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It’s unusual to find your passion as earlyas Mark. It took me far longer to figure out what I wanted to do. When Iwas sitting in a graduation robe, I could not have considered a job at Facebookbecause the internet did not exist – and Mark was only 11 years old. I thoughtI would only ever work for the government or a philanthropic organizationbecause I believed these institutions made the world a better place whilecompanies only worked towards profits. But when I was working at the USTreasury Department, I saw from afar how much impact technology companies werehaving on the world and I changed my mind. So when my government job ended, Idecided to move to Silicon Valley. In retrospect, this seems like a shrewdmove. But in 2001, it was questionable at best. The tech bubble had burst.Large companies were doing massive layoffs and small companies were going outof business. I gave myself four months to find a job. It took almost ayear. In one of my first interviews, a tech company CEO said to me, “I tookthis meeting as a favor to a friend but I would never hire someone like you –people from the government can’t work in technology.” Eventually I persuaded someone to hire me,and fourteen years later, I still love working in tech. It was not my originalplan but I got there -- eventually. I hope if you find yourself on one pathbut longing for something else, you find a way to get there. And if that isn’tright, try again. Try until you find something that stirs your passion, ajob that matters to you and matters to others. It’s a luxury to combinepassion and contribution. It’s also a clear path to happiness. Second, FEEDBACK IS A GIFT At Facebook, I knew that the mostimportant determinant of my performance would be my relationship with Mark.When I joined, I asked Mark for a commitment that he would give me feedbackevery week so that anything that bothered him would be aired and discussedquickly. Mark not only said yes but added that he wanted it to bereciprocal. For the first few years, we stuck to this routine and met everyFriday afternoon to voice concerns big and small. As the years went by, sharinghonest reactions became part of our relationship and we now do so in real timerather than waiting for the end of the week. Getting feedback from your boss is onething, but it’s every bit as important to get feedback from those who work foryou. This is not an easy thing to do as employees are often eager to pleasethose above them and don’t want to criticize or question their higher-ups. One of my favorite examples of this comesfrom Wall Street. In 1990, Bob Rubin became the CEO of Goldman Sachs. At the end of his first week, he looked at Goldman’s books and noticedlarge investments in gold. He asked someone why . The answer? “Thatwas you, sir.” “Me?” he replied. Apparently, the day before he hadbeen walking around on the trading floor and he commented to someone that “goldlooks interesting.” This got repeated as “Rubin likes gold” and someonespent millions of dollars to make the new boss happy. On a smaller scale, I have faced a similarchallenge. When I joined Facebook, one of my tasks was to build the businessside of the company -- but without destroying the engineering-driven culturethat made Facebook great. So one of the things I tried to do wasdiscourage people from doing formal PowerPoint presentations for meetings withme. At first, I asked nicely. Everyone ignored me and kept doing theirpresentations. So about two years in, I said, “OK, I usually hate rules but Inow have a rule: no more PowerPoint in my meetings.” About a month later I was about to addressour global sales team, when someone said to me, “Before you get on that stage,you really should know everyone’s pretty upset about the no PowerPoint withclients thing.” I was shocked. I had never banned thesepresentations for clients! I just did not want them in meetings with me. How could we present to our clients without PowerPoint? So I got on thestage and said, “One, I meant no PowerPoint with me. And two, next timeyou hear a bad idea – like not doing proper client presentations – speak up. Even if you think it is what I have asked for, tell me I am wrong!” A good leader recognizes that mostemployees won’t feel comfortable challenging authority, so it falls uponauthority to solicit feedback. I learned from my PowerPoint mistake. Inow ask my colleagues “What could I do better?” And I always thank the personwho has the guts to answer me honestly, often by praising them publicly. I firmly believe that you lead best when you walk side-by-side with yourcolleagues. When you don’t just talk but you also listen. Third, NOTHING IS SOMEONE ELSE’S PROBLEM （责任编辑：晨鸿） |
