摘要:“我回家告知我的妻子我要辞职,她哭了,而且不是由于高兴。不管怎样说,事情还算顺利,我在1间华尔街的小企业中找到了新的工作,以后被更大的企业收购,我也得以进入这个更大的机构,高盛团体。”
GoldmanSachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein gave the keynote address at LaGuardia CommunityCollege's 41st commencement today at the Javits Center in Manhattan.
高盛团体首席履行官劳尔德-贝兰克梵在曼哈顿贾维茨中心参加了拉瓜迪亚社区大学的第41届毕业仪式并发表演讲。
He delivered his address to an audience of around 1,000graduates from the college.
劳尔德-贝兰克梵在有约1000名毕业生参加的这次活动中发表了演讲。
In his commencement remarks, he talked about his life growing upin the projects in Brooklyn and working his way to becoming the CEO of GoldmanSachs.
他在发言中谈及了自己在布鲁克林街区长大,并终究成为高盛团体首席履行官的经历。
He also gave some advice for the graduating class telling them to beconfident, find a job they like, be a "well-rounded, completeperson", give back to the community, keep an open mind, surroundthemselves with ambitious people and put themselves in situations with theopportunity for growth.
他同时向毕业生们提出了1些建议,包括要自信,要找到自己喜欢的工作,做1个“全面、完全的人”,要回报社会,保持开放的心态,要与有野心的人为伍,要积极投身到有益成长的机会中。
【高盛CEO演讲全文:讲述贫困经历 称要与野心人为伍】
Here's his full speech:
以下是劳尔德-贝兰克梵演讲的全文:
President Mellow, distinguished faculty, friends, family, andthe Graduating Class of 2013.
麦罗校长,各位尊重的老师,朋友,家人和毕业生们:
It is a great honor for me to share in your accomplishment andpride today. But I must admit that I approached this address with sometrepidation. I suppose that more commencement speeches have been delivered moreseriously, listened to more attentively, and forgotten more promptly than anyother form of human communication.
我很荣幸能在今天分享你们的成绩和光荣。但是我必须承认,我是带着1些不安来参加这次活动的。我想,曾有更多更认真的毕业仪式发言,收到更加用心肠聆听,但是相比其他任何沟通情势,也更加迅速地被遗忘。
So I will try to be brief and practical. My advice is groundedin my own experience. And my own experience, in many respects, is not thatdifferent from many of yours.
所以,我会尽可能简短而实用。我的全部建议都是来自我自己的经历。而我的经历,从很多方面来看,和你们当中的很多并没有甚么不同。
I grew up with the idea that college was more an aspiration thanan expectation. I saw my parents struggle most of their lives and the dailybattle to keep afloat sometimes even drained what hopes and dreams they had forme. They didn't go to college and neither did my only, older sibling.
在我成长的环境中,大学更多是1个美好欲望而不是天经地义的事情。我见证我父母大半生的奋斗,每天仅为了保持生计而努力工作,有时乃至会打消任何他们对我的期望和梦想。他们都没有上过大学,我唯1的兄长也没有读过大学。
My father sorted mail for the post office. He worked nightsbecause it paid 10% more than a day shift. My mother was a receptionist at aburglar alarm company — one of the few growth industries in ourneighborhood. I grew up in the Linden Houses, which, as some of you know, is ahousing project in East New York.
我的父亲在邮局整理邮件。他选择夜班工作只是由于报酬比白班多了10%,我的母亲是1个防盗警报公司的接待员——这也是我所在社区为数不多的增长行业之1。我在林登小区长大,你们当中的很多都知道,这是纽约东区的1个住宅项目。
It was and is a tough neighborhood, though it produced someaccomplished people who, despite or because of their background, did well. Iattended Thomas Jefferson high school, which has since shut down as a highschool and operates different training programs for various skills. Up untilhigh school, I shared a small apartment with my extended family, which includedmy grandmother, my sister and my nephew.
它1直都是1个贫困的社区,但是也产生了1些有成绩的人,有些是由于这1背景而成功,有些是由于克服了这1背景而做出了成绩。我在托马斯-杰斐逊高中毕业,学校在以后关闭了高中部,仅仅提供多种技能培训项目。直到高中毕业,我1直和我庞大的家庭分享1间小小的公寓,包括了我的奶奶,我的mm和我的侄儿。
But looking back, I grew up in a world of unlimited opportunity.Each night I would read, and reading opened up the world to me. I love readinghistory and especially biography. In biographies, you are almost always readingabout people who started out unimportant but ended up having a significant life.
但是回过头看看,我是在1个有着无穷机遇的世界长大的。我每天晚上都会读书,浏览向我展开了全部世界。我喜欢读历史,特别是传记。在传记里面,你总是能看到1个仿佛是无足轻重的人,终究如何具有与众不同的人生。
What I liked most about biographies then and now is that theperson you are reading about is in his or her early life on page 50, doesn'tknow about the success he or she will achieve on page 300. They couldn't seethe greatness that lay ahead.
不论是过去还是现在,传记最吸引我的1点是,书中的人物在自己生命的早期,也就是前510页当中,是不会知道他或是她会在第3百页的时候获得的成功。他们其实不知道将会出现在自己眼前的伟大。
If you think about it, that's a great justification for theoptimism that you should have for the life ahead of you. All of you are only onabout page 50 of your biography, with hundreds of pages to go.
仔细想一想这点吧,这是对你们自己未来的生活保持乐观的1个极好理由。你们所有人都仅仅在自己那本传记的前510页,还有几百页的路要走。
Growing up, my biggest goal was just to get out of East NewYork. I took the college entrance exam and committed myself to getting intocollege. I did. The day I left for college was one of the first trips I madeout of New York City.
在漫长的成长中,我最大的目标就是走出纽约东区。我参加了大学入学试,发誓1定要进大学。我成功了。我去读大学的时候也是我第1次离开纽约市。
College was an intimidating place for me. The other studentsseemed naturally confident; many had traveled and seemed to understand theworld. To this day, I can't forget how insecure I felt, but it made me workharder.
大学是1个令我心生畏敬的地方。其他学生仿佛很自然的充满信心,很多人都曾到处旅行,看起来对这个世界10分了解。直到今天,我还是没有办法忘记我当时的不安全感,但是这类感觉让我更加努力地工作。
Once I realized I belonged, I became more ambitious. Ambition isyour inner voice that tells you you can and should strive to go beyond yourcircumstances or station in life. You have overcome obstacles, pressures andself-doubt and you have done it because you have ambition.
当我认识到自己的定位时,我变得更有野心了。野心是你内心的声音,告知你可以而且应当努力去超出人生的处境或是限制。你必须克服障碍,扛住压力,打消自我怀疑,你能做到这些都是由于你有足够的野心。
You want to succeed for your families andyourselves. And there is no more powerful force through which to do that thanthrough education and know how.
你想要为了你的家人和你自己而成功,除通过教育和学习,没有甚么更强大的气力能做到这1点。
I'm proud that LaGuardia and Goldman Sachs have teamed up tosupport small businesses. Through this partnership, I've seen how manyLaGuardia students are juggling school, job and family. And, I've seen howthese students and all of you push yourselves and persevere.
我很自豪的是,拉瓜迪亚社区大学和高盛团体联手提出了对小企业的支持。通过这个合作,我也看到了多少拉瓜迪亚社区大学的学生在学校,工作和家庭中游刃有余。我也看到了这些同学,还有在坐的所有人如何不断勉励自己,而且锲而不舍下去。
By virtue of being here today, you have proven to yourself thatyou belong. And now that you belong, feed off your ambition. That means beingfocused, disciplined, demanding, self critical and open minded. Your challengeswon't fall away. In fact, they may get steeper.
仅仅是今天能够出现在这里,你们已证明了自己的定位。现在你们已有了定位,接下来就去壮大自己的野心。这意味着专注,自律,严格,自我批评和开放的心态。事实上,你们要面对的挑战不会消失,而会更加严峻。
That, my friends, is life. But just as the struggles are great,so are the rewards. There's another way to look at it: ask yourself if youreally have a choice. You already knew the answer to that question the firstday you walked into LaGuardia. We owe it to our families and to ourselves tokeep striving.
我的朋友们,这就是生活。但是奋斗越是艰辛,回报也会更加丰富。用另外一个方式看问题:问问你自己,你是否是真的有选择。当你们走进拉瓜迪亚社区大学的第1天,你们已知道了这个问题的答案。我们必须为了自己的家庭和自己而不断努力。
This is certainly not the easiest of economic times, but there'salways an economic cycle. In the course of the next 50 years of your life,you'll see alot of cycles, and like this one, you'll get through it. Don't getcaught up in unrealistic optimism or detached pessimism.
现在明显不是最好的经济时期,但是经济总是有1个周期的。在你们人生的下1个510年,你们会经历很多周期,和这次1样,你们能够顺利度过。不要有任何不切实际的乐观或是过分的悲观。
Still, a lot can change rapidly and with a lotof force. Your security rests in knowing how to do a variety of things -- andbeing able to do them better than others.
虽然如此,世上还会产生许多不测,带来巨大影响。你们的安全感来自于知道如何做各种各样的事情——而且比其他人做得都要好。
And that knowledge and ability can be obtainedonly through a willingness to strike out for something better. That could meanchanging careers or pushing for a new idea or strategy in your current one. Ineither case, push yourself to try something new and to grow with each move.
而只有不断寻求出色,才能取得这些知识和能力。这意味着改变职业道路或寻求目前职业新的想法、新策略。不论是哪一种情况,你都应当逼迫自己尝试新的事物,在每步中成长。
After college, I went to law school for three years, and theninto my dream job at a big NY law firm. But even though it had been my dream, Ididn't like it once I got there.
读完大学,我在法学院度过了3年,以后在1间大的纽约律师事务所得到了自己梦想中的工作。虽然这曾1直是我的梦想,但是当我得到时,我发现我其实不喜欢它。
For the first time, I was feeling financially secure, but I knewI wasn't passionate enough about what I was doing. And because I didn't loveit, I would never be fulfilled from it, or be really good at it. Someone wholoved it more would have greater enthusiasm and focus. For some it was fun; forme it was always going to be a chore.
虽然在我人生中,我第1次在财务上取得了保障,但是我知道我对我自己做的那些事情并没有足够豪情。而且,由于我其实不爱的工作,我将永不可能从中得到满足,或是真的善于这份工作。更爱这类工作的人会更积极地专注于它。对有些人来讲,这是乐趣,对我来讲,这永久是1份苦差。
After five years at a law firm, I decided I wanted to trysomething different. I came home and told my wife I was quitting, and shecried. And not out of happiness. Anyway, it worked out. I got a new job at asmall Wall Street firm, we got bought out by a larger firm, and I ended upremaining at a large firm... Goldman Sachs.
在5年的律师事务所工作以后,我决定要尝试1些不同的东西。我回家告知我的妻子我要辞职,她哭了,而且不是由于高兴。不管怎样说,事情还算顺利,我在1间华尔街的小企业中找到了新的工作,以后被更大的企业收购,我也得以进入这个更大的机构,高盛团体。
In my career, I've been fortunate to know and work with many ofthis country's top CEOs and business leaders. I'm always struck by a certainpassion that defines them. While they may be wealthy and powerful, theirpassion goes beyond money and power.
在我的职业生涯中,我很荣幸能够认识,并且与很多全国顶级的首席履行官和商界领袖们共同工作。我总是能够被造就他们成功的那种豪情所感动。他们或许非常有钱,权势惊人,但是他们的豪情远远超出了金钱和权利。
I won't stand here and tell you those are bad things. They canbe pretty good, but only if you have a larger purpose in mind. If you don'thave passion for your work or the drive to make a better life for your kidsthan your own, then you won't have what it takes to keep you going.
今天我在这里不是要告知你们金钱和权利的坏处。只要你的头脑中有1个更大目标,钱与权相当有益。如果你对自己的工作没有豪情,或是没有动力为你的孩子打造比你自己更好人生,那末你就不会有那些让你延续前进的东西。
So, I'd like to leave you with some specific advice that willhopefully keep you going:
所以,我想给你们1些更加具体的建议,希望能够保持你们继续前进。
First, confidence really matters.
首先,信心真的很重要。
Recognize you have earned the right to be confident. Most of youhave made great sacrifices and overcome great obstacles to get where you aretoday. You built up muscles that others who've had an easier time don't have.Those muscles will serve you for the rest of your life.
要认识到你已赢得了自信的权利。你们中的绝大多数都是付出了巨大的牺牲,克服了巨大的障碍才有了现在的成绩。你们有了其他起步更早的人所没有的能力,这些能力将会在你们的余生为你们效率。
My struggle to get to and through college turned out to be anadvantage for me. The disadvantages you have had become part of your personalhistory and track record, all advantages in your later life. So confidence isjustified.
我进入大学并读完它的努力终究成为我的1个优势。你曾有的不足已成为你个人经历和职业纪录的历史,它们都会在以后的人生中变成你的优势。所以,你们有理由充满信心。
Second, find a job that you like.
第2点,找到1个你喜欢的工作。
You'll be better at it and you'll last longer in it. Having saidthat, in a tough economy, or because of family pressures, you may not aways beable take a risk with a job choice. And, no doubt, we've all settled at varioustimes.
你会做得更好,而且做得更长。虽然是这样说,在1个艰巨的经济情势中,需要由于家庭压力做出1些妥协,你其实不是总能够在职业选择上承当风险。而且,毫无疑问的是,我们将会很屡次的让步。
But, don't let necessity in a given moment become the excuse fora lifetime of inertia. Keep trying to get yourself to the right place. If I'dstayed a lawyer, I could have made it work for a while, but I would havefizzled out and eventually because I didn't love it.
但是,不要让1时的必要选择成为1生惯性的借口。要不断试图让自己走到正确的地方。如果我继续做1名律师,我可能会干得还不错,但是我不会光辉,由于我其实不爱这个工作。
Third, be a well rounded, complete person.
第3,做1个全面、完全的人。
many of you will go for further education or career training. Ofcourse, it's important to learn the things that you need to make a living. But,don't forget to read, and to learn history, literature and about currentevents.
你们中的很多人会继续接受教育或是职业培训。学习保持生计必须的东西固然是很重要的。但是不要忘了浏览,学习历史,文化和时事。
You'll be more interesting to others, more interesting toyourself and you'll be more successful in your job. Most of the books I've readdidn't apply directly to my job or industry, but I've applied their lessons inunexpected ways.
你会变得更吸引人,对你自己也更加有趣,会在你的工作上更加成功。我读过的绝大部份书对我的工作乃至这个行业都没有直接的用途,但是书中的经验教训总会以意想不到的方式发挥作用。
Fourth, be involved in the community.
第4点,参与社区活动。
Find ways to contribute to make yourself proud and set anexample to your kids. making a living is not life. It is a means to an end, notthe end. You have to feel proud of yourself. There are always going to bepeople who struggle and for whom community work is not a realistic option, buttry.
找到可让你感到自豪的贡献方式,为你的孩子们建立榜样。谋生其实不是生活,只是到达目的的1个手段,而不是目的本身。你需要为自己感到自豪。总会有人需要为生计努力,对他们来讲社区工作其实不是1个现实的选择,但是请努力尝试。
I've done plenty to advance myself over the years. But, theolder I get, the more satisfaction I get from serving and advancing others. Infact that's how I first got involved with President Mellow and LaGuardia --through the 10,000 Small Businesses program we initiated at your school.
在过去的岁月里我做了很多事情来让自己进步。但是年纪越大,我愈来愈能够从服务和帮助他人进步中得到满足。事实上,我最初结识麦罗校长和拉瓜迪亚社区大学就是由于我们共同发起的这个10000家小企业项目。
Finally, appreciate that life is unpredictable, so don'tclose your mind to possibilities.
最后,要明白人生是不可预测的,所以不要自我设限。
Try to surround yourself with people who are equally ambitious.Put yourself in situation where you can grow — where you'll not onlypush yourself but others will push you.
试试和那些1样具有野心的人为伍,让你置身于可以成长的环境中——在那种你不单单可让自己进步,其他人也会推动你前进的环境。
What were the chances that a kid from the poverty would run oneof the great financial institutions in the world? You just never know. Thatunpredictability is the great thing about life. You change. The world changes.
1个从贫困小区长大的孩子掌管世界上最大金融机构的机会有多大?你永久也不会知道。不可预测性是生活最伟大的1点。你改变,这个世界也在改变。
You live in a country where we are still blessed with enormousopportunity. Leave yourself open to the world of possibility. You have theambition, you have the smarts and you have the toughness. So, turn the page onyour biography -- you have just started a new chapter in your lives.
你们生活在1个依然具有得天独厚机会的国家。让你自己对无穷可能的世界敞开胸怀。你们有野心,你们有智慧和坚韧,所以,请翻开自己的传记——你们已打开了人生的新1个篇章。
Good luck and congratulations to you and your families.
祝你们和你们的家人好运,也庆祝你们和你们的家人。