当职业生涯出现转折，请别忘了这些教诲

走进我的办公室就会看到墙上挂着两件显眼的艺术品，上面分别用中文写着：“勇气：面对恐惧和对手的能力”，“智慧：知识、常识和良好的判断”。这两幅字不光是漂亮的装饰，它们还在提醒我，是什么让我走到了今天这个位置。

勇气和智慧经常成为歌曲和诗作的主题，但它们也适用于商界，特别是在职业生涯发生变化之际。和许许多多的人一样，我的职业发展轨迹也不是一条直线，它曲折迂回，每个转折都带来一系列新的机遇和挑战。

当然，职业生涯的每次变化都从担惊受怕开始。我做的选择正确吗？我要是失败了怎么办？不仅要问自己这些问题，还要能诚实地回答，这需要勇气。克服对未知的恐惧需要勇气。要意识到，如果陷入恐惧，自己就可能错失绝佳的机会，这也需要勇气。

但光有勇气还远远不够。而且，如果不用智慧来制衡，勇气甚至可能变成鲁莽。智慧能让我们从过去的经历中汲取经验，并有效地利用知识来做出尽可能好的选择；智慧还能让我们用不可思议的洞察力来回答这些因为恐惧而产生的问题，更不用说给我们带来必要的技能以胜任新工作。因此，在改变职业轨迹时有一点很重要，那就是要记住自己不仅需要勇气，还需要智慧来进行清晰的判断，以便评估这样的改变对自己来说是否合适，并以不同的方式来使用这些技能。

陷入困境时，我经常会凝视这两幅字，让它们提醒我，甚至是引导我，进而帮我做出正确的决定。但远在我把这两幅字挂在墙上以前，它们就已经成为我做出的所有重要决定的基础，包括那些塑造我职业发展轨迹的关键转折。一路走来，我曾四次遇到这样的关键点。在每个十字路口，它们都会提醒我，做出改变需要勇气，明白自己做出了正确选择则需要智慧。

（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：詹妮

When you walk into my office, you’ll find two art pieces displayed prominently on the wall. In painted Mandarin, they read: “Courage: the ability to confront fear and opposition” and “Wisdom: knowledge, common sense and good judgment.” These paintings not only provide a beautiful decoration, but also serve as a reminder for what has led me to where I am today.

Courage and wisdom are the frequent subjects of song and poetry, but they apply in business – particularly in the context of career changes. Like so many people, my career path hasn’t been in a straight line. It’s been a path of many twists and turns, each providing a new set of opportunities and challenges.

Of course, each turn in the road came with that initial feeling of fear. Am I making the right choice? Is this is the right opportunity? What happens if I fail? It takes courage to not only ask yourself these questions, but also to be able to answer them in an honest way. It takes courage to get over your fear of the unknown. It takes courage to realize you might miss great opportunities if you let fear consume you.

But having courage is simply not enough, and can even be reckless, if not balanced with wisdom. Wisdom allows us to draw from previous experiences and to use knowledge in a meaningful way to make the best decision possible. Wisdom further enables us to use incredible discernment to provide answers to those questions which are provoked by fear – not to mention gives us the necessary skills to be competent in a new role. So when changing career paths, it’s important to remember that you not only need courage, but also wisdom to utilize good judgment in evaluating whether such a change is the right one for you, and then using those skills in different way.

When faced with a tough situation, I often gaze at these paintings as a reminder, if not a guide, to help me make the right decision. But long before these images became a decoration on my wall, they were the basis for any important decision, including those critical turns that have marked my own career path. I’ve had four such points in my career, and at each crossroads, I’m reminded that it takes courage to make the change, and wisdom to know I’ve made the right decision.