高校生活:MBA開學需要明白的三句話

It's that time of year again. Summer is winding to a close, and students are returning to campus. The energy in the air is palpable, especially in a place like Boston, which seems to live and breathe along with the student population.

又到了每年的這個時候。夏季即將結束，學生們將重返校園。空氣中充滿了活力，似乎觸手可及，尤其在波士頓這樣的地方，整個城市彷彿都與學生們一起躍動和呼吸。

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at Harvard Business School, meeting with former professors and chatting about what the next year holds for their entrepreneurship curriculum. I'm admittedly envious of what faculty members like Tom Eisenmann have planned for the MBAs this year. You guys are so lucky!

昨天，我在哈佛商學院（Harvard Business School）度過了整個下午。我見到了之前教過我的教授們，與他們談起下一學年的創業課程。不得不承認，湯姆??艾森曼等老師們爲今年的MBA學員們所準備的內容讓我無比羨慕。你們真是太幸運了！

My nostalgia got me thinking about what I wish someone told me before I started my first week of business school. Here are my top 3 pieces of advice.

回憶起以前讀商學院的時光，我不禁想：在第一週的學習開始之前，我會希望別人給我什麼樣的建議。以下是我最重要的3點建議。

1. Use school as an excuse to develop relationships with really important people.

1. 利用學校這個平臺與大人物建立聯繫。

For some reason, whether it's simple karma or #payitforward in action, important people are more likely to return an email from a student than from your average cold caller. As long as messages are (1) well-written, (2) short [very important!], and (3) cite some sort of common connection, they tend to be well received and can be the first step in developing mentor relationships that will last throughout your career.

無論是隻出於緣分，還是Twitter愛心行動，大人物們似乎更樂意回覆學生髮送的電子郵件，而不是冒昧的電話造訪。只要（1）措辭恰當，（2）簡短（這一點很重要！），而且（3）提到了與對方的某種共同之處，你的郵件往往就會受到歡迎。邁出了第一步，對方可能成爲你的良師益友，這種關係有望貫穿你今後的整個職業生涯。

An old sage of venture capital once told me, "You don't find a mentor; they find you." But, I think he was referring to the "convincing them" part of the process. Initially, you have to take the initiative to put yourself in front of great mentors, and business school gives you a great platform to do that.

創投行業一位德高望重的智者曾告誡我，“不是你找到導師，而是他們找到你。”我認爲，他所說的是求職過程中“說服導師”這一部分。但首先，你得主動將自己展示在偉大的導師們面前，而商學院就提供了一個自我展示的絕佳平臺。

2. Start the job search now.

2．現在就開始求職

I can't stress how competitive really good jobs are. By the time you're sitting in that interview chair in April of your second year, the statement, "Well, I think I would be a good fit for your company because I'm a good problem solver" won't cut it. Sorry.

真正的好工作競爭到底有多麼激烈，我無法說清。但是第二年4月份坐到面試官面前，如果你光會說一句“我認爲我很適合貴公司，因爲我是一個解決問題的能手”，這樣是沒用的。抱歉。

You need to be able to actually tell a company why you're passionate about their industry and why you are the best person to solve a particular problem they have. To do that, you need to develop "expertise." I put expertise in quotation marks because, of course, you won't be an expert by the time you're in your second year. Yet, for some reason, the magic of an MBA program is that it creates the illusion that you know what you're doing (so long as you can speak intelligently and passionately about a particular opportunity).

你必須能夠告訴面試人員，自己爲什麼熱衷於公司所屬的行業，爲什麼你是幫他們解決特定問題的最佳人選。要做到這一點，需要培養“專業技能”。我之所以將“專業技能”加上引號，是因爲你不可能在入學的第二年就已經變成了真正的專家。然而，由於某些原因，MBA課程的神奇之處就在於，它能讓人產生幻覺，以爲自己的確是某方面的行家（只要你在重大機遇面前能夠保證談吐睿智且飽含激情）。

So, the search starts today. Start doing things that build your expertise over time: Set up an RSS reader that follows top industry blogs, schedule coffee meetings once a week with classmates who have worked in your industry of interest and cold call influential executives in your network. By the time the job search rolls around, you will have a leg up on everyone else.

所以，現在就開始尋找工作機會吧。着手做一些能逐漸培養專業技能的事情：比如，安裝一個RSS閱讀器，追蹤本行業頂尖博客的動態；如果有同學在你感興趣的行業工作過，每週安排一次時間，與他們喝喝咖啡；或者直接致電給關係網中具有影響力的高層人士。這樣，等求職季到來的時候你已經佔得先機。

3. Dedicate time to develop a few lifelong friendships.

3. 花時間結交一些一輩子的好朋友

If you're in business school, you probably have a "work hard / play hard" attitude. The problem with that philosophy is that it can leave little time to develop actual, deep relationships with your classmates. Some of my fondest memories in school were the long discussions over lunch, the trips we took together and the hours we spent planning pranks to play on our sectionmates and professors.

進入商學院學習的人大概都會抱着一種“拼命工作/玩命享受”的態度。這種觀念的問題在於，人們很少有時間去與同學建立起切實的、深厚的關係。我對商學院生活的最美好記憶是：在午餐時間進行長時間討論，一起旅行，以及花費數小時策劃惡作劇，捉弄我們的組員和教授。

Make sure you take the time to have real discussions and meaningful interactions with your classmates. You will learn a ton from them, but you will also develop a few friendships that will last a lifetime.

一定要確保有足夠的時間與同學展開真正的討論和有意義的交流。你會從他們身上學到很多東西，並將與其中一些人建立起將持續終生的友誼。