Airbnb公司 CEO：放弃安稳，创业是我最大的冒险

    《财富》杂志从今天起正式推出“40位40岁以下商业精英内部网络”(Fortune 40 Under 40 Insider Network)，最有影响力的商界人士将通过该网络及时解答职业与领导力问题。本周，我们的问题是：你最大的冒险是什么？第一位给出回答的是AirbnbCEO布莱恩•切斯基。

    从罗德岛设计学院（Rhode Island School of Design）毕业后，我在洛杉矶一家小型工业设计公司找到了工作。最初，我很喜欢那份工作——工资优厚，而且我的一些设计还登上了商店货架。

    但仅仅设计一些最终进入垃圾填埋场的产品，让我感觉不到成就感，我希望创造一些更有生命力的商品。在洛杉矶，我曾接触过许多创业者，令我吃惊的是，虽然我是一名设计师，但他们才是在创造有意义的事物。我问自己：‘他们与我有什么区别？我为什么不能做同样的事情？’也就是在那一刻，我终于意识到，他们选择了冒险，而我却没有。

    有一天，我接到大学好友乔•杰比亚的电话。他从大学毕业后就一直劝说我搬到旧金山，但这一通电话却触动了我，我最终决定冒险。人总会在某个时刻做出一两个决定，进而彻底改变自己的一生。我后来的一系列决定，都是前往旧金山这个决定的连锁反应。

    于是，我将所有财产装进了我那辆破旧的本田思域轿车(Honda Civic)，然后出发前往旧金山，结果到了那里才发现，我甚至承担不起第一个月的房租。这是一个有风险的决定，但为了想办法支付房租，我们最后吹起了一些充气床，并且把起居室租给了三位陌生人，他们周末住在这里。我们将这种办法称为“充气床与早餐”（AirBed and Breakfast），Airbnb这一名称就来源于此。

    在当今社会，我们习惯了在所有不适当的时刻避免冒险。大学毕业后，人们告诉我们要做有保障的事情，要做出正确的选择，要保持低调。人们以为，我们要站稳脚跟或找到一份稳定的工作，然后才可以尝试孤注一掷。

    但生活并非如此，这样理解风险是错误的。随着年龄的增长，事情不可避免地会发生变化。你可能成立了家庭。你可能遇到了意想不到的障碍。随着时间的流逝，冒险会让人感觉更加可怕，看起来更加艰难。

    所以，我的建议是不要等待。我们总能找到各种安稳过日子的理由。但通常情况下，人一生中最令人激动的时刻，始终是你选择冒险的时候——你决定跟随内心那种痛苦的感觉，而不是选择别人建议的安全、谨慎的道路。

    对我而言，那次冒险改变了一切。（财富中文网）

    本文作者布莱恩•切斯基是房屋租赁服务商Airbnb公司CEO。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Today Fortune launched the Fortune 40 Under 40 Insider Network, one of several online communities where the biggest names in business answer timely career and leadership questions. This week, we ask: What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Our first answer comes from Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.

    When I graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, I got a job at a small industrial design firm in LA. I loved it at first – I had a job that paid well, and some of my designs even ended up on store shelves.

    But I felt unfulfilled designing products that would eventually end up in landfills, and wanted to build something that would last. I worked with a few entrepreneurs in LA, and it struck me that even though I was the designer, they were the ones that were creating something meaningful. I asked myself, ‘what’s the difference between them and me? Why can’t I do the same thing?’ That’s when I realized — they had taken a risk, and I hadn’t.

    Then one day, I got a call from my college friend, Joe Gebbia. He had been telling me that I should move to San Francisco ever since we graduated, but this call triggered something for me, and I finally decided to take the risk. Everyone has one or two moments in their life when they make a decision and it changes their life forever. Almost every decision in my life I’ve now made is a chain reaction from the moment I decided to move to San Francisco.

    So I packed all of my possessions into the back of my old Honda Civic, and set off for to a city where it turned out I couldn’t even afford my first month’s rent. It was a risky decision, but finding a way to pay the rent is what ultimately led us to blow up a few air mattresses and rent out our living room to three strangers who needed a place to stay for the weekend. We called it the AirBed and Breakfast, an idea that eventually became Airbnb.

    In our society, we’re conditioned to avoid taking risks at all the wrong times. Right after college, we’re told to do the safe thing, check all the right boxes, and keep our heads down. It’s assumed that once we find our footing or get a stable job, then we can try to swing for the fences.

    But that’s not how life works, and it’s the wrong way to think about risk. Inevitably, things change as you get older. You might start a family. You might run into unexpected obstacles along the way. And with each day that passes, taking risks will feel scarier, and seem harder, than ever before.

    So my advice is, don’t wait. There will always be plenty of reasons to play it safe. But more often than not, the most exciting times in your life will be the times when you take a risk – when you follow that gnawing feeling in your gut instead of the safe, cautious path suggested by others.

    For me, it’s made all the difference.

    Brian Chesky is CEO of Airbnb.