回想一下上次你听过的毕业典礼演讲。就算记不清内容，估计也就是勇往直前不怕万难之类的老话。用意当然是好的，但说白了，越听越想打瞌睡。

那么，去年哈佛大学教育学院院长詹姆斯.E.莱恩的毕业典礼讲话是为何能成为一股清流（仅仅在Facebook上就广为转发，浏览量超过800万）？因为他简明扼要地谈到五大问题，不仅对工作，对个人生活的方方面面都至关重要。

莱恩的新著《人生思考题：哈佛教育学院院长提出的5+1个人生重要问题》（Wait, What? And Life’s Other Essential Questions）正是基于那次演讲而作。书的篇幅不长，坐飞机从纽约飞到匹兹堡的时间就能读完，其中包含的真知灼见却发人深省（而且趣味横生），读者可从中了解五大关键问题如何影响每个人的生活和事业。

Monster最近与莱恩聊到如何适时提出这些问题，帮助在事业上做出明智决定，避免决策失误。

排在第一位的问题“等等，你说什么？”看来和求职息息相关，不是吗？

当然，因为要请对方解释工作内容，增进互相了解，便可以用这句话开头。求职者，尤其是年轻人都希望表现得自信，所以不敢多问应聘的工作实际性质，结果一上手才发现各种意料之外。

求职者不应该畏首畏尾，请直截了当地提出一系列问题，比如你会有大的自主权，上下级汇报关系，用人单位希望你工作多少时间，以及具体的工作内容等等。

求职者很容易想当然地以为自己胜任某份工作，实际上却不适合，发挥不了自己才能。这种情况一定是出了问题。

“我想知道……？”对求职有什么影响？

求职者的搜索范围常常太过狭窄，没法全面地认识自己的技能和才华。所以，为了充分挖掘潜力，求职时不妨多问问自己“我有没有可能做这种工作”。

很重要的一点是经常问。有了一定资历后，职场中人的好奇心会变少，更愿意维持现状。我刚担任教育学院院长时完全没有相关工作背景（此前在弗吉尼亚大学法学院任教15年），于是我经常问“我想知道……”，问得实在太多，我相信当时应该让很多人厌烦。但在大部分企业里，这个问题还是问得太少。

从您的书来看， “至少，我们是不是能够……？”好像是您最看重的问题。为什么？

我确实最爱问这个问题，不管是在工作场合还是在家。无论什么新项目，你都无法预见到最后的结果。但如果要等到完美无缺的方案再行动，项目可能会一直停滞，连启动的机会都不一定有。因此，多问问“至少，我们是不是能够……？”起码能立刻开始。

解决纷争时，“至少，我们是不是能够……？”也是个好问题。通过问“至少，我们是不是能同意……？”，可以找出各方共同的立场。这是搁置争议重新行动起来的好办法。

为什么“我能帮什么忙？”这个问题在职场很重要？

首先，这是真诚主动地提出帮助。大多数人会说“有帮得上忙的地方就叫我”，简直就是在暗示对方别来麻烦自己。其次，这是问具体什么地方可以帮忙，鼓励对方想清楚哪里需要帮助。有时人们只是需要发泄，这时认真倾听也是一种帮助。

让我们从职业发展的角度谈谈“真正重要的是什么？”这个问题。能有什么帮助？

这个问题对求职特别有帮助，因为可以理清重点。你想在哪里生活？你能忍受通勤花多长时间？你想靠这份工作挣多少钱，或者需要挣多少？在事业与生活平衡对你有多重要？

诚实面对自己，如果工作相关条件跟你的真心答案并不不符合，就鼓起勇气拒绝。很多人之所以工作不开心，正是因为入职以前没认真考虑哪些对自己最重要。

这个问题也适用于工作中一些场景，比如开会。如果在开会前你已经想清楚真正重要的是什么，如何实现，开会的效果会好得多。一旦想清楚，或许你会发现有些问题根本不需要开会解决。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

Think back to the last graduation speech you heard. Even if you can’t remember it, it’s probably safe to assume it was a pretty cliché potpourri of go-forth-and-conquer platitudes, well meant but, let’s be honest, snooze-inducing.

So how does a commencement address like the one given last year by James E. Ryan, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, stand out (and go viral with more than 8 million views on Facebook alone)? By keeping it simple, succinctly covering five questions he believes are vital, not only at work, but also everywhere else in life.

Based on that speech, Ryan’s new book, Wait, What? And Life’s Other Essential Questions, takes only about as long to read as, say, a flight from New York to Pittsburgh. But it’s packed with thought-provoking (and often funny) insights about the power those five questions can have in shaping lives and careers.

Monster recently spoke with Ryan about how asking the right questions can help anyone make great career decisions and avoid bad ones.

The first question on your list, “Wait, what?”, seems especially relevant to a job search. Is it?

Definitely because it’s the first step to clarification and understanding. People looking for a job, especially young people, want to seem confident, so they don’t ask for enough details about what a job will actually be like—and then, once they start [the job], they’re surprised.

Don’t hesitate to ask about things like how much independence you’ll have, the reporting relationships, the hours you’ll be expected to put in, and exactly what you’ll be doing.

It’s so easy to make assumptions that put you in a job that’s wrong for you, where you aren’t at your best, and that’s always a mistake.

How does asking, “I wonder if…?” affect a job hunt?

Often, the scope of someone’s job search is too narrow because it doesn’t take into account all of the skills and talents people bring with them. So looking at lots of different possibilities and asking yourself, “I wonder if I could do that,” can be really useful.

It’s also important to keep asking. People in midcareer tend to be less curious and more inclined to stick with the status quo. Coming into this job as dean of graduate school [after 15 years of teaching at the University of Virginia School of Law], I was a total outsider, and I asked, “I wonder if…” so often that I’m sure I annoyed lots of people. But in most organizations, the question isn’t asked enough.

Your book makes “Couldn’t we at least…?” seem like perhaps your favorite question. Why is that?

It is! I ask it all the time—at work and at home. With any new project, you usually can’t see how it will turn out in the end. But if you wait until you have the perfect plan, something new can stall out before it’s even begun. So “Couldn’t we at least…?” is how you begin to make progress.

“Couldn’t we at least…?” is also a great question for getting past conflicts. It’s a way to find common ground, as in, “Couldn’t we at least agree…?” It’s a good way to get unstuck.

Why is “How can I help?” important at work?

First, it’s a sincere offer. Most people say, “Let me know if I can help,” which comes across almost as a signal not to ask! Second, it’s asking for specifics, which obliges the other person to focus on what they actually need. Sometimes, someone just needs to vent, which can be helpful in its own way.

Let’s talk about “What truly matters?” from a career standpoint. How does this question help?

It’s particularly useful in a job search because it’s about your priorities. Where do you want to live? How long of a commute can you tolerate? How much money do you really want to make, or need to make? How much does work-life balance matter to you?

Be honest with yourself, and have the courage not to accept a job offer that doesn’t correspond with your honest answers. The reason so many people are unhappy in their work is that they didn’t look hard enough at what really matters to them before they took their current jobs.

This question also helps in work situations, like meetings. If you go into a meeting thinking about what is really important and how to accomplish that, you’ll get a lot more out of it. Or you may realize you don’t need to have the meeting at all.