異類:不一樣的成功啟示錄 第12期:成功的真諦

When he ran for governor of Florida,

在競選佛羅里達州州長的時候，

he repeatedly referred to himself as a "self-made man,"

杰布布什一再聲稱自己是“白手起家者”。

and it is a measure of how deeply we associate success with the efforts of the individual

當我們考量成功時，總有一本尺子植根于我們內(nèi)心，

that few batted an eyelid at that description.

這把尺子一味強調(diào)成功人士的個人努力，但很少有人對這種觀點提出質(zhì)疑。

"Lift up your heads,"

“昂起你們的頭! ”

Robert Winthrop told the crowd many years ago

羅伯特溫思羅普

at the unveiling of a statue of that great hero of American independence Benjamin Franklin,

在為美國獨立的大英雄本杰明富蘭克林的雕像掲幕的時候向聽眾們說：

"and look at the image of a man who rose from nothing,

“仔細看看一個人是怎樣白手起家的：

who owed nothing to parentage or patronage,

他沒有顯赫的身世，也沒他人資助;

who enjoyed no advantages of early education which are not open- a hundred fold open- to yourselves,

在不向所有人開放的早期教育中，他沒有任何的優(yōu)勢

who performed the most menial services in the business in which his early life was employed,

在他早期的雇員生活中，他幾乎就是生活在商行中的仆人。

but who lived to stand before Kings,

但是，在世的時候，他能夠在眾王面前站立，

and died to leave a name which the world will never forget."

死后，他的名字被世人永遠牢記。”

In outliers, I want to convince you,

我希望你讀過《異類》之后能夠明白，

that these kinds of personal explanations of success don't work.

這種解釋個人成功的觀點并不準確。

People don't rise from nothing.

人們并非真的一無所有，

We do owe something to parentage and patronage.

從出生開始，我們就擁有一定的稟賦和資助。

The people who stand before kings

能在眾王面前站立的人，

may look like they did it all by themselves.

好像完全憑借他自己的能力，

But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages,

事實上，總有潛在的優(yōu)勢、

and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies,

非凡的機遇和文化傳統(tǒng)令他們獲益，

that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in a way others cannot.

使得他們更努力地學(xué)習(xí)或者工作，

It makes a difference where and when we grew up,

使得他們的世界與眾不同。

the culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears,

我們成長的年代和成長的地域各異，

shape the patterns of our achievements

我們生長的文化氛圍和祖先們遺留下來的東西

in ways we cannot begin to imagine.

對我們?nèi)〉贸删偷挠绊戨y以想象。

It's not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words.

僅僅問那些成功人士都是怎樣的一個人是不夠的，換言之，

It is only by asking where they are from

我們只有知道他們來自何處，

that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.

才能真正揭示為什么有的人沒有獲得成功，而有的人卻成功了。

Biologists often talk about the "ecology" of an organism:

生物學(xué)家經(jīng)常講“生物體的環(huán)境適應(yīng)學(xué)”，

the tallest oak in the forest is not just the tallest because it grew from the hardest acorn;

森林里長得最高的一棵橡樹，之所以能夠長得最高，不僅僅因為長成這棵橡樹的種子最堅硬;