Last week I stumbled upon an article by the chief executive of Boston Consulting Group telling twentysomethings how to “accelerate” their careers. Rich Lesser has based his advice on his own splendid, if safe, one — a few years at Procter & Gamble followed by an MBA from Harvard and then 28 years at BCG. Along the way he has spoken to thousands of young people and felt moved to tell them where they were going wrong — and how they could become more like him.

近日我偶然看见一篇由波士顿咨询集团(BCG)首席执行官里奇•莱塞(Rich Lesser)写的文章，讲的是20多岁的年轻人该如何“促进”自身事业的发展。莱塞的建议是基于他自身辉煌（也四平八稳）的职业经历提出的——在宝洁(Procter & Gamble)工作了几年后，他从哈佛取得了MBA学位，随后在BCG工作了28年。一路走来，他对无数年轻人讲过话，并发自内心地觉得应该告诉他们哪里做得不对——以及怎样他们才能变得更像他。

The piece was on LinkedIn months ago but BCG is so taken by Mr Lesser’s insights that it is still trumpeting them on social media. However, when I read the article through to its conclusion — “with self-reflection, focus, and a commitment to investing in yourself and making a difference, you can find the place that is right for you” — boredom gave way to alarm. This was very bad advice indeed and I needed to protect twentysomethings from trying to follow it.

这篇文章发表在领英(LinkedIn)上已有数月，但BCG对莱塞的见解推崇备至，因此至今仍在社交媒体上推送着这篇文章。开始读这篇文章时，我原本只是觉得有些无聊，然而通篇读完后，无聊转为忧虑。文章的结论是：“凭借自省、专注、努力自我投资、努力带来改变，你就能找到适合自己的舞台。”这是非常糟糕的建议，我得阻止20多岁的年轻人试图照他的建议做。

His first tip is to choose “something you find truly energising and satisfying”. This sounds OK, but there are three things wrong with it. It is vapid — no one would recommend a job that was enervating and frustrating. Second, it is unhelpful, as when you are in your twenties it is hard to know if you are going to find a job satisfying until you have tried it. Third, it sets expectations far too high. Even the best jobs are only intermittently energising or satisfying. For a lot of the time they are boring or frustrating or both. The gap between expectation and reality is the biggest problem for millennials, and Mr Lesser ought not to widen it.

他的第一条小建议是，选择“能真正为你带来活力和满足感的事情”。听上去不错，但这条建议有三点错误。首先它空洞乏味——谁也不会推荐一个让人丧失活力、感到挫败的工作。其次它毫无用处，因为20多岁时，不试一试，很难知道一份工作能不能为自己带来满足感。最后，它把期望值设得太高。即便最好的工作也不总是能带来活力和满足感。很多时候，它们或枯燥乏味，或让人挫败，又或两者兼备。理想和现实的差距是千禧一代面临的最大问题，莱塞不应将这种差距扩大。

Next he suggests going for an employer where you will learn things. “Your twenties are a unique period to build a set of capabilities that will last a lifetime.” No, they are not. No set of capabilities, as he puts it, lasts more than a decade or two apart, possibly, from the ability to form a sentence, add up and get on with people. Skills and experience get out of date.

接着他建议年轻人去一个能学到本事的地方工作。“20几岁是一段独特的时期，此间你掌握的一整套技能将让你受用一生。”不，并非如此。也许除了造句、算数和与人融洽相处的能力，没有“一整套技能”（如他所说）可以让你持续受用10年或20年。技能和经验是会过时的。

His next criterion — can I make a difference? — is more problematic still. Not only is this the wrong thing for 20-year-olds to ask, as no one makes a difference when starting out, it is wrong for people of any age. I am not sure why we have become so hooked on difference-making per se. Surely it all depends what the difference is. The palliative care nurse at the Whittington hospital who nursed my father in the last days of his life made a difference I will never forget. Equally Sir Philip Green made a difference that the pensioners at BHS won’t forget in a hurry either.

他的下一条准则——我能带来改变吗？——更有问题。这不仅不是20多岁的人应该提出的问题（因为没有人在起步阶段就能带来改变），任何年龄段的人都不应问这个问题。我不确定我们何以变得如此痴迷于带来改变本身。毫无疑问应该看具体是什么样的改变。在我父亲最后的时日里为他提供安宁护理(palliative care)的惠廷顿医院(Whittington hospital)护士带来的改变，我将终生铭记。同样，菲利浦•格林爵士(Sir Philip Green)带来的改变，英国百货公司BHS的养老金领取者们也不会轻易忘记。

For most wage slaves it is hard to say what difference we make, but that does not render our jobs pointless. Do management consultants make a difference? Do I? It all depends on your starting point. I imagine today I will make a minor difference to Mr Lesser — though perhaps not a positive one.

对大多数工薪族而言，很难说我们带来什么改变，但那并不表示我们的工作毫无意义。管理顾问们带来什么改变吗？我带来什么改变吗？这完全取决于你从哪里算起。我想今天我将为莱塞带来些许改变——虽然可能不是正面的改变。

His final question is the worst of all: can I find balance? The answer to this is no, as there is no such thing as balance. Instead all workers have a choice: working all the time, or not working all the time. It would be better if the CEO of one of the grandest management consultancies in the world told 20-year-olds that he ran a sweat shop for the elite and that working there would mean having to cancel all dates, all birthday parties and all fun outings at a moment’s notice.

他最后的那个问题最糟：我能找到平衡吗？答案是不能，因为不存在所谓的平衡。相反所有打工者都有一个选择：要么一直工作，要么一直不工作。作为全球最大的管理咨询公司之一的首席执行官，莱塞若能这样告诉20多岁的年轻人也许更好：BCG是一家血汗工厂，只不过在里面卖命的是精英人士；在那里工作意味着一声令下，你就不得不马上取消所有安排，不管是约会、生日派对、还是外出游玩的计划。

Like Mr Lesser, I have had a safe, unimaginative sort of career involving just two employers: JPMorgan and the Financial Times. But since my day, and since Mr Lesser’s, two big things have changed. For us, the corporate life was more or less compulsory if you were interested in business; now it is optional as there are start-ups instead. Some people are suited to life in big corporations, others less so. It is hard to know until you try it, so my advice is to take a corporate job early on to find out how much you (dis)like it.

像莱塞一样，我的职业生涯安稳、乏味，只经历过两任雇主：摩根大通(JPMorgan)和英国《金融时报》（简称FT）。不过与我那年代以及莱塞那年代相比，当今时代发生了两个重大改变。对我们来说，如果对商业感兴趣，或许就必须选择职场生活；如今则不然，因为你也可以选择去创业。一些人适合在大企业工作，其他人则未必。你不亲自试试就很难知道，所以我的建议是早一点儿找份公司里的工作，再搞清楚你有多喜欢（或不喜欢）它。

The second change is that working life is now so long, there is no hurry to get it right first time — which leads to my second point. If you take a few bad turns, it does not matter.

第二个改变是如今工作生涯非常长，不必急于一开始就找对工作——由此引出我的第二条建议。走些弯路，也不要紧。

In deciding to go for P&G and then BCG Mr Lesser drew up spreadsheets — only in the end to go with his heart. I did no such thing. I went for JPMorgan and later for the FT because they were the only companies offering me a job. It seemed a great reason to pick them then. It is still a great reason today.

在做出去宝洁及后来去BCG的决定过程中，莱塞绘制了电子表格——只是他到头来还是听从了内心的选择。我没做过这种事。我去摩根大通和后来去FT是因为只有它们录用了我。之所以选择它们，当时这似乎是很重要的原因。现在依然如此。