为什么说“做你喜欢的”是个坑

刘颖

The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question, “What advice do you have for college graduates entering the workforce?” is written by Frank Talarico Jr., CEO of Goodwill of Orange County.

People always seem to give college graduates entering the workforce the same piece of advice: “Do what you love.”

I have been a business leader for nearly 20 years, and I have yet to meet anyone who achieved success and happiness following that advice. It doesn’t matter if you do what you love. In fact, if you wake up tomorrow to a job that “doesn’t feel like work,” you’re going to wake up in another 20 years and wonder how you could have possibly wasted the most productive years of your life.

Don’t do what you love. Love the outcome of what you do.

Love the advances you are making in your field, and the contributions you make to your community, mankind, and (if that’s your thing) your own pocket.

Love the feeling that your hard work—and it should feel like hard work—is making a difference to people who need it. Yes, your personal passion needs to be part of the equation, but go deeper than your own fulfillment. Where do your passions and the betterment of the world intersect?

That is a question that I believe this generation will answer. And for that, I am jealous.

When I was growing up, the generation before me said I could shape the future. It sounded to me the way it probably sounds to you: like the impossible rhetoric you’d read in a greeting card stuffed with cash from your grandmother. But in the case of newly minted graduates, it’s really true. This generation is tasked with reshaping the complexion of this planet we all live on. The possibilities are limitless.

Fortunately for you, we are entering a phase in American history that is unprecedented, one in which doing good for the world is becoming good business. We saw it recently when 30 top corporate executives from major American businesses issued an open letter asking the president to remain in the Paris climate agreement. These companies and more—as well as some cities—then pledged to remain committed to carbon reduction goals even after the U.S. officially pulled out.

That’s what business looks like now. It’s doing well by doing good and working hard. I see it every day in my own work as the CEO of Goodwill of Orange County. It’s a challenging, complicated business with thousands of employees, 24 retail stores, a board of directors, and all kinds of complex problems that I’m passionate about solving. We use words like “innovation,” “enterprise,” and “entrepreneurship.” We are a big business.

But we are in the business of doing well by doing good. We eliminate barriers to employment for people with disabilities or who have a criminal history. We work to change the business community’s perspective about military veterans transitioning back to civilian life.

I love the outcome of what I do: finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems and changing the nature of the nonprofit world to more aggressively help those we serve.

In today’s world, you no longer have to choose between doing good and doing well. The future is so clearly in need of innovative solutions for global problems that giving back is simply good business.

So when you take those first steps onto your career path, remember: Don’t do what you love. Love the effect of everything you do.

刘颖

领导力内幕网络是美国的一个在线社区，美国商界最睿智和最有影响力的一些大咖会在这里及时回答与职业和领导力有关的问题。今天为大家分享的是Goodwill of Orange County公司的CEO弗兰克·塔拉利克在“你对刚进入职场的大学生有何建议？”这一问题下的回答。

对于刚刚进入职场的大学生，人们往往会给出这样的建议： “做你喜欢做的事。”

作为一个企业的领导，我在商界已经浸淫了将近20年了，我还没有见过一个由于遵循这个建议而获得了成功和幸福的人。其实，你喜不喜欢你的工作并不重要。如果你明天早上起来，去干了一个“感觉不像是在工作的工作”，那么接下来的20年里，你每天早上醒来都会想，我是怎么把人生中最有效率的时光都浪费掉的。

所以，不要做你喜欢的事情，而是要喜欢你做出的成绩。喜欢你在你的领域里所取得的进步，以及你对社会、对全人类包括对你的钱包所做的贡献。
你要喜欢那种因为你的努力工作而使别人的生活变得不同的感觉。当然，我们也得照顾到你的个人热情，但你的格局不能仅限于自我实现。在你的热情与如何使世界变得更美好之间，是否有交集的地方？

我认为，这是年轻一代都要回答的一个问题。而我很嫉妒你们有这种机会。

在我小时候，长辈们告诉我，我可以塑造未来。在我看来，这种话就像祖母在新年红包上写的祝福话，说起来容易，要实现却很遥远。但对于你们这些刚刚走出象牙塔的大学生来说，这句话却是千真万确的。当代年轻人肩负着重新塑造这颗星球的面貌的重任。你们真的是拥有无限可能的一代。

你们是幸运的一代。美国正在进入一个史无前例的阶段，在这个时代，做好事也能成为一笔好生意。最近，美国30家知名企业的高管联名签署了一封公开信，呼吁美国总统不要退出《巴黎协定》。另外，这些公司以及美国的一些城市还承诺，就算美国正式退出巴黎气候协议，他们也会继续推动既定碳排放目标的实现。

这就是新时代的商业，只有你做善事和努力工作，才能把业务做好。作为Goodwill of Orange County公司的CEO，这个道理已经在我的工作中得到了反复的验证。我们的公司是一家充满挑战的公司，业务也很复杂，我们拥有数千名员工、24家零售商店，还有一个董事会，以及一大堆复杂的问题。但我对解决这些问题抱有激情。我们经常把“创新”、“企业”和“企业家精神”这种词挂在嘴边，因为我们是一家大企业。

但是我们的生意之所以做得不错，首先是因为我们做的是善事。我们铲平了残疾人和刑释人员的就业壁垒，我们也致力于改变商业界对重返平民生活的退伍老兵的看法。

我很喜欢我的工作成果。我为一些看似无解的问题找到了解决方案，并且促进了广大非营利组织更加积极地帮助那些需要我们服务的人。

在当今世界中，“做善事”和“出业绩”已经不再是一个二选一的问题。未来还有很多全球性的问题需要创新的解决方法，因此，回馈社会本身就将是一项好生意。

所以当你踏上职场之路时，一定要记得：不要做你喜欢的，而是要喜欢你做的每件事的成绩。