死亡线上收获的成功学

    石油大亨约翰•洛克菲勒是美国第一位亿万富翁。据说有一次别人问他多少钱算是多，他用那句名言作为回答——“就是再多一点点”。虽然几乎没有办法确认洛克菲勒到底是不是说过这句话，但它正是许多美国人内心真实的写照。说起成功的职业生涯，人们也总是遵循同样的原则。人们努力达到一个高度，然后想方设法稳定在这个高度。简单点说，成功没有尽头。

    波士顿咨询公司（Boston Consulting Group）前战略顾问及合伙人乔治•斯托克曾经回顾自己的职业生涯，而这句话对他的回顾是一个很好的概括。斯托克工作勤勉，誉满全球。他的著作包括《强硬手段：你是为了玩还是为了赢》（Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win?）等。他总是穿梭往返于陷入危机的客户之间，公文包里塞满了一听听的健怡可乐。

    2004年，53岁的斯托克已经登上了职业生涯的巅峰。但随后情况急转直下。此前几个月他一直没有注意到，自己的身体已经发出了非常危险的信号，紧接着，就在波士顿时发生了腹部血管破裂。斯托克强撑着回到了多伦多的家中，但透支的身体终于支撑不住了。整整三个月，他陷入了昏迷，期间医生三次宣布他已经死亡。没错，乔治•斯托克终于成功了，但差点搭上了自己的性命。

    不可思议的是，斯托克活了下来。恢复了几个月后，他又回到了波士顿咨询公司，成了一名高级顾问。他还在家族企业专门服务机构Banyan Family Advisors担任高级合伙人。斯托克再次成为一位心满意足的成功人士（而且据医生讲，他的身体也比以前更健康）。现在，他对成功的定义和十年前有着天壤之别。那时他自豪的是自己能在“任何需要的时候出现在世界上的任何地方”。斯托克有充足的时间来思索职业生涯成功所包含的共同主题——其中大部分时间是在医院的病床上。亲身经历告诉他，任何职业生涯都不是一条直线。

    斯托克的成功仍然要靠脑子。但现在他找到了适合自己的节奏，只接手大项目，比如供应链陷入瘫痪，或者在情况很不明朗的阶段进行管理，而且只为他自己喜欢的人和客户提供服务。他出差的频率大幅下降，而且有生以来第一次发现了自己的爱好——他喜欢玩遥控飞机。他说，这个爱好提高了创造力，让他能想出更好的点子。现在他会建议自己的客户说：“多花点时间在办公室以外，这样才能站得更高。”

    斯托克的经历是个极端情况。但它是个很好的例子，和当前不稳定的经济局势之下我们所有人时常在职场上遇到的挫折类似。它也提醒我们，在职业生涯的不同阶段，必须给予成功不同的定义。詹姆斯•西特林是管理研究公司Spencer Stuart北美地区董事会与首席执行官事务部的联合负责人。他撰文指出，大多数情况下，把职业生涯划分成三个不同的阶段对人们有好处。这三个阶段是：“承诺阶段”、“冲击阶段”和“收获阶段”。

    The oil titan -- and first U.S. billionaire -- John D. Rockefeller was once reportedly asked how much money would be enough. "Just a little bit more," are the words famously attributed to him. Though it's nearly impossible to ascertain whether Rockefeller actually spoke those words, it captures the truth for many Americans. The same principle has always held when it comes to professional success. You strive to get there, then you do what it takes to stay there. You simply cannot be too successful, nor can you be successful for too long.

    That's a pretty good summation of how George Stalk once viewed his career. Stalk was an indefatigable, world-renowned strategy consultant and partner at Boston Consulting Group who wrote books like Hardball: Are

    You Playing to Play or Playing to Win?" and who carried briefcases overflowing with cans of Diet Coke from one client crisis to another.

    He was at the apex of his career in 2004, at age 53. Then it all changed. After months of ignoring signs that something was very wrong with him, Stalk was in Boston when a blood vessel ruptured in his stomach. He made it back to his home in Toronto, where his overtaxed body surrendered. He fell into a coma for three months and was declared dead three separate times. George Stalk had succeeded -- practically to his grave.

    Improbably, Stalk survived. After months of rehab, he returned to BCG, where he is now a senior adviser, and also works as a senior partner of Banyan Family Advisors, a firm that works with family businesses. He is, once again, satisfied and successful (and healthier, according to his doctor). Yet his definition of success today is far from what it meant a decade ago, when he prided himself on being "anywhere in the world at any time when needed." Stalk has had plenty of time -- much of it in a hospital bed -- to ponder the common themes in a successful career, and he knows from experience that no career follows a straight line.

    For Stalk, success is still about ideas. But now he paces himself and works only on big subjects, such as supply-chain gridlock and managing in periods of high uncertainty, for people and clients that he likes. He travels far less frequently and has for the first time in his life discovered hobbies -- Stalk likes to fly radio controlled model jets -- which, he says, have improved his creativity and idea generation. He now counsels his clients that "you need to spend more time out of the office, the higher you get."

    Stalk's experience is extreme. Yet it is a good analogy for the types of professional shocks we all suffer regularly in this volatile economic environment -- and a reminder that success must be defined differently at different stages of a career. James Citrin, co-chair of the North American Board & CEO Practice at search firm Spencer Stuart, writes that it's helpful to think of most careers as falling into three distinct segments; the "Promise Phase," the "Momentum Phase," and the "Harvest Phase."