会赚钱干嘛要找工作

    4. 你获得过的最好建议是什么？

    这条建议来自我的父亲。他对我说：“彼得，你应该像大象推倒大树一样去解决问题。”大象非常强壮。在印度和东南亚，人们用大象来推倒大树。大象会缓慢走到大树前面，用头去顶树干，直到树干断裂倒下。大象不会猛地撞向大树，因为这样它们自己会受到严重伤害。所以，它们会慢慢走到树前，努力地推，直到大树倒下。这才应该是你应对问题的方式。如果你直直地撞上去，只会让自己受伤，而且不见得能够解决问题。解决问题的成功方式，应该是慢慢接近它，仔细的分析，然后不断努力。这种比喻有些奇怪，但却非常有用。

    5. 你最大的成就是什么？

    我的回答可能会显得自大，但我确实为Shapeways公司的成就感到骄傲。我们为这么多顾客提供了满意的服务，而且，眼前还有这么多机会，我们将继续为很多新顾客提供满意的服务——我觉得这是我做过的最了不起的事情。

    6.你在学校学到的最重要的东西是什么？

    我学的是应用物理，这个专业有很多具体知识，但这些都不是我学到的最重要的东西。我所学到的最重要的东西是模型制作。它是一种科学的解决问题的方法，只要你有相关数据，就可以制作模型。模型可以算是描述问题的一种假设。做好模型之后，观察它与现有数据是否匹配。如果匹配，就完成了模型验证的第一步。第二步则是验证模型是否具有预测性。可以设计一些前所未有的实验，观察实验结果是否仍然与模型匹配。如果这两项都匹配，模型就是有效的。这种方法不仅适用于物理，也适用于一般科学和其它事项。它在解决问题方面是一个强大的方法。发现问题、提出假设——描述问题的模型，然后对比模型与数据是否匹配。如果模型有效，问题就得以解决。这样一来，你不仅有了消除“症状”的“解药”，还对问题及解决问题的方法有了深刻的了解。模型制作是我在大学学到的一项无价的技能。

    7. 你终生追求的目标是什么？

    我喜欢赛车。过去在欧洲，我经常参加业余水平的比赛。如果有机会参加勒芒24小时耐力赛，我肯定会毫不犹豫地参加。

    8. 你的第一份工作是什么？

    我一直在寻找机会，通过开小公司赚钱。其中最有趣的一次经历是草坪养护。我从一个朋友的爸爸那里学会了这项技能。当时我看他家的草坪非常漂亮，就问他是怎么养护的。他告诉我主要靠施肥和除草。我性格的一部分就是喜欢学习新知识、应用新知识。学会养护草坪之后，我跟爸爸说：“我能让我家草坪变得和高尔夫球场一样漂亮。”爸爸说：“行，那你就去做吧。”借助一些肥料和园艺器具，我充满激情地干了起来。很快，我家草坪就成了整条街上最漂亮的。邻居们认识我爸，就问他怎么养护。我爸爸说：“其实这都是我儿子的功劳。”于是邻居们问我：“你能帮我家草坪也养护一下吗？”我跟爸爸借了园艺器具，跟邻居们谈好价格，就开工了。很快，我就接到了很多活，最后甚至都忙不过来了。

    9. 你平时都有哪些消遣？

    我会自己酿啤酒，这事非常有意思。我会酿各种各样的啤酒，我喜欢的种类有印度麦啤、淡味啤酒和比利时修道院啤酒。酿酒的乐趣在于，如果酿得好，能喝到非常美味的高质量啤酒。我之所以酿酒，是因为搬到美国后，我很难买到比利时修道院啤酒，即使找到有卖的，价格也很贵。我就想：“干嘛不自己酿呢，能有多难？”

    我享受过程，所以我也喜欢烹饪。酿酒比烹饪要复杂一点，也更有意思。上面提到我喜欢赛车，我还喜欢看电影，喜欢帆船运动和潜水。所以娱乐活动还是挺多的。

    10. 如果可以拥有一项超能力，你会想要哪一种？

    我想要超人的飞行能力和快速在两个地点间转换的能力。身为企业家，我得去很多地方办事，但总是从这到那的很费时间。如果可以飞或者瞬间移动的话，那就太方便了。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/朱毓芬/汪皓

    4. What is the best advice you ever received?

    It's actually from my father. He said to me, "Pete, you should approach problems the way elephants can push over trees." Elephants are amazingly strong creatures. In India and Southeast Asia, they use elephants to push over trees. The elephant slowly walks toward the tree, and pushes his head against the tree until the tree cracks and it falls over. The elephant doesn't run into the tree, or they would have severe trauma problems. And so he walks and pushes and pushes and pushes until the tree cracks. That's the way you should approach problems. If you run into them, you will hurt yourself and it won't be solved. But if you slowly approach and then you analyze and push and push and push until the problem is solved, that's the successful way of doing it. It's a weird metaphor, but it actually works.

    5. What is your greatest achievement?

    It's a bit of a presumptuous question, but I'm proud of what we have achieved at Shapeways. We are already making so many of our customers happy, and we still have so much opportunity that we can go for, and so many new customers that we can make happy. I think it's the greatest thing that I've ever been a part of.

    6. What was the most important thing you learned in school?

    I studied applied physics, and there's a lot of concrete things that you learn, but that's not the most important thing that I learned. The most important thing that I learned in my university years is model making. That means in a scientific approach to problems, if you hopefully have data, you make a model. The model is basically your hypothesis that describes your problem. And then you see whether your model fits the data you have, and if that's true, that's the first step of validating your model. The second step is whether the model can predict the future. You can come up with some experiments that nobody has ever done, you can do them, and they still fit the model. If you have those two proof points, then you know that the model is valid. That not only works for physics, but it works for science in general and beyond that. It's a really strong way to solve problems. You see a problem, you come up with a hypothesis, a model that describes how the problem is solved, and you look at the data to see whether it fits. And if it works, then you've solved it. Because now, you not only have an antidote or something that gets rid of the symptoms, but you deeply understand what it was, and how to get around it. Model building is something I learned from university that has been priceless.

    7. What is one goal that you would like to accomplish during your lifetime?

    I love fast cars. In Europe I used to race cars on an amateur level. If I ever had the opportunity to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I would jump at it.

    8. What was your first job?

    I've always looked for opportunities to make money by starting small businesses. The most fun one was gardening. I learned it from a father of a friend of mine. I noticed that he had a beautiful lawn, and I asked him what he did. He said it's all about fertilizer and taking care of the weeds. That's something that is a part of me; I like to learn and apply. I said to my dad, "I can make your lawn look like a golf course." He said, "Okay, do it." So I used fertilizer and all the gardening stuff and worked on it with a passion. Pretty soon his lawn was the best on the street. My neighbors knew my dad, and they asked him what he did to make it look like that. He said, "Well, that's actually my son." So they said to me, "Can you do that for me too?" So I borrowed my dad's equipment, and I haggled with my neighbors. Pretty soon I was doing more gardening than I really cared for.

    9. What do you do for fun?

    I brew my own beer, which I think is a lot of fun to do. I brew all kinds. I like IPAs, lagers, and Belgian Trappist beers. It's about doing it well and having a nice, tasty, quality beer. I got into brewing beer because I found after I moved to the U.S., it was hard to find Belgian Trappists, and they were expensive if you did find them. So I wondered, "How hard could it be to brew my own?"

    Because of the process, I love cooking too. Beer is a little more complicated than cooking, so that's fun. I race cars, like I mentioned. I love to watch movies. I love to sail, I love to dive. So, quite a few things.

    10. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

    I would fly, like Superman. The ability to quickly go from one place on this planet to another. As an entrepreneur, you have to be in so many different places at the same time, and going from A to B takes way too long. If you could fly quickly or teleport, of course that would be immensely handy.