Uber成功是因为做对了什么？

优步是全球最具价值的初创公司之一，它的成功可部分归因于该公司大力吸引和留住人才的战略。该公司从谷歌公司挖走了地图和地理解决方案领域的顶尖专家——这只不过是优步招揽人才的一个最新案例而已。

类似这样的举动让优步在拥挤的市场上拥有了巨大的竞争优势。聚集到优步的高管人才和工程师相信，该公司拥有“改变世界”的野心。在它的企业文化中，团队建设也被摆到了与营收一样的高度。

优步迅速发展的根本原因在于，该公司一直致力于培养最具价值的资产——人，尽管优步因为不给司机提供医疗保险和其他福利而饱受批评。人力资本投资是一项极具实效的举措，但许多初创公司往往忽视了这一点。

批评者可能认为，专注于领导力和专业人员的培养只是花拳绣腿，起不到什么实际作用。然而，最新的研究证明，想要打造思想忠诚、工作投入、表现一流的世界级员工团队，这是最重要的因素之一。

在硅谷，初创公司会花好几个月的时间来募集资金开展业务。然而，优步的例子充分证明，打造一家成功的企业绝不只是募集资金那么简单。在最初的融资环节过后，投资者抱有很高的期望，而初创公司将进入生命周期中十分脆弱的阶段。这时候，人才意味着一切，想要成功，对人才的投资至关重要。

在目前的市场环境下，初创公司要想获得初期的竞争优势，必须关注以下四个方面：

了解人才争夺战的新情况

员工过去看重的是发展机遇、报酬和安全性，而如今，千禧一代（即80后90后）成为劳动力大军的主力，那些愿意大力促进个人全面成长和职业生涯发展的公司，对他们具有相当大的吸引力。这些人想知道，公司能否提供机会培养他们的竞争力，他们将学习的技能是否不但适用于当前职位，也能在今后职业发展中发挥作用。

此外，随着公司的扩张，培训员工为新的工作岗位做好准备也十分重要——与其担心核心人才流失，不如让员工内部流动起来。

营造乐于学习的企业文化

企业文化可能妨碍公司将职业发展纳入战略规划，但也可能成为竞争优势的源泉。优秀的企业文化会鼓励员工不断学习，营造出一个让员工随时都能准备接受新工作、适应新工作、并持续支持工作的环境。

在这样的环境中，员工具有活跃的开放性思维。在这种文化下，员工充满干劲，愿意积极提出新想法、新理念和建议，个人和集体创造力的提升程度将远超一般人的预计。这种公司能更好地监测和评估员工的进步，让员工随时了解自己的绩效情况，同时清楚地告知员工，公司将在哪些领域为员工掌握新技能提供帮助。

加强有效管理

在乐于学习的环境中，管理者能够培养出强大的影响力和交流能力，提升下级和同僚的表现。在过去，初创公司或小公司的管理者可以通过对市场的灵敏反应让公司存活下来，然而，这种方式不能很好地培养专业人员，从而让竞争优势白白溜走。

如果高层领导通过不断学习来制订短期、中期和长期的发展战略，就能打造出积极进取、竞争力强的运营模式。制订人才培养和高效执行的明确战略与计划之后，公司与利益相关方（如投资者）的交流也会变得更加富有成效。

不懈地推广品牌

那些喜欢一个持续学习环境的优秀人才，更有可能受到激励而不断投入工作，他们可以被培养成公司的最优资产。他们就是你的品牌大使，向新员工甚至潜在的投资者推广公司的价值观。他们让品牌具象化，提高了公司在业内的声誉，并直接展现了品牌最好的一面。

如今，人才是初创公司中的新型货币。竞争对手可以在一个周末就挖走最好的人才，从而削弱你的市场竞争力。尽管初创公司总是会萌生很多新想法，但最重要的一点就是意识到高端人才才是最重要的资产，并有意识地主动采取保护措施。这才是成功的不二法门。（财富中文网）

詹森•温嘉德是哥伦比亚大学的教授，也是《学会成功：在不断改变的世界里反思企业教育》（Learning to Succeed: Rethinking Corporate Education in a World of Unrelenting Change）一书的作者。

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

Uber is one of the most valuable startup in the world, and part of that success can be attributed to an aggressive strategy to acquire and retain talented people. Their most notable, and recent, tactic has been poaching Google’s top experts in mapping and geospatial solutions. Moves like this provide Uber with a significant competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace. Talented executives and engineers flocking to Uber believe the company has “world-changing” ambitions with a corporate culture that values team as much as the bottom line.

The opportunity to thrive, professionally, is grounded in the understanding that Uber is committed to their most valuable asset—people, even though it has received plenty of criticisms for the way it treats drivers by not offering them health insurance and other worker benefits. Investment in human capital is a functional practice that new startups often overlook. Critics will argue that initiatives focused on leadership and professional development are mere fluff and do not work. However, new research proves that it is one of the most important factors in building a world-class workforce that remains committed, engaged, and performing at the highest levels.

In Silicon Valley, startups spend months raising money to build a business. But, with Uber as a prime example, building a successful business is about more than raising money. After initial fundraising rounds, investor expectations are high and startups hit a very a delicate point in a company’s lifecycle – where talent means everything and investing in talent is critical for success.

In the current market context, there are four distinct areas of focus that start-ups must embrace to build an early competitive edge:

Understand the dynamics of the talent war

In the past, employees valued opportunity, compensation, and security. Today, millennials occupy a larger percentage of the work force and are overwhelmingly attracted to companies that are perceived as strongly invested in their personal overall growth and career development. They want to know that there will be the opportunity to develop a strong set of competencies and transferrable skills that can not only be useful now, but later on as well, as their careers develop. Further, preparing workers for new roles as the company expands is also necessary — internal mobility is a better alternative than losing key talent.

Create a culture with a passion for learning

Culture can be a barrier to integrating professional development into a company strategy, but it can also be the source of competitive advantage. A culture of excellence leverages continuous learning to create an environment where preparation, adaptability, and ongoing support to do a job are ever present. This is where out-of-the-box contributions emerge. Instead of just getting work done, the culture transforms a company into a place where employees feel motivated and empowered to develop new ideas, concepts, and recommendations that are actively advancing individual and collective innovation well beyond what’s normally expected. This allows companies to better monitor and evaluate employee progress and provides an opportunity for employees to be constantly aware of their performance while identifying areas where support exists to help master new skills.

Enhance effective management

Managers who operate in an environment that integrates learning develop a potent ability to influence, communicate and drive performance for subordinates and peers. In the past, startups or smaller managers could survive by responding reactively to market conditions. But reactive options fail to take advantage of professional development opportunities and forego the competitive advantage. When senior leaders use continuous learning to develop short-mid- and long-term growth strategies, the result is an aggressive and highly competitive operating model. With a clear strategy and plan for correlating talent development and efficient execution, communication with key stakeholders, like investors, are more productive.

Relentlessly promote the brand

Top talent who appreciate a continuous learning environment are more likely to be motivated to remain consistently engaged and can be groomed to become some of your best assets. These are your brand ambassadors, promoting the value of the company to new employees and even potential investors. They embody the brand, enhance the reputation across the industry, and are a direct reflection of the best the brand can offer.

Talent today is the newest form of currency for start-ups. Competitors can poach top talent over the weekend – effectively collapsing your edge in the market. While startups have a number of balls in the air at any one time, one of the most important is to recognize top talent as their most critical asset and deliberately and proactively develop strategies to protect it. It’s the strongest path to success.

Jason Wingard is a professor at Columbia University. He is also author of Learning to Succeed: Rethinking Corporate Education in a World of Unrelenting Change.