《ChaseDream Career六月刊文章推荐》--做你所热爱的事

Career

做你所热爱的事

——访eBay 传奇缔造者之一、硅谷著名创业家Mary Lou Song 女士

文/刘思颖

Mary 说她得到过的最受益的职业忠告是在高中参加暑期活动时一位大学教授告诉她的一句儒家至理名言“乐此不疲”，意思是当你做着热爱做的事情时，你不会感到自己在工作——如同休息、玩乐一样轻松。作为一名硅谷创业家，她将这句名言奉为自己事业的座右铭。1996 年加入eBay 的Mary 是公司的第三名员工，作为公关总监打造出被称作“完美商店”的网上购物社区。离开eBay 之后，她参与创办了社交网站Friendster。她对写作的热爱和对新闻的兴趣曾帮助她轻松拿到斯坦福大学媒体研究文学硕士学位，在随后的事业生涯中，她又建立了故事分享网站Tokoni 和新闻服务网站Ongo。如今，作为Ignite Video 的创始人，她的愿望是通过开发App 使任何普通人都能成为“专业”的视频制作师，激励人们去抒发灵感、创造自己的作品。她鼓励所有人“做自己所热爱的事”。

笔者在访问斯坦福大学时，聆听了一次职业发展讲座(link)，被演讲嘉宾Mary Lou Song 的故事所感动，进而想专访这位美籍韩裔的硅谷创业家。Mary 欣然接受了采访邀请，于是笔者有幸拥有了今生第一次作为记者专访传说中的大牛人物的经历。采访前笔者戏称：“这是一个业余媒体人采访专业媒体人”，而Mary 笑答：“我就特喜欢帮助业余媒体人。”于是，在她简单而别致的办公室里，在大麦茶的清香中，Mary 敞开心扉讲述了自己的故事——1996 年，走出斯坦福校门的Mary 寻找着自己的职业理想。那时候，尽管她仍旧喜欢写作——她的本行，然而作为媒体研究文学硕士的她发现写作不能给她带来更多的挑战与激情。于是她一遍遍地问自己：“世界上还有哪些事情是我喜欢的？我可以让它们成为我的职业吗？”于是她发现，她喜欢互联网，可是在1996 年那个互联网尚不普及的时代，这是个很可笑的事情，怎能成职业呢？她喜欢社区，让人有归属感的带给人鼓舞和力量的集体，可难道这意味着她必须从政吗？她还和大多数年轻女孩儿一样喜欢逛商店，却无从知道如何将购物变成职业。有一天，她参加了一个派对，认识了个小伙子叫Jeff Skoll （eBay 的第一名员工及总裁），聊到Jeff 正在做一家新兴的互联网公司，人们在那网络平台上互相买卖商品。哇！ Mary 瞬间觉得——“这就仿佛你向宇宙发问，在这世上有什么职业能满足我对互联网、社区、购物的喜爱，而这就是宇宙摆在我面前的答案！”就这样，Mary 以闪电般的速度加入了eBay。当被问及如何寻找自己的所爱，Mary 说“你需要做你自己的行为科学家”，想想自己在无拘无束的时候最想干的事情是什么，那就一定是自己喜欢的事情。而且，一定要试着将自己所喜欢的东西表达出来，因为正是在迫使自己清晰完整地表达的这一过程中，你会更深刻地认识自己。诞生之初的eBay（ActionWeb）的界面非常丑陋，被业界人士调侃为“又脏又破的报纸”，但Mary 在捣玩其间时心里能强烈感受到eBay 的巨大前景。她作为毕业于斯坦福大学的硕士，拿着三万五千美金的微薄年薪。然而她不在乎，她看重的是个人的学习和成长，以及对他人的贡献。她认为，当你年轻的时候，没有什么拖家带口的羁绊，你就更容易去关注于自己的梦想。这也是为什么创业适合年轻人——做自己喜欢做的事，聆听自己的内心，才能抵挡外界的诱惑。

eBay 在诞生之初， 是很不被人看好的：大众对萌芽中的互联网购物持怀疑态度，不信任网上的交易，不信任素不谋面的网友。Mary以令人羡艳的背景加入草创中的eBay，是很需要勇气的。如何去面对社会舆论的偏见？她谈到了一个团队所需要的共同的价值观。在eBay，她们相信人性本善，这样的信仰深深地植根于eBay 的企业文化中，而当一个人透过这样的视角看他人的时候，也会发现人性的真善美。Mary 认为这样的共同价值观正是eBay 作为一个企业的独到之处。

成功的创业者需要什么？ Mary 提到开创精神、想象力、创造力、解决问题的能力，以及“超级可怕”的乐观主义精神。她认为，知识技能只是一部分，而更重要的是你的信仰、价值观、以及投身于比自我更大的事业的坚持，并不在乎你是否有MBA 抑或别的学位。她曾有3 次创业失败的经历，其中她拥有能力极强的员工，然而他们关注太多的薪酬、职位这些个人利益。同时，作为创业企业领导者，需要将所有人的个人目标完美整合成团队共有的价值观。在创业企业，每个人都是至关重要的，团队里容不得任何一个怀疑者。这样宝贵的教训，正是来源于Mary 的过去三次创业的“失败”——其实不该叫作“失败”，就如Mary 所说，“失败，只有当你不能从中有所收获时，才能称得上真正的失败。”最优秀的创业者，往往对挫折具有极高的承受力：他们会遇到挑战，但却充满激情地去直面那些挑战。为什么Mary 如此喜欢硅谷？因为硅谷聚集了一大群这样的人们，他们面对挫折与挑战充满激情，而激情是能够感染别人的，能够像磁石一样吸引志同道合的人。在这片孕育高新科技的沃土上，每个人都总是在思考：我们如何能做得更好？

谈到人生挫折，Mary 感慨良多。在美国长大的亚裔、在高科技行业的女性，都很不容易。然而她不在乎，她总是以乐观的态度去面对挑战。比如，作为在美国土地上打拼的亚裔，她从不把自己的文化民族背景看作劣势。相反，她认为这是巨大的优势——eBay、雅虎、亚马逊等企业的惨痛教训触发了一个问题：高科技企业在全球化背景下如何在亚洲市场取得成功？这给了亚裔的有志之士很大的职业发展机遇。我们的文化背景，在此将产生巨大的价值。然而另一方面，我们也需要关注中西文化的差异。比如在硅谷这里，要想成功就必须乐观、开朗、外向而充满活力。然而亚洲人通常比较内敛，正如她父亲教导的“开壶不响，响壶不开”。我们的文化教导我们埋头苦干，然而在这里你必须抬头张望。尽管也需要苦干，但广交朋友、多问问题、和别人分享你的智慧和激情，这些对于在高科技行业的成功太重要了。

谈起未来，Mary 充满憧憬；回首过去，她说如果人生重来，她仍旧会像以前那样，去参加派对，去认识朋友，去探究自己喜欢的事情，并关注一切能做自己喜欢的事情的职业机遇。她对于年轻人最大的寄望就是：“做你所热爱的事”，因为她自己已经跟随这个教导走过了25 年，觉得一切太美妙了……

Do what you love

Editor’s Note

Thebest advice Mary Lou Song ever got was in a high school summer program, when acollege professor told her to simply “Do what you love”. She follows thatcareer advice faithfully, especially as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. For thelove of Internet, community and shopping, Mary joined eBay in 1996 as thecompany’s third employee. Later she joined social networking startup Friendster.Her love of writing and the News again prompted her to launch Tokoni, astory-sharing site, and Ongo, an aggregated news service. Currently, she’sworking at Ignite Video, where she is on a mission to help customers make videosabout their businesses and to encourage people to do what they love.

ChaseDreamCareer (CDC): So tell us – what does it really mean to “do whatyou love”?

Mary: It’s aConfucius Quote: “Do what you love, and you would never have to work a day.”(乐此不疲) Itmeans that when you think about thethings that you love, it never feelslike work – It feels like play. You knowwhat your passions are, andthose passions should help drive your careerdecisions, too.

CDC: Howdid you start your career by following the motto of “do what you love”? Whatdrew you into eBay – I mean ActionWeb in 1996?

Mary: So Ifollowed that advice, studying journalism/writing in college simply because Ilove it. In 1996, I graduated from Stanford with a master in Media Studies. Iwasn’t so much in love with writing as I had been – I still loved it, but Ifound that I mastered it. So what I needed was a different kind ofchallenge. I wanted to dig deep, and find what other things in my life thatI love, and “can I turn these into a career?” So I thought:

(1) I love theInternet. But in 1996 that was a very strange thing to say! How do I turn thatinto a job? I don’t know.

(2) I love theidea of community: helping people feel that they are part of a community, andhelping them achieve something together. But I didn’t know how to turn that intoa career, either. I thought, “Does that mean I need to be the mayor? Do I needto be in politics?" No.

(3) I knew Iloved shopping, but I had no idea what kind of job that would lead to.

I had enough time to think so that I could actuallyarticulate very precisely what I love. I knew I loved the Internet, community, and shopping,andto get to that level of articulation is very important. When you pullsomethingout of universe and ask for, sometimes the universe gives back toyou.

So I went to that party where I met Jeff Skoll (eBay’sfirst employee and the first president). He asked, “What are you doing now?” Isaid, “Marketing.”

He said, “Oh! I can use some marketing!” I said, “Butwhat are you working on?” He said, “Well, I’m working on an Internet companywhere people buy and sell things from one another.”

It was exactly everything that I had asked for! And Ithought to myself, “In the universe here is what you asked for: internet,community, and shopping. And here’s an opportunity – what are you going to do?”

So I said to him, “Well, if you are serious, call me onMonday, and we’ll talk.” He called me on Monday, and we met for lunch onTuesday. I spent all day Wednesday playing on eBay’s site, which in 1996 wasvery ugly: no design, not visual at all, and very word-heavy. But I could see wherethis could lead. So I called Jeff on Thursday and said, “Offer me a job – anyjob! I don’t

care what the title is. I don’t care if you pay me. Butoffer me a job, and I will work for you harder than anyone else on thisplanet!”

He called me on Friday, offering me a job. I took it, andstarted a week later. So that’s always my first bit of advice to anyone: whenyou think about your career, you should really be able to articulatewhat you love, and then go work on that.

CDC: How did youfind your inner drive? What sort of self-reflection did you undertake torealize that you love Internet, community and shopping?

CDC: As writtenin that book (“The Perfect Store”), you hoped to get paid six figures, butended up less than half of that. Although you didn't care about the pay-check,how did you face the pressure coming from other people?

Mary: In 1996, Igraduated from Stanford with a Master’s Degree, and the job was paying $35,000a year. But for me at the time it wasn’t about money, it was aboutlearning and growing and contributing to helping others. When you’re young,you’re able to just focus solely on what you love, so that’s why it was veryeasy for me to put money aside.

CDC: How did youovercome social prejudice that people did NOT believe in Internet transactionand even did NOT trust other people online?

Mary: I’velistened to people who had criticisms of eBay, but we have always tried to showthem that it was better to believe that people were good, and to have somefaith in humankind. When you look at your business through that filter, or lookat your life through that filter, good things come. We always tried to see thegood in others, and this action actually inspired other people to help. One ofthe first things that we did at eBay was that we wrote down our five beliefsabout people: we believe that people are basically good; we believe that anopen and honest environment can bring about the best people; we believe thateveryone has something to contribute etc. So those values were something thatwe articulated very early on at the company, and we all operated from those sharedvalues. And they were so important to how we worked together that if you doanything that makes these values seem doubted, we would always think, “Hey,don’t forget -- people are basically good. Don’t forget -- we should be workingfor open and honest communication. Hey, don’t forget!” So you hold on to it,and you really make it part of who you are. I think that’s why eBay as acompany was so unusual that it was really about believing in these things.

Mary: You have to be your own scientist and observe whatyour natural tendencies are. That’s whatI was doing to myself whenI realize: all that extra time at Stanford, Iwasplaying on the Internet, everything that I wasinterested inwas about community building, andevery time I have an extra dollar I goshopping.

CDC: You talkedabout this kind of idealism you found in Omidyar (Founder and Chairman of eBay)was very rarely found in MBAs, who kept asking about businessmodels, etc. So my question is: how do you view entrepreneurship vs. MBA? Recentlythere is an intensively debated issue “whether a startup should hire an MBA” or “whether a would-be entrepreneurneed to take an

MBAeducation”(link). Could you shed some light on this topic?

Mary: I don’tthink there’s anything wrong with getting an MBA. You get great skills andlearn great things by getting an MBA, and be in an environment where you can bea great analyst of business and a great studier of business. For entrepreneurs,the strengths you’ll need aren’t just a set of skills: skills and experiencesare one part of it, but also your belief, values and ability to contribute tosomething bigger than yourself. I’m building a new startup and I had threefailed startups – two of my own, and one before these. Why did these companiesfail? Well, we had really smart people, but some of the people would not thinkabout how they could contribute to the

greater good. They were so focused on “my salary”, “mytitle”, “my job”, and “what you’re going to do for me?” I think for startups,it doesn’t matter if you have an MBA, a PhD or no experience. What’s required fora startup is your ability to give and to contribute. If you’re not hiring

for that, thenthat’s a problem.

CDC: Just now youtalked about your career experience after eBay – building your own company. Iwould like to know: how your career progressed and how did you feel along theway?

Mary: I stayed ateBay for 6 1/2 years. When I left, the company was very big– I think there wereover 5,000 employees on one campus.

CDC: Why did youleave?

Mary: Everycompany has a certain stage. What I love about startups is that you haveto be very entrepreneurial, imaginative, and creative. Youhave to be a great problem-solver, and have a ridiculous amount ofoptimism. For me, I get the energy for my life from building and creating.So that’s why I love the startups. After eBay I went to Friendster. After thatI did two

startups – Tokoni on my own and Ongo with my husband. Ilove the startup space. I actually thought about “Am I too old to do startups?”So I started to think “Maybe I can go get my MBA, or get a Master in fine arts,or to be a writer.” And then I had to push myself again to figure out Confuciusand said, “What do I love? Do I really love writing? Could I do that every dayfor the rest of my life and feel fulfilled? Do I love teaching that much? Do Ilove …” And I said, “I really love video! I still love commerce and shopping!”So when I was making the decision, I said, “Well it might take me a while tofind the right thing – the right company.” I think I got very lucky – theopportunity came to me and I said to myself, “I have to do this.”

CDC: So how doyou think opportunity or serendipity played a role in your career?

Mary: Theopportunity of eBay came at a party on Saturday night—the opportunities come toyou when you don’t expect them to, or maybe from people you don’t expect tohave opportunities come from, but you have to be open to it. I think meetingpeople, being curious about them, and being open will bringopportunities to you. That’s what I tell people: go talk to them, just goahead have a conversation – you’ll never know.

CDC: Along yourcareer, did you find any paradigm shift in this industry and how did you as anindividual react?

Mary: There areall sorts of shifts that happen every day in this industry--the growth oftechnology and startups of company. Everybody is thinking about: how do I makeit better? There are all sorts of opportunities and the bestentrepreneurs are the ones who have a high tolerant to adversity –thingscan be challenging but they tackle those challenges with enthusiasm andexcitement. That’s why I love being in Silicon Valley, because so many peoplehere have a high tolerance to adversity – nothing scares them, nothing worriesthem. They tackle the challenges with enthusiasm and excitement that areinfectious – that become the magnet for others.

CDC: I’m so gladyou bring about this topic, as many of our readers are very interested in –what kind of adversity did you face in your life and career?

Mary: It’s noteasy being an Asian woman grown up in a southern state. It’s not easy being awoman in technology. It’s not easy! But I don’t want these things to bother me.It just doesn’t bother me. Just find another way to deal with everything. AgainI don’t look at those things as problems – those are just challengesI get to overcome.

CDC: You musthave faced some frustrations or failures – you talked aboutyour failedstartups. What did you learn from them? How did they shape you?

Mary: A failure is only a failure if you didn’t learnfrom it. So I looked at mystartups, even though that the startups didn’t work out, I learnt from the lasttwo startups that you can have the smartest people in the room, but unless theyare focused on the greater-good, that company isn’t going to make it. You haveto have the perfect alignment of everybody’s goals in order for something greatto be built and for success. So when I looked back on my other startups, Ithink I had too much doubt into the core team. For startups, everybody is missioncritical – you can’t have any doubters.

CDC: You talkedabout “an Asian woman growing up in the US”. As you know our readers are youngChinese professionals, and some of them are willing to get education from theUS. So could you talk about how to leverage this kind of diversecultural backgrounds?

Mary: As an Asianwoman growing up in Kentucky, I think the best thing to do is that never lookat your ethnic background as negative. It’s not a handicap. I think there ishuge opportunity for Asians to help technology companies succeed inAsia, especially in China. I think that companies like eBay, Yahoo, andAmazon have learned that you can’t just go to Asia and assume that as anAmerican Company you are going to conquer all of Asia. Also, there aretremendous opportunities for startup companies to really start from the beliefthat they are going to need Asians in the company if they want to transfertheir technologies over. There are a lot of people like you who will be thistremendous bridge between the U.S. and Asia, and I think that’s where

Asians in technology will be able to leverage theirbackground. Maybe not everybody’s aware of that, but that’s what I see coming.

CDC: Just likeyour belief in optimism. Always look in a positive way!

Mary: Absolutely.I think the other thing is that: In Silicon Valley you have to be optimistic,energetic, communicative, extraverted and outgoing. But we (Asians) don’tpractice that extraversion. I remember my dad used to say that quote, “Theempty can makes the most noise.” （开壶不响，响壶不开。）The culturesays: keep your head down; work hard; don’t look around and make a lot ofnoise. That doesn’t work here! You have to keep you head up; you have to lookaround; you still need to work hard. But your ability to share your energy,excitement, and enthusiasm, to ask questions, and to be excited and interestedin other people is so important to you if you want to succeed in technology.

CDC: Let’s talkabout the future – the next big thing. How’s your career in Ignite Video?

Mary: I’m reallyexcited about video, and where we are right now with video. There are so manyopportunities there. For me, I am doing exactly what I want to do with mycareer: I’m building a startup company, constantly meeting people, andconstantly learning something new; I’m using all of my experience in a waythat’s helpful to everybody here and I’m very excited about that! So for thefuture, I think this is something I plan on working on for the next five or tenyears.

CDC: How do yousee yourself in the next five or ten years? Where do you see the opportunitiesand challenges lie in this field?

Mary: I think theopportunity lies in getting every generation comfortable with creating video –creating content using video and mobile devices. Because of the devices,everybody can become a videographer. You don’t have to go to a professionalvideographer and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a videocommercial made – you can do this, too! We are entering a time when

creativity is very valuable. And everybody needs to getover that fear – the fear of creating content. I want to empower people to helpthem create that content.

CDC: Exciting!When you look back into your career, like today you are just graduating fromStanford with a Master’s degree in Media Studies, what would you do the sameand what would you do differently?

Mary: I wouldn’tchange a thing! I would still go to parties and meet people. I would still knowwhat I love. I would still look for opportunities to work on the things that Ilove.

CDC: You’veprovided so many helpful pieces of advices. What is the most important one?

Mary: It comesback to that Confucius quote: “do what you love, and you will never have to

work a day.” That advice has guided me since I was 17, for 25 year.Why did I have so much fun

in my career? Because I followed that advice for 25 years– and I think it’s just perfect!

CDC: Mary, thank you for sharing with us today.