方面更需要保护。可我们没有那么多位居高层的职业女性来做这些事，因此这一责任就落在了今天毕业的男同胞身上，你们要肩负起和女性一样——甚至比女性更重——的责任，去帮助女性取得事业的成功，而不仅仅是施与“口”惠。

而最重要的，也许我们需要讨论另一个问题：渴望获得最高领导职务的女性远少于男性。我们必须先填补男女职业抱负上的差异，才能填补领导层男女比例差异。我们需要更多的女性不仅进入决策层，而且在这个层次占有应得的领导岗位。

同学们，当你们明天上台领过毕业证奔向全球各地时，希望你们做到以下四点：第一，通过Facebook保持联系。这对于你们未来的成功非常重要！第二，尽力去说真话，求真相。第三，保持你们的真我本色，倾听别人有关你们真我的评论。第四，去完成我们那一代人未竟的事业：创造一个半数家庭由男人打理、半数机构由女人掌舵的世界。我相信那是一个更加美好的世界。