未来职场生存指南 A timely guide to taking stock of your skills and future career

Stretch: How to future-proof yourself for tomorrow’s workplace Karie Willyerd and Barbara Mistick Wiley 17.99; $23.70

《伸展力：如何为未来的职场做好准备》(Stretch: How to future-proof yourself for tomorrow’s workplace)，卡里威利尔德(Karie Willyerd)和芭芭拉猠斯蒂克威利(Barbara Mistick Wiley)著，售价17.99英镑/23.70美元

I read this book believing it was something else. The title suggests the authors know which jobs will be in demand in the future. Great, I thought, this might help me guide my three-year-old into becoming a robot adviser, or whatever the new growth area is going to be. But sadly, the authors do no such thing. Perhaps it is for the best — who takes their parents’ advice after all?

读这本书的时候，我觉得这应该是本不落窠臼的书。书的标题暗示两位作者知道未来什么样的工作是有需求的。太好了，我心想，这本书或许能够帮助我引导我3岁的孩子成为一名机器人顾问，或者进入任何未来将蓬勃发展的领域。遗憾的是，作者们并没有提供这样的答案。或许这终归是件好事——毕竟谁会听从父母的建议呢？

That point is illustrated in the book by a story about Max Nimoy who advised his son to gain a practical skill to serve him well throughout his life. But Leonard Nimoy ignored his father’s suggestion that he learn to play the accordion and instead went on to become an actor, most famously playing Spock in Star Trek.

这本书用一个故事说明了这一点。马克斯尼莫伊(Max Nimoy)曾建议儿子伦纳德尼莫伊(Leonard Nimoy，见上图)学一门实用的技能，这样伦纳德终生都能过得衣食无忧。但伦纳德不顾父亲的建议学习了手风琴，并且在之后成为了一名演员，他饰演过的最有名的角色是《星际迷航》(Star Trek)中的斯波克(Spock)。

This is a book for anyone who has used the new year to take stock of their professional development and plan their next move.

任何在新年中盘点了自己的职业发展情况并且为下一步怎么走做出了规划的人都可以看看这本书。

A point brought home to me personally with the opening anecdote about a washed-up journalist, who despite winning multiple Pulitzer prizes and reporting all over the world, failed to read the signs about social media and personal branding. He was sacked and found himself unmarketable.

全书开头的一段轶闻让我个人颇有所感。这段轶闻与一名事业宣告失败的记者有关，尽管他曾多次荣获普利策(Pulitzer)奖，在全球各地进行报道，但他没能捕捉到社交媒体和建立个人品牌的信号。他被解雇了，并且发现他无法将自己推销出去。

What he needed, say the authors of this book, was “stretchpertise”: “the professional ability to creatively restructure and repurpose in order to adjust to changing environmental demands.” We all need to learn on the fly, the authors argue, to be open, create a network and gather diverse experiences. As Marshall Goldsmith, the executive coach, is quoted as saying: “What got you here won’t get you there.” The authors say the question is not whether you have a sell-by date. (You do.) Rather, it is how to extend the shelf life of your skills. After all, work is unpredictable and always changing because of emerging technologies, globalisation, short-term contracts and part-time work.

本书的作者们表示，这名记者需要“伸展力”：“为了适应不断改变的环境需求，进行创造性重构和改变目标的专业能力。”两位作者主张，我们都需要在工作中迅速学习，保持开放，建立人脉，积累多样的经历。用高管教练马歇尔戈德史密斯(Marshall Goldsmith)话来说：“让你抵达此处的东西不会让你抵达彼处。”作者们表示，问题不在于你是否有保质期（的确有），而在于如何延长你的技能的保质期。毕竟，由于新技术的兴起、全球化、短期合同和兼职工作，工作是不可预测且时时变化的。

This book leads you step by step through appraising your working future. There are tips such as to check in with yourself quarterly. Set calendar reminders such as “lead a project team by July 15th, 2016”.

这本书引导你一步步地评估你职业生涯的未来。书中包含一些小建议，比如每季度进行自我检查。在日历上设定一些提醒，比如“在2016年7月15日前领导一个项目团队”。

They suggest stretching your abilities. Such tips are reminders rather than being particularly surprising — do not sit back and rest on your laurels; ask for unvarnished feedback from people who do not feel bullied into being nice about you; build diverse networks that might refine your thinking about jobs and career development.

作者们建议伸展你的能力。以下这样的建议并不出奇，更多是一种提醒：不要躺在过去的成就上睡大觉；向那些不感到被迫要对你表现友善的人寻求一些真实的反馈；建立多样的人脉网络，这可能完善你对工作和职业发展的思路。

Although exercises such as finding five people who can help you “become a better person” might be a step too earnest for some readers, I particularly liked the suggestion of practising ways to feel comfortable in new environments, such as eating new cuisines. Rebranding a takeaway as a career development tool is new to me.

尽管作者建议的一些练习对某些读者来说可能有点太郑重其事了（比如找到5个能够帮助你“变得更好”的人），但有一个建议我特别喜欢，就是练习各种有助于提高你适应新环境能力的方法（比如尝试各种新菜）。把外卖变成一种职业发展工具的想法让我耳目一新。

There are chapters too on resilience and anecdotes designed to make you feel good — for example, Jack Ma’s application to the newly opened Kentucky Fried Chicken in his home town. Twenty-four people applied for jobs. Twenty-three were accepted. Yep, you guessed it, poor Mr Ma got turned down. Yet it turned out well for the founder of e-commerce site Alibaba, who is now one of the richest men in China.

书中还有些章节讲述抗压能力，包含了一些旨在让你感觉良好的轶闻，比如，马云(Jack Ma)曾申请在他的家乡新开业的肯德基(KFC)工作。一共有24个申请人。23人都获得了录取。是的，你猜对了，可怜的马云被拒绝了。然而，他最终的结果是好的，作为电商网站阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的创始人，他现在是中国最富有的人士之一。

I doubt he did it through reading a book such as this, but it is a worthwhile guide on how to refresh your career and skills.

我想马云并不是靠阅读这样一本书才成功的，但关于如何让你的职业和技能焕发新活力，这本书提供了有益的指导。