五秒鐘答不上這個問題 你就麻煩了
Steve Tobak
2017-09-10
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“要是時間多些，我就能寫封短點的信了。”這句話揭露真相的手法老道，難怪很多人因此誤以為它出自美國幽默大師馬克·吐溫。不過，一眾有名的思想家——從希臘哲學家西塞羅、美國社會活動家馬丁·路德·金、美國國父本杰明·富蘭克林到美國哲學家亨利·戴維·梭羅都說過類似的話。 有報道稱，有人問美國前總統伍德羅·威爾遜準備個人演講花多長時間時，他說十分鐘的演講要花兩周準備，半小時的演講只用一周。他說：“如果講多久都行，我根本不用準備，現在就能開講。” 簡練比冗長珍貴。簡明比復雜價值高得多。很多關鍵領域里都是越少越好。 現在更是如此。專心做自己擅長的事乃成功的關鍵。不論是經營事業、企業，還是對外溝通交流，都要遵守該原則。遺憾的是，反其道行之的人日益增多，尤其一些雄心勃勃的企業家手頭工作越來越多，結果精力太過分散，問他們“你做什么工作”五秒都回答不出來。一旦如此，失敗就不遠了。 如今，越來越多人放棄企業里的工作，選擇看似自由和靈活的創業生活。問題是他們并沒有把集中精力成立創新的初創公司，只是加入日益龐大的零工經濟隊伍，涉獵業務不少，卻都淺嘗輒止。 數據是驚人的。美國勞動力參與率和新企業成立數量都已經或接近幾十年來最低水平。據《華爾街日報》報道，普林斯頓大學的研究顯示，自由職業者在勞動力中占比激增，由十年前的10%升至16%。 為什么有問題？簡單來說就是影響生產率。職業咨詢公司MBO Partners最近的一份報告稱，自由職業者對美國GDP的貢獻僅占7%，換言之，自由職業者的生產率還不到全職員工的一半。這真的是個問題。 這里討論的自由職業者可不僅包括共享用車公司Uber的簽約司機、共享租房平臺Airbnb的房東和手工藝品電商平臺Etsy的商家。當前自主創業的潮流橫跨多個行業、不同地區和人群。人們通常做多份兼職打零工謀生。這就是問題所在。 打的零工越多，培養獨特搶手的技能機會就越少，基本不可能精通某個領域。打多少份零工算太多？超過一份就算。 如果把社交媒體的個人介紹頁面當成指標可以發現，人們手頭兼顧的工作比以往多多了。職業社交網站LinkedIn上的個人簡介開始變得洋洋灑灑，名頭都是一長串，最近我就看到有人這樣自我介紹：企業家、慈善家、轉職教練、商業策略師、企業轉型專家、作家和演說家。 要知道，職業體育運動員專攻某項運動中某個細分項目是有道理的。只有精通才有可能在競爭激烈的賽場上獲勝。參加奧林匹克的選手是可能摘得多枚金牌，但肯定在同一類項目里。當然，運動員年輕時多嘗試也不無道理，但越早專攻某個領域獲得好成績的機會越高。 蘋果公司向來以專注和守原則聞名于世，這正是取得突破性成功的關鍵。蘋果之父史蒂夫·喬布斯和現任蘋果首席執行官蒂姆·庫克都曾談到，對蘋果來說，關鍵是只專注公司最擅長的領域，其他都不碰。這就是為何蘋果從概念設計到客戶體驗全方位都能做到掌控產品。 谷歌跟蘋果不太一樣。成立初期，谷歌的十大企業哲學中有一條提到“能把一件事做到極致是最棒的”。不過埃里克·施密特2011年卸下首席執行官職位后，谷歌啟動了一系列令人眼花繚亂的大項目，比如臭名昭著的自動駕駛汽車，谷歌智能眼鏡Google Glass，利用熱氣球建立Wi-Fi的Project Loon，研究抗衰老技術的Calico。長達四年時間里，漲幅曾所向披靡的谷歌股價幾乎跟納指同步。 2015年，谷歌聘請了前摩根士丹利首席財務官露絲·波拉特，由此風格逆轉。谷歌重組為新控股公司Alphabet，也理順了非主營業務，現在統稱為“其他投資”。公司財政紀律性更強，增強問責機制。Alphabet的股價隨之走高，短短15個月漲幅達45%。 每位風險資本家和初創公司的創始人都會說，創業成功的關鍵是專注和原則。職業生涯同樣道理。越早找到應該專注的領域越好，別把心思浪費在其他沒意義的事上。（財富中文網） 譯者：Pessy |
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” Considering its ironic truth, it’s not surprising that the quote has been widely misattributed to Mark Twain. Nevertheless, a veritable who’s who of great thinkers, from Cicero and Martin Luther to Ben Franklin and Henry David Thoreau, have made strikingly similar statements. When asked how long it takes to prepare his speeches, President Woodrow Wilson reportedly said that it takes two weeks for a 10 -minute speech, one week to prepare a half-hour speech, and “if I can talk as long as I want,” he said, “it requires no preparation at all. I am ready now.” Brevity is more precious than verbosity. Simplicity is far more valuable than complexity. In so many important ways, less is more. Now more than ever, having the discipline to focus only on what you do best is critical to success. It’s as true in your career and your business as it is in your communication. Sadly, more and more people – particularly aspiring entrepreneurs – are doing more and more. They’re spreading themselves too thin, unable to answer “What do you do for a living?” in less than five seconds. And that’s a recipe for disaster. A growing segment of the population is abandoning the corporate world and opting for the perceived freedom and flexibility of entrepreneurship -- or so they think. The problem is they’re not focusing on creating innovative startups, but joining the growing ranks of the gig economy and doing a little of this and a little of that. The data is startling. The U.S. labor force participation rate and new business creation are both at or near their lowest level in decades. At the same time, self-employed workers have ballooned to 16% of the workforce, up from 10% a decade ago, according to research from Princeton University reported in the Wall Street Journal. Why is that a problem? In a word, productivity. A recent report by MBO Partners says that independent workers contribute just 7% of the nation’s GDP. In other words, self-employed workers are less than half as productive as their counterparts with full-time jobs. And that’s a real problem. This isn’t just about Uber drivers, Airbnb renters and Etsy marketers, mind you. The self-employment trend cuts across a broad swath of industries, geographies and demographics. Those workers often make ends meet by doing multiple gigs on a part-time basis. And therein lies the rub. The more gigs you have, the less chance you have of developing differentiated, marketable skills and excelling in any single field. How many gigs is too many? More than one. If social media profiles are any indication, folks certainly appear to have more irons in the fire than ever before. LinkedIn profiles are starting to resemble laundry lists like this one I recently came across: “Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Career Transition Coach, Business Strategist, Transformational Catalyst, Author, Speaker.” Look, there’s a very good reason why athletes focus only on one position in one sport. That’s what it takes to make it in a competitive world. Olympians may take the gold in multiple events, but always in the same category. Granted, it makes sense to cast a wider net when they’re young, but the sooner they focus, the better. Apple has long touted focus and discipline as key to its breakout success. Both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook have talked about the importance of doing only what the company does best and saying no to everything else. That’s why Apple can afford to control every aspect of its iconic products, from conceptual design to the customer experience. Google is a different story. In the early days, its 10-point philosophy included, “It’s best to do one thing really, really well.” But when Eric Schmidt stepped down as CEO in 2011, the company unleashed a dizzying array of moonshots, from the infamous self-driving car and Google Glass to Wi-Fi balloons and the Calico anti-aging project. For four long years, the search giant’s once high-flying stock barely kept pace with the Nasdaq. Since hiring Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat, it’s like night and day. The search giant reorganized as Alphabet to increase visibility of its non-Google operations – projects it now calls “other bets.” That provided some much-needed fiscal discipline and accountability, and shares of Alphabet have responded, rising 45% in just 15 months. Every venture capitalist and startup founder will tell you the key to entrepreneurial success is focus and discipline. The same is true of your career. The sooner you figure out what to focus on doing and quit screwing around with everything else, the better. |
