ZestFinance创始人：随心所欲多读书

    5. 你得到过的最好的建议是什么？

    我在谷歌工作的时候，曾经帮公司运作过IPO事宜。有一天在做一项跟IPO有关的工作时，我犯一个大错，搞砸了一件重要的事，我马上注意到了这个错误，但是我也接到了CEO埃里克•施密特的电话，他让我到会议室见他。于是我马上跑到会议室，等我到了之后，他对我说：“嘿，我知道你犯了个错。”我说：“是的，我很抱歉。”埃里克看着我，把手放到我肩膀上说：“好，以后别再犯了，我仍然爱你。”虽然这不是一个非常有用的建议，但它提醒我，人是会犯错的，同时你得告诉他们要为自己犯的错负责，还要让他们知道，他们仍然是你重视的人，而不仅仅是一个犯了错的人。这对我非常有价值。

    6. 你的公司现在面临哪些挑战？

    目前借贷的监管环境非常复杂。各州有各州的法律，还有联邦的法律，所以我们还在继续研究监管机构和其它因素扮演的角色。我们虽然很想提供帮助，但是一切从根本上都离不开监管的因素。这是一个很好的挑战，因为有了力度日益增强的健康的监管，整个行业会变得越来越好。

    7. 如果你的职业生涯中有一件事能从头来过，那会是什么？

    我会更早开始创业。我曾经在很多其他公司干过，我也很享受这个过程，但我不一定非要等到对我的创业理念拥有十足的信心了才去创立自己的公司。现在我已经创业四年了，而且我很喜欢这个过程。我每天都会学到新东西。但是创业也是很艰难的，因为你不能得“B”，必须把每件事都做到“A”。

    8. 你这一生希望完成的个人目标或者职业目标是什么？

    我想在白宫吃顿饭。我是一个跟政治不沾边的政治爱好者，但我觉得政治非常有趣。

    9. 你最近读过的一本书是什么？

    就读书而言，我正在走一条非常不同的路。我昨晚刚读完的一本书是一个叫迈克尔•伊斯顿的人写的。迈克尔是我的一个朋友，他既是一名演员，也是一位漫画小说作家。他最近刚写了一本叫《偷魂者》（Soul Stealer）的书。他把一本硬封皮的精装书当成圣诞礼物送给了我，我最近刚抽出时间打算读一读。我觉得最有意思的是，我今年虽然已经43岁了，但还能看得进漫画书。现在这种艺术的表现形式与我年轻的时候已经不一样了。整个艺术基调更加阴暗，从很多层面上看，故事都更曲折、更痛苦、更纠结。它不仅仅是纯粹的暴力。实际上它读起来很艰难，它是悲伤的，而且有点让人难受。能够用这种二维的、小格子的艺术捕捉一个城市的情绪色彩，这种能力非常有挑战性，而且非常吸引人。这真是艺术的一种很酷的应用。

    10. 你有什么独特的习惯或爱好吗？

    我左手的指甲涂了黑色的指甲油。我不知道为什么我只涂了一只手而不是两只手，也不知道为什么是左手而不是右手。除了觉得好看，我也没有别的解释。我以前都是自己涂的，后来我意识到自己涂得很难看。现在我付钱请别人替我涂。我们公司的一个好处之一就是，我们请了一个美甲师每周来我们公司，所以我都是请她给我涂。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    5. What is the best advice you ever received?

    When I was at Google, one of the things I did was help run the IPO, and one day when I was going through part of the process, I made a big mistake and messed something up that was important. I immediately flagged the thing, but I got a call from Eric Schmidt, the CEO, who wanted to meet me in a conference room. So I'm running over there, and when I get there he says, "Hey, I understand that you did X." And I said, "Yes, I did, and I'm sorry." Eric looked at me, put his hand on my shoulder said, "Okay. Don't ever do it again, but I still love you." It's not terribly helpful advice, but it reminds me that people make mistakes and simultaneously you have to hold them accountable for those things and remind them that they're people that you value and not just a mistake. That was incredibly valuable for me.

    6. What challenges are facing your business right now?

    The regulatory environment for lending is very complicated. There are state laws, there are federal laws, so we're continuing to find regulation's role vis-à-vis other elements. We're really trying to help, but everything is inherently regulatory. It's a good challenge in that the industry will be better by increasingly strong and well-intentioned regulation.

    7. If you could have done anything differently in your career, what would it have been?

    I would have started a company earlier. I went around to a lot of other firms, and I always enjoyed it, but I didn't necessarily have enough confidence in my own ideas to start my own business. Now I'm going on four years, and I love it. I learn something new every day. But it's also hard because there are no "B" days; everything has to be an "A" day.

    8. What is one goal -- either personal or professional -- that you would like to accomplish during your lifetime?

    I want to eat dinner at the White House. I am a distant aficionado of politics. I find the political process fascinating.

    9. What was the last book you read?

    I'm going to go in a very strange direction. The last book that I just finished last night was by a guy named Michael Easton. Michael is a friend of mine who is an actor but also a writer of graphic novels. He wrote one recently called Soul Stealer. He gave it to me for Christmas in a hardback cover, and I was just now getting around to reading it. It's interesting to me that, at 43, I can still read comic books. The style of how the art is produced is different from when I was younger. The physical art is different. It's much darker, and the story is grittier, more painful, and disturbing on multiple levels. It's not just pure violence, it's actually hard to read; it's sad and a little bit upsetting. The ability to use this two-dimensional, small frame art to capture the emotional color of a city is challenging and fascinating. What a cool application of art.

    10. What is one unique or quirky habit that you have?

    The fingernails of my left hand are painted with black nail polish. I don't know why it's one hand and not two. I don't know why it's my off hand. I have no story other than I like how it looks. I used to do it myself but then I realized that I suck at it. Now I pay someone to do it. One of the benefits of our company is that we have a manicurist who comes in every week, so I have her do it.