我得到過的最佳建議
智慧的養成不僅需要時間，還需要人和人之間互動關系。這篇文章中的真知灼見就來自幾對有影響力的二人組合：他們有的是商業伙伴、政府領導人、基金會的領導、導師、學生，還有的是更出色的人物。他們都擁有一種意愿，希望相互學習、一起變得更聰明。
1. 梅樂迪•霍布森和杰弗里•卡岑伯格
10年前，星巴克公司（Starbucks）首席執行官霍華德•舒爾茨將梅樂迪•霍布森引見給夢工廠動畫公司（DreamWorks Animation SKG）的首席執行官杰弗里•卡岑伯格。卡岑伯格花了5秒種就決定讓霍布森加入他的董事會。霍布森當年44歲，現在是夢工廠的非執行董事長，還在星巴克、雅詩蘭黛（Estée Lauder）和團購網站Groupon公司擔任董事。62歲的卡岑伯格解釋說，她是一位有價值的顧問，因為她能把復雜的問題簡化，總是考慮長遠，提出疑問時不會咄咄逼人。兩人回憶說，有一次，他想要做一筆“數十億美元的收購”，而她明智的勸告阻止了他。夢工廠的首席執行官在洛杉磯邊吃早餐邊說：“如果說她是拳擊手，她能打出一記足令你倒下的重拳，給你的感覺卻像是被一根羽毛擊中。--Patricia Sellers
卡岑伯格：我最喜歡你的一個說法是“不要舍本逐末”。
霍布森：我見過的首席執行官犯下的最大錯誤是他們陷進短期目標，這就是舍本逐末。
卡岑伯格：我是個情緒化的人。（收購機遇）必須是一個商業決策，不能感情用事。她幫我剝離了事實以外的東西，用我不可能有的視角來看問題。
霍布斯：我們通了很多電話。杰弗里真的非常想進行那筆收購，但他缺乏支持。（我的介入是通過）列舉出所有可能的結果，做一次認真的交談：這是一個孤注一擲的行動嗎？你想過這點、那點和其他情況嗎？我并沒有原原本本告訴他我的想法，而是盡量通過提問題把它點出來。
卡岑伯格：梅樂迪的藝術就蘊含在這里面。
霍布森：我說：“你相信這個數字嗎？”他會說：“我壓價40%。”我說：“好吧，如果你壓價，這對于你的待人不疑意味著什么？”
卡岑伯格：她是提問的大師。她能問出誰也問不出的問題。你必須自己想辦法回答。這可是真正的藝術。
霍夫森：最終，所有人都做了該做的事。
卡岑伯格：我們最終沒有進行（那筆交易）。我不后悔。我在這個過程中學到了很多。董事會和公司也因為這段經歷變得更好。
| | | 1.Mellody Hobson & Jeffrey Katzenberg
A decade ago, when Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz introduced Mellody Hobson to DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA) chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, it took Katzenberg five seconds to decide that he wanted Hobson on his board of directors. Hobson, the 44-year-old president of Chicago-based Ariel Investments, is now DreamWorks' nonexecutive chairman and also on the boards of Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), Estée Lauder (EL, Fortune 500), and Groupon (GRPN). She's a valuable adviser, the 62-year-old Katzenberg explains, because she simplifies complex problems, always thinks long term, and asks questions in an unthreatening way. "If Mellody were a boxer, she would have a knockout punch that would make you feel like you got hit by a feather," the DreamWorks CEO said over breakfast in Los Angeles, as the two recalled one time when he wanted to make a "multibillion-dollar acquisition" and her wise counsel stopped him. --Patricia Sellers
Katzenberg: My favorite expression of yours is "Don't major in the minor."
Hobson: The biggest mistake I see CEOs make is that they get caught up in the short term. That's majoring in the minor.
Katzenberg: I'm an emotional person. [This acquisition opportunity] needed to be a business decision, not an emotional decision. She helped peel away the things that were not the facts and look at it in a way that I wasn't able to do on my own.
Hobson: It was many, many hours on the phone. Jeffrey really wanted to do it, and he didn't have the support. [I approached the situation by] laying out all the potential outcomes and having a real conversation about: Is this a bet-the-ranch move? Did you think of this, that, and the other? As opposed to telling him what I thought, I tried to get at it with questions.
Katzenberg: Therein lies Mellody's art.
Hobson: I'd say, "Do you believe this number?" He'd say, "I discounted the number by 40%." And I said, "Well, if you're discounting the number, what does this say about your belief in the people?"
Katzenberg: She is the Picasso of questions. She can ask a question like nobody else. You have to find in yourself the answer to it. There's a real art to that.
Hobson: Ultimately everyone did the right thing.
Katzenberg: We didn't do [the deal]. I was okay that we didn't do it. I learned a lot from the process. The board and the company are better for the experience.
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2.沃倫•巴菲特和查理•芒格
1959年，他們在奧馬哈的一次晚宴上相識，馬上對彼此產生了興趣。“他在大廳里踱步，被自己講的笑話逗得開懷大笑。我想，這人和我是一路人——我也是這樣。”他們馬上開始分享投資理念。19年后，芒格加入了伯克希爾-哈撒韋公司（Berkshire Hathaway）。兩人至今仍然在共事，只不過83歲的首席執行官巴菲特在奧馬哈，89歲的副董事長芒格在洛杉磯。每年春天的伯克希爾年會上，他倆并肩坐在臺上，向近3萬名股東和崇拜者傳播關于投資、商業和生活的點滴心得。但人們很少讀到兩人在芝加哥所做的那種最成功的投資對話，聊的是他們從彼此身上學到了什么。――P.S.
芒格：我得到的最佳建議是別當律師。律師是我家族傳承了兩代的職業，沃倫對我的生來就要從事的職業很是不屑。他認為，把它當業余愛好沒問題，但當成事業就實在太愚蠢了。
巴菲特：干這行不能發揮他全部的才干。如果他真想玩點有意思的，他應該放棄法律，加入我的行業。律師這一行在很大程度是委托人的代理，律師的工作是為別人服務。我要為自己服務，實施我自己的主張。我知道，查理的想法和我一樣。
芒格：在我想明白之前，我的一只腳已經踏進了律師行業。后來我把那只腳拔了出來。前后只花了幾個月的時間。
巴菲特：我一度偏向低價證券。查理說，這種投資理念不對。我當時是跟我的偶像本•格雷厄姆學的。（查理）說長期賺大錢的方法是投資一家好的企業，堅定不移地持有它，或許還要為它增加更多好的業務。對我來說，這是相當、相當大的改變。我沒有馬上改過來，后來還出現過反復。但它對我的業績產生了巨大影響。他絕對是正確的。
芒格：我有個一生的習慣：我觀察什么管用，什么不管用，背后的原因是什么。
巴菲特：我們運用這種方法收購的第一家企業是時思糖果公司（See's Candies）。這是一家出色的企業。不過，以我過去的經歷，我是絕對不想把最后一百萬美元資金投在它身上的。
芒格：最后一百萬？你不想投最后25,000美元！
巴菲特：查理一直提醒我，我又滑落到石器時代了。他給我的建議要比我給他的多很多。他過著非常理性的生活。我從來沒聽到他表達過任何對別人的嫉妒之詞。
芒格：有句老話說：“嫉妒有什么好？它是一種不能給人帶來任何樂趣的罪惡。”
巴菲特：性情比智商更重要。
芒格說：另一個大秘密是，我們擅長終生學習。從很多方面講，沃倫在七、八十歲時比年輕時更擅于學習。如果一個人不停學習，就會擁有極大的優勢。
| | | 2.Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger
They met at a dinner party in Omaha in 1959 and took an instant liking to each other. "He was rolling on the floor laughing at his own jokes, and I thought, That is my kind of guy -- I do the same thing," Buffett says. They started sharing investment ideas immediately, and Munger joined Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500) 19 years later. The two are still together, though they operate remotely -- CEO Buffett, 83, in Omaha, and vice chairman Munger, 89, in Los Angeles. Each spring they sit side by side onstage at the Berkshire annual meeting, dispensing snippets about investing, business, and life to some 30,000 shareholders and worshipers. But it's rare to get this most successful investment duo talking, as they did here in Chicago, about what they've learned from each other. --P.S.
Munger: The best advice I ever got from Warren was to stop practicing law. Warren was very derisory about my chosen profession, which had been in my family for a couple of generations. He thought it was all right as a hobby, but as a business it was pretty stupid.
Buffett: It didn't use his full talents. If he really wanted to get in an interesting game, he should leave law and get into my game. In law, to a great extent, you're an agent for your principal. Your job is there to serve somebody else. I got to serve myself, to implement my own ideas. And I knew Charlie was cut the same way.
Munger: I kept one foot in the law practice until I knew it was going to work, and then I removed that foot. It took only a few months.
Buffett: I had been oriented toward cheap securities. Charlie said that was the wrong way to look at it. I had learned it from Ben Graham, a hero of mine. [Charlie] said that the way to make really big money over time is to invest in a good business and stick to it and then maybe add more good businesses to it. That was a big, big, big change for me. I didn't make it immediately and would lapse back. But it had a huge effect on my results. He was dead right.
Munger: I have a habit in life. I observe what works and what doesn't and why.
Buffett: The first real business we bought that way was See's Candies. It was an outstanding business. From my past, I didn't want to pay the last few million dollars.
Munger: The last few million? You didn't want to pay the last $25,000!
Buffett: Charlie kept reminding me that I was slipping into the Stone Age again. He's given me a lot more advice than I've given him. He lives a very rational life. I've never heard him say a word that expressed envy of anyone.
Munger: There's an old saying, "What good is envy? It's the one sin you can't have any fun at."
Buffett: Temperament is more important than IQ.
Munger: The other big secret is that we're good at lifelong learning. Warren is better in his seventies and eighties, in many ways, than he was when he was younger. If you keep learning all the time, you have a wonderful advantage.
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3.彼得•薩洛維和朱迪斯•羅丹
1981年，彼得•薩洛維進入耶魯大學（Yale）就讀心理學研究生。他立即被朱迪斯•羅丹的工作所吸引。他說：“她是利用基礎實驗室工作來解答現實世界問題的人之一，在當時也許是唯一的一個。”羅丹和薩洛維作為師生開始合作，從此以后成為要好的朋友。今天，55歲的薩洛維是耶魯大學校長和心理學教授。69歲的羅丹是洛克菲勒基金會（the Rockefeller Foundation）的總裁，以前還擔任過賓夕法尼亞大學（the University of Pennsylvania）的校長。不久前，他倆聊到了他們最早的一些合作，以及他們一直相互學習的經歷。——Ryan Bradley
薩洛維：我記得早年的一次會議，我要在會上宣傳我的想法。朱迪在幫我鑒別哪些是好想法，哪些是壞的。結果，我把咖啡灑到了她的桌子上。
羅丹：是灑在我身上了！不光是我的桌子……
薩洛維：有個很早的研究表明，出點錯會讓人更招人喜歡。但事實是，只有人們認為你是個強人時才能產生這種效應。
羅丹：好吧，彼得一開始就完全是對的。我想培養我的學生去思考什么東西重要——人們非常容易在象牙塔里迷失方向。最終，我們受到的培養是思考人的認知和行為方式以及為什么它對于人類的行為與進步很重要，對心理學家的培養尤其是如此。
薩絡維：朱迪的興趣從不僅限于做下一項試驗——僅僅閱讀幾篇研究論文，然后順著思路做下一項實驗。相反，她的下一步是選出幾個對現實世界有重大影響的問題，在學術上逆潮流而動。
羅丹：這是我一直在做的事情，無論是在學術上還是商業上——有意思的好想法有很多，但極其重要的只有少數幾個。不能滿意于僅僅擁有好的想法。
薩絡維：我記得有一次，我們請來一位演講嘉賓。事后，我們去吃晚餐。他介紹了一個實驗，還有他注意到的某些現象。我記得朱迪問他：“這里面有什么重要思想嗎？”顯然，那個人很聰明，但從來沒人問過他這個問題。
羅丹：人必須愿意冒險。當一個優秀的領導人同樣如此。“別把事搞砸了”是個糟糕的建議。它是什么意思？勸人不要勇敢嗎？
| | | 3.Peter Salovey & Judith Rodin
In 1981, Peter Salovey entered Yale as a grad student in psychology. He immediately gravitated toward Judith Rodin's work. "She was one of the people -- maybe the only person at the time -- who took basic lab work and used it to answer real-world questions," he says. Rodin and Salovey began working together, teacher and student, and have since become good friends. Today Salovey, 55, is Yale's president and a professor of psychology. Rodin, 69, is president of the Rockefeller Foundation and was previously president of the University of Pennsylvania. The pair recently spoke about some of their earliest collaborations and their ongoing learning from each other. --Ryan Bradley
Salovey: I remember an early meeting, where I was pitching ideas. Judy was helping me figure out which were good or bad. I spilled coffee all over her desk.
Rodin: On me! Not just my desk ...
Salovey: There's an old study that shows if you blunder, your likability goes up. But the thing is, you only get that effect if the person already thinks you're a competent person
Rodin: Well, Peter was amazing right from the beginning. I try to train my students to consider what matters -- it's so easy to get lost in the ivory tower. In the end, particularly as psychologists, we really are trained to think about what people know and how they act and why that's important in terms of human action and progress.
Salovey: Judy never was interested in just doing the next experiment -- simply reading a few studies and doing the next logical one. Rather, it was to pick problems that are going to have some significant impact on the real world and be a little bit of a scholarly contrarian.
Rodin: This is something I continue to do, whether it's academic or business -- there are a lot of really good, interesting ideas, but only a few really spectacularly important ones. Don't be satisfied with the merely good.
Salovey: I remember once, we had a guest speaker, and afterward we all went out to dinner. He was explaining an experiment and noticing some phenomenon, and I remember Judy saying, "What's the big idea here?" It was clear this person was very smart but had never been asked that question.
Rodin: You need to be willing to take risks. The same holds true to be a great leader. "Don't screw it up" is terrible advice. Well, what does it mean? Don't be brave?
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4.西爾維亞•馬修斯•伯韋爾和羅伯特•魯賓
就在《財富》雜志（Fortune）與48歲的白宮預算主管西爾維•馬修斯、75歲的前財政部長羅伯特•魯賓坐而論道之時，美國離債務違約還有兩天。那是一個可怕的時刻。避免災難的協議將于第二天出現，但那天早上，當我們于艾森豪威爾辦公樓的寬敞會議室碰面時，前景仍然不明朗。伯韋爾有過這樣的經歷。1995年，她在財政部工作，是魯賓的參謀長。當時，面對立場類似強硬的眾議院共和黨人，兩人編寫了讓聯邦政府在此類危機中保持償債能力的當代操作流程。
魯賓：我們實際上是在1992年的總統選舉中相識的。某人通過電話把我介紹給西爾維亞。我當時從來沒聽說過她。我發現這個年輕人在與媒體打交道和預判事情方面都有極好的感覺。所以，我想我有很多東西要向西爾維亞學習。
伯韋爾：我想說，鮑伯（即魯賓）的風格是蘇格拉底式（即通過提出問題，請對方解答，再根據對方的解答提出新的問題，從而引導對方得出提問者想要的結論——譯注），非常對我這個希臘裔美國人的胃口。
魯賓：我在大學里的一位教授說過，對幾乎所有問題的最佳回答都是提出另一個問題。我相信這話是對的。預算危機期間，問題不是教任何人什么東西。問題實際上就是我們共同努力的方式。西爾維亞和我本人以及其他幾位，包括我們的法律顧問，找出了從公務人員退休基金借款的方法。這個辦法讓我們有資源能在相當長的時間內支付美國的賬單。
伯韋爾：我們當時正在做一件前無古人的新工作。
魯賓：它就像是四維的國際象棋。如果有必要，就是再加上兩維她也能玩。
伯韋爾：我們談話的很多內容都涉及問答框架。
魯賓：不常和媒體打交道的人容易在別人問你問題時簡簡單單地給出一個答案。但西爾維亞說：“要充分理解這個問題，就得擁有將它放入整體框架里的辦法，讓它可以得到充分的理解。”西爾維亞特別擅長這一點。（采訪結束時，魯賓起身對伯韋爾說：）祝你好運，去拯救美國吧。
| | | 4.Sylvia Mathews Burwell & Robert Rubin
The U.S. was two days from a debt default when Fortune sat down with White House budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell, 48, and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, 75. It was a scary moment. A deal to avert catastrophe would come together the next day, but that morning, as we gathered in an airy conference room in the Old Executive Office Building, the path forward was not clear. Burwell had been through this before -- she was Rubin's chief of staff at the Treasury Department in 1995. Then, facing similarly intransigent House Republicans threatening a debt default, the pair wrote the modern playbook for keeping the federal government solvent through such a crisis. --Tory Newmyer
Rubin: We actually met on the 1992 campaign. Somebody introduced me telephonically to Sylvia, who I'd never heard of. And I found here was this young person who had a tremendously good sense of how to deal with the press and see around corners. So I figured that I had a lot to learn from Sylvia.
Burwell: I would describe Bob's approach as Socratic, which is one that suits me as a Greek American.
Rubin: A professor I had in college said the best answer to almost any question is another question. And I believe that's right. During the budget crisis, it wasn't a matter of trying to teach anybody anything. It was really just the way we worked together. Sylvia and myself and a few other people, including our general counsel, figured out a way to borrow from the civil service pension funds, and that gave us the resources to continue to meet our bills for a long, long time.
Burwell: We were doing something new that hadn't been done before.
Rubin: It was sort of four-dimensional chess, and Sylvia could play the four dimensions plus another couple more if she had to.
Burwell: A lot of our conversations were about framing.
Rubin: If you weren't used to dealing with the press a lot, your tendency was, somebody would ask you a question and you'd just respond. But as Sylvia said, "If it's going to be digestible, you have to have some way of framing it that makes it digestible," and Sylvia was terrific at that. [The interview over, RUBIN stands and says to BURWELL] All right, good luck. Go save the country.
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5.羅比•卡普蘭和克里斯蒂•史密斯
德勤大學領導力包容中心（the Deloitte University Leadership Center）的主要負責人克里斯蒂•史密斯在今年初與寶維斯律師事務所（Paul Weiss）的合伙人羅貝塔•卡普蘭（即羅比•卡普蘭）相識。47歲的卡普蘭曾成功在美國高等法院為伊迪思•溫索爾辯護。后者為同性婚姻享有聯邦政府法律規定的婚姻福利而奔走。卡普蘭與史密斯（49歲）兩位女士在不同的領域發展事業，最終卻結成了密友，在事業上相互鼓舞。——Stephanie N. Mehta
史密斯：我是走著去參加我與羅比的第一次晚餐的。我打給電話給我的妻子凱利說：“我很緊張，這個女人改變了歷史。我應該和她說些什么？”凱利馬上說：“為什么不讓她成為今晚的主角呢？”我哈哈大笑。這是一個完美的辦法。
卡普蘭：我記得我一見你，腦子里就在想：“一：她好酷；二、我面前又是一位帶著孩子的已婚女同志，我不經常遇到這種情況。”
史密斯：我從羅比那里學的東西是：擁有你的地盤。我一直被要求承擔某些責任，過去，這些責任都是單向的付出。反思過后，我決定不再接受現狀，不再重復別人的道路，我要開辟一條新的道路。
卡普蘭：我成為寶維斯的合伙人時，主要看我擔任所謂第一律師的能力，很少看一個人拉業務的能力。今天，情況不同了。我也希望拓展業務，給事務所拉客戶。幾乎每次我努力拓展業務時，我都會想起克里斯蒂，因為她特別擅長做這個。對我來說，親自做這種事要困難許多。我在法庭說那些事也許完全沒有問題，但在會議上說那些事是另外一回事。所以，我盡可能地與克里斯蒂溝通。
| | | 5.Robbie Kaplan & Christie Smith
Christie Smith, managing principal of the Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion, met Paul Weiss partner Roberta (Robbie) Kaplan at a professional networking event earlier this year. Kaplan, 47, successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Edith Windsor, who sought to ensure that same-sex couples be entitled to the benefits of marriage under federal law. Though Kaplan (right) and Smith, 49, work in different fields, the two women became confidantes, and each has inspired the other professionally. --Stephanie N. Mehta
Smith: I was walking to my first dinner with Robbie, and I called Kelli, my wife, and I said, "I'm nervous! This woman has changed history. What am I going to talk to her about?" And Kelli said, without missing a beat, "Why don't you just let her be the big shot tonight?" I laughed. It was the perfect response.
Kaplan: I remember meeting you and immediately thinking, "(a) She's super-cool, and (b) Here's another married lesbian with kids, which is not something I encounter all that often."
Smith: The thing I've learned from Robbie is owning your place. There are responsibilities I've been asked to take on at work that had been done one way in the past. Upon reflection, I decided not to accept the status quo and follow someone else's path, but to create a new path.
Kaplan: When I became partner at Paul Weiss, it had to do with the ability to be what's known as a first-chair lawyer. It had much less to do with one's ability to get business. It's a different world today, and I want to be able to develop business and bring clients into the firm. Almost all the time I'm trying to develop business, I'm thinking of Christie, because she's so good at it. It's much harder for me to do this for myself. I might not have a problem saying those things in a courtroom, but saying those things in a meeting is different. So I try to channel Christie as much as I possibly can.
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