不要过度规划你的未来 ——里克·瓦格纳

（单词翻译）

 

Don't over plan your life

——Rick Wagoner

President Brodhead, members of the faculty¹ and administration , honored guests, friends ofDuke University, parents of today's graduates, and most especially, the Class of 2007. Let me startby saying, simply, thank you. As a son of Duke for my entire life, I can't imagine a greater honorthan giving the commencement address today.

Before going any further, let me acknowledge all the mothers and grandmothers in theaudience, as today is Mother's Day and I can't imagine a greater gift on this important day thanhaving a daughter or son graduating from Duke University.

I know it was a big day for my mom 32 years ago, when I sat where the Undergraduate Classof 2007 now sits.

I think the most important piece of advice that I can give you from my own experience issimply this-don't over-plan your life. While planning for your future is great, the fact is, thingschange and opportunities will arise for you that I suspect you, today, can't even imagine. Do yourbest at whatever you're doing, but be open to opportunities as they come up.

Let me tell you what happened to me. When I was graduating from Duke, I was thinkingabout my next step, which was to go to Harvard Business School in the coming fall. Beyond that, Iknew only one thing-I wanted to end up close to home. Remember, this was 32 years ago, nointernet, no cell phones, even international phone calls were a big deal back then. If I settled faraway, or, heaven forbid , overseas, how would I keep up with my family and friends, and Dukebasketball? No way I could do that. So, when I finished business school in 1977, I joined GeneralMotors in our New York office-that was exotic enough for me! There, when I was asked whicharea I wanted to work in, I said anything but overseas analysis was okay with me.

So, I got assigned to overseas analysis, and you know what? I actually liked it a lot.

Then about four years later, I was asked if I wanted to become Treasurer² of GM in Brazil, agreat job, but with one obvious catch: I had to move to Brazil. So, I thought for sure we'd pass-mywife had a good job, we had just bought a house, and of course there was this Duke basketballthing. So, that night, I went home, asked my wife if she'd like to move to Brazil, and to mysurprise, she said most enthusiastically, "Yes!"Well, from that point in our lives, Kathy and I spent virtually all of the next 11 years livingand working outside the United States-Brazil, Canada, Europe, Brazil again. And it turned out tobe a great chance to grow as a business executive . It was undoubtedly³, the best business andpersonal "learning experience" that I could have asked for.

In my current job, I spend a lot of time traveling to places like India and China and Russia,and I'm confident that many of the major developments that will affect us all in the future aregoing to occur in these and other emerging markets around the world.

So, my advice is to be flexible, be open to everything the world has to offer, be global. You'llbe amazed at what you can learn, and how you can contribute .

Another thing I got wrong when I was sitting in your chairs 32 years ago was what a trulyhuge role that technology would play, in our personal lives, in our professional lives, in oursociety.

The advances in technology in my business life are especially exciting. For example, now, forthe first time in my almost-30-year automotive career, I can really see a future for automotivetransportation that will consume less, not more petroleum⁴, and emit less, not more carbon, and yetstill allow the U.S. and global consumers to buy the cars and trucks they want at affordable⁵ prices.

When I say this, I'm thinking about the exciting future that we have in the U.S. with bio-fuels , orE-85 ethanol , made from corn, and in a few years from cellulose, and then electrically driven carsand trucks powered by advanced batteries, or hydrogen fuel cells. All this thanks to amazingadvances in technology.

And so my second piece of advice for you, in whatever field you enter-medicine, education,business, government-is to embrace the opportunities that technology will provide you to helpsolve the challenges we face as a nation, and as a world.

There are actually lots of really smart people out there. What distinguishes those who aretruly leaders is passion and enthusiasm . But I should tell you that even with knowledge, passionand contagious⁶ enthusiasm-you are going to face some tough challenges-some tough days.

A year-and-a-half ago, some of the so-called "experts" were claiming that General Motorswas headed for bankruptcy⁷ and I ought to be fired. Those were some tough days for me. Evengreat institutions like my and now your alma mater, Duke University, encounter challengingtimes, like over the last year. But the real successful people, the real contributors, the really greatinstitutions, like Duke University and General Motors, have another important characteristicwhich is persistence⁸ and resilience. No matter how great the challenge, no matter how dark thefuture seems, the best people, the really successful people, simply do not give up.

In my experience, the really successful people are those who establish clear priorities in theirlives, who understand that they can excel at only a handful of things at any one time, and then goafter that chosen handful of priorities with single-minded passion and enthusiasm. In my case, atthis point in my life, my priorities are pretty simple: family and friends, General Motors andseveral charitable and educational activities, including Duke University. Unfortunately, that'sabout all I can do if I want to do things well.

You see, as tomorrow's leaders, you have a tremendous opportunity to use your intellect, andpassion, and creativity.

I encourage you never to underestimate the impact that you can have on others, to literallymake the world a better place. We do that by all getting involved, taking what may seem like smallsteps, small actions. They all add up.

Good luck and Godspeed!

参考译文

不要过度规划你的未来

——里克·瓦格纳

尊敬的布劳德海德校长、各位教职员工、尊敬的嘉宾们、朋友们、家长们，尤其是2007年将要毕业的诸位同学们：首先，我要向你们致谢！作为杜克大学的学子，我想不出还有什么事比在毕业典礼上演讲让我感到荣耀的了。

在开始演讲之前，让我先向在座的各位母亲和祖母们致敬，今天是母亲节。我很难想象，在这个重要的日子，一个从杜克大学毕业的女儿或儿子，还有比这更棒的母亲节礼物。

32年前的今天对我的母亲来说也同样重要，当时的我，就坐在你们现在的位置上。

从我的切身体验中，我能给出的最重要建议就是：不要过度规划你的生活。虽然规划未来很重要，但万事皆在变动，无法预料的各种机遇将不断出现在你面前。我想今天的你们是难以想象的。因此，现在你能做的就是把手头上的事做得尽善尽美，等待机会的出现。

让我来讲一下我的故事吧。当年我从杜克大学毕业，思考下一步该怎么走。我打算在当年秋天去读哈佛商学院，除此而外，我只知道一件事：让自己离家近点儿。要知道，在32年前，没有互联网，没有手机，甚至打国际长途都是一件大事情。如果我离家太远，千万不要去海外，要不然我怎么跟我的家人和朋友联系，怎么在杜克打篮球呢？不！我决不能离家太远。所以，当我在1977年完成学业时，便加入通用公司在纽约的办事处，这对我来说已经遥远的不能再遥远了，当他们问我愿意在哪里工作时，我说，除了海外分析，在哪里工作都可以。结果，我被派到了海外。你们知道后来怎么样？事实上，我太喜欢这份工作了。

4年后，我又一次面临选择。公司问我是否愿意担任通用在巴西项目的财务人员。这是一份美差很明显，如果我答应了，我就必须搬到巴西去，我想我肯定不会去——当时，我的妻子有一份很好的工作，我们刚刚买了房，并有还能在杜克打篮球。当天晚上，我回家问妻子是否愿意搬到巴西，出乎我的意料，她很兴奋地说“愿意”。

从那时起，我和妻子凯西在美国以外的国家整整生活和工作了11年。我们之后去过加拿大、欧洲，最后又回到了巴西，这对于我成长为一名公司的执行官是一段不可多得的经历。毫无疑问，这是我能找到的最好的学习体验。

在目前的工作岗位上，我花了很多时间去印度、中国和俄罗斯旅行。我相信，未来许多对我们产生重大影响的新生事物都将出现在上述国家和全球其它新兴市场。

所以我的建议是：要灵活机动、柔韧有余、敞开心胸的去接纳世界，变得更加“全球化”。你将会吃惊地发现你会有所得，贡献卓著。

32年前，我坐在你们现在的座位上，对于科学技术在我们的生活中、专业中、社会中将要发挥的重要作用没能做出正确的估量。

我在工作中发现，科技的进步真是令人欢欣鼓舞的。举个例子来说，我本人在汽车业已干了30年，现在，我头一次真正“看到”汽车的未来：它们耗油量将更少；二氧化碳排放量将更少；与此同时，越来越多的美国以及全世界的消费者都能以他们支付得起的价格购买中意的车型；当我在这里讲述这一切的时候，我的心中还憧憬着一片更加美好的未来，美国还会推出由玉米、纤维素中提取的生物燃料，或由新式电池或氢燃料电池驱动的小轿车和卡车，这些都要感谢令人惊叹不已的技术进步。

因此我的第二条建议是：不管你进入哪个邻域---医疗、教育、商业、政府部门-----要准备好拥抱技术提供给你的机会，去帮助解决民族乃至全球面临的挑战。

大千世界，不乏聪明绝顶之人，但真正让杰出的领袖人物脱颖而出的关键因素是激情和热忱。不过需要提醒你们的是，即便你有了过硬的专业知识、激情以及能感染他人的热忱，你也会面临艰巨的挑战，经历砥砺人生的艰苦岁月。

一年半前，一些所谓的“专家”宣称通用公司正走向破产，我应该下台。那时，我的日子可真是不好过。哪怕是一些伟大的机构，比如我们的母校杜克大学，正如你们去年经历的那样，也曾经面临过挑战。然而，真正的成功者和真正伟大的机构，比如杜克大学和通用公司，还具备更重要的特质：那就是坚韧不拔，持之以恒，重创之下重振雄风。不管挑战有多艰难，不管未来有多黑暗，那些最出类拔萃的人们，真正的成功人士们，他们都不会轻言放弃。

照我的经验来看，真正的成功人士都能在他们的生活中确定轻重缓急----他们明白自己只能在一小部分事情上表现出色，然后一股脑地把激情和热忱投入到这些事情上。以我为例吧，在这个人生阶段，我需要优先考虑的事项相当简单，那就是我的家庭、朋友、通用公司和一些慈善、教育活动，包括杜克大学。遗憾的是，这就是我所能做的全部，仅此而已----如果我想把事情做好的话。

你们是明天的领导者，有充分的机会运用你们的聪明才智、火热的激情和创造潜能。

千万不要低估你能给旁人带来的影响，努力把世界建设得更美好，这需要我们都参与进来。一步一步向前行进。勿以事小而不为，因为这些小事都会为我们的未来添砖加瓦。

祝你们好运！