宇航员给商业领袖的启示
比起大多数人才,他们天生更像是混蛋。 从理论上说,他们确实像混蛋,但你知道,我看自己的简历时,我对我所做过的事情很自豪,但我也承认,有许多事情我并不是最佳人选。领袖要认识到自己的长处和短处,短处在什么地方,然后让自己的下属帮助加以弥补。 例如,有一天在峡谷训练时,帕姆(指帕姆•梅尔罗伊)和我是共同领队。那次我脱水了。我看着她说:“帕姆,我感觉很不舒服。你要成为领导者,直到我恢复元气。”当然,帕姆眼都没眨就同意了。这对我来说是非常宝贵的经验。对于一个男人,尤其是战斗机飞行员来说尤为如此。这件事了不起的地方在于,一旦我们放下面子,事情就会进展顺利:“没准我应该经常这么办。” 你曾经谈到,在亚特兰蒂斯号与国际空间站手动对接时,梅尔罗伊曾帮助进行关键决策。你的队员是如何协同作业的? 关键是,她很了解我,能判断出我是否犹豫不决。我的选择显然是按训练要求操作。她知道我已经下定决心,而机组的每个人也都很清楚这一点。而且他们都给我提供信息反馈,让我知道了:a)我们机组有足够的能力完成手动交会,b)有他们在一切都没问题。我的意思是,这种支持非常强大。虽然这是一个组建只有九个月的团队。 你以后还会再飞吗? 我会的,不过是新的私人航天器。我告诉我所在小公司的每一个人,要飞的话,得由我来打头阵,但是没确认安全之前,我不会飞。我代表的是人类的安全,所以只有我飞过了,其他人才能飞。 为什么太空旅行对人类如此重要? 我认为,它现在已成了我的个人信念,太空已作为一种生存机制写入了人类的DNA。只要有适当的激励,它就会点燃我们的激情。我想,这种激情会伴随人们的生活和选择,继续在社会和每个人身上流淌。 我可以去太空吗? 会的,我差不多百分之百确定。总有一天,你也会飞向太空。你的努力目标应该是轨道飞行,因为亚轨道飞行对你来说太容易了,不是吗?首先,你飞行的高度将是亚轨道飞行的两到三倍。到时候,你会坐在那里,穿过雷暴的边缘,城市的光影,以及亚马逊河流入大海时浩渺云烟。你会看到洛基山脉变成地球表面的一排小土包。你会看到广袤的森林变成一条条绿色。你会看到大气层,那些薄薄的小带子,心里说:“人类就生活在这些小带子中吗?”你会浮想联翩。首先,我们要更好地保护这些小带子;其次,我们最好能冲出去。你会为人类的脆弱而惊讶。人类紧紧地抓住地球表面,就像一棵小小的植物抓住悬崖边的一小堆土一样。 如果把我们的老总们也送入太空轨道,他们就能全面的考虑问题,而不会再犯以自我为中心的错误了吧。 (大笑)这一点我很怀疑。 译者:杜伟华 |
Those are inherently more badass than most talents. Well, they certainly look badass on paper, but you know, I look at my resume, and I'm proud of what I've done, but also recognize that there's a lot of things that I'm not the best person to do. Leaders need to recognize where their strengths and weaknesses are, and where the weaknesses are, they really want active followers to step up and help cover them. For example, Pam [Melroy] and I were co-leaders one day in the canyons. I got dehydrated. I looked at her, and I said, 'Pam, I feel really bad. You need to be the leader until I can regroup.' Of course, Pam didn't bat an eye. That was a very powerful lesson for me. For a man especially, for a fighter pilot more so. But what a great lesson, to swallow my pride and see how well it comes out, and go, 'Man, maybe I should do that more often.' You've spoken about how Melroy helped in the crucial decision aboard the Atlantis to manually dock the spaceship at the International Space Station. How did your crew work together? They key was that she knew me and could tell that I was vacillating. The obvious choice was to do what we were trained to do. She knew it was my decision, and so did every person on that crew. They all fed me information to let me know a) we had enough capability on the crew to pull off a manual rendezvous and b) that it was okay with them. I mean, that is powerful. And it came from a team that had been built only nine months before. Will you fly again? I will, but in a new private space vehicle. I'm telling everyone that I'm number one to fly at the little company I work at, and I won't go unless I think it's safe. I'm there to represent the safety of the human beings, so no one else should fly until I do. Why does space travel matter to humankind? I think, and this is my personal belief now, that space is written in our DNA as a survival mechanism. It can ignite passion in us when properly incited. I think that we see that passion ebb and flow in society and individuals as they go through their lives and they have other priorities. Will I go to space? I would say with near certainty, yes. You'll fly some day. What you should strive for -- because the suborbital thing is easy for you, right? -- is an orbital flight. First of all, you're two to three times as high. You're going to sit there and cross over lines of thunderstorms and the lights of cities and plumes of the Amazon flowing into the ocean. You'll see the Rocky Mountains as a series of tiny little bumps on the surface of the earth. And you'll see the great forests as little strips of green. You'll look at the atmosphere, this thin little band, and you'll say, 'all of human kind lives in that little band?' And you'll think. Wow. First, we better take care of that little band, and second of all, we better have an out. You will be astounded at the fragility of humankind. Life is clinging to the surface of this earth like a little plant would cling to a cliff side in a tiny bit of dirt. Maybe if we sent our CEOs into orbit, they would put everything in perspective and stop making ego-driven mistakes. (Laughs) I doubt it. |