【Native Speaker每日综合训练—32系列】【32-07】经管

kimwang53

Official Weibo: http://weibo.com/u/3476904471

Part I: Speaker

[Rephrase 1]

How the U.S. Can Regain its Edge

[Dialog,15 min 43sec]


Source: HBR
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/02/how-the-u-s-can-regain-its-edge/

kimwang53

Part II: Speed

Article 2:

The fear of not knowing

[Time 2]

When was the last time you admitted that you "don't know"? More than that, when was the last time you said "I don't know" and felt completely at ease with saying it?

Admitting that we don't know something makes most of us feel uncomfortable. We all feel that we're meant to have certain capacities and competencies – a certain 'know-how'. And we all feel that other people depend on our ability to have, to be, to do and to know.

In Western cultures, we tend to over-emphasize how much we know and so feel that not knowing is unacceptable. So when we really just "don't know", we put ourselves in something of a conundrum. Our fear of admitting that we don't know leads us to try to save face. So we conjure up some sort of appearance of knowing so we can feel we're in control and hope to fool others into believing that our veneer of competence is intact.

Not knowing puts us on the defensive. This unconscious reactivity is why we try to hide what we don't know behind jargon, double-speak or techno-babble, hoping this will create a veneer of credibility. We might resort to spurious facts or figures to cloud the issue, or feign outrage or exclusion in an attempt to find allies to support our not knowing. Or we blame someone else to deflect attention away from our discomfort and uncertainty. All tactics to try to stay in control and protect our fragile egos.

The positive side of not knowing

In contrast, many Eastern cultures view not knowing as a self-supporting, personal-developmental practice that can improve how effectively we experience life. Approaching a situation or problem with a sense of "not knowing" can be a catalyst for creativity and insight. The darkness of the unknown supports us to access our inner strength and inner wisdom. And asking positive (not-fear-based) questions can help us to overcome our uncertainty and feelings of inadequacy.

So not knowing can actually prove very helpful. It gives us a rare opportunity to slow down, take a deep breath, go beyond our assumptions, misperceptions, misunderstandings and expectations and explore a reality in which we are free from the burden of having to have all the answers. It lets us relax, to "see beyond our eyes" and to become curious about what it is we don't know.
【392】

[Time 3]
Giving up the need to be the expert frees us from ego, blaming, judging or needing to be right. It lets us enquire, to invite, to be open, to ask and observe, to watch and listen. In terms of punctuation, it means more question marks and fewer full-stops.

So rather than defending against what we don't know, relax into it as a part of who we are, knowing that not knowing is a part of our everyday life and an opportunity to grow and learn something new about ourselves in the process.

Next time you find yourself not knowing, why not ask yourself some of these questions?

If there is a deeper reason for me to be here, what is it?

What's important to me about this situation and why do I care?

What's my intention here? What's the deeper purpose that's worthy of my best effort?

What stands in the way of my being fully present in this situation?

What draws me to this interaction? How much does the first person who speaks set the tone for the ensuing conversation?

Can I by-pass some of the trust issues that normally keep /me from opening up and moving into deep conversations?

Can I step into the unknown?

To what degree might it be possible for me to see the world/issue/problem through another's eyes?

What am I hiding?

Do I give myself permission to be fully myself?

Does my expertise distract me from exploring the essence of the issue/question?

How comfortable (am I with not knowing?

What would someone who had a very different set of beliefs than I do say about this situation?

What is missing from the picture so far? What am I not seeing? Where do I need more clarity?

What could happen that would enable me to feel fully engaged and energized in this situation?

What's possible here and who cares about it?

How can I support others in taking the next steps? What unique contribution can I make?

Remember, it's OK not to know!
【338】
Source: http://www.management-issues.com/

Article 3:

The price of poor listening

[Time 4]
Millions of dollars are lost every day in organizations simply because of poor listening. In your company it may be only thousands, or hundreds, or maybe just twenty or fifty here and there. Whatever the amount, I'm guessing you would be amazed at how much money is lost due to poor listening skills.

The problem is that everyone wants to be heard first. Think about it: When people are striving to be heard and understood first, it's pretty hard for listening to occur.

Poor listening leads to assumptions and misunderstandings. These lead to errors, ineffective decisions, and/or costly mistakes. On a personal level, poor listening leads to hurt feelings and a loss of team cohesion. This deteriorates trust and weakens communication even further.

By connecting the dots, you can see that poor listening leads to lower profits.

The definition of listening

Hearing is one thing, listening is another. Before we continue, let's look at some definitions:

Hearing: The act of perceiving a sound by ear

Listening: Truly trying to understand another person's point of view

Hearing happens passively. If your ears are functioning as designed, you can hear. You don't have to think. Something happens that causes a noise, and if you're close enough, you can hear it.

On the other hand, listening requires an active, conscious choice. To listen, you must have a purpose in your heart and apply mental effort. You might even think of listening as a task that requires focused attention to get accomplished.

Getting past the obstacles

Fear is the largest obstacle that inhibits listening whenever disagreements exist. People are afraid that if they set their own perspective aside for a moment and truly strive to understand another person's point of view, several things may happen:

it will be perceived as agreement, even if no agreement exists

they'll learn something that shows their own perspective was incomplete

they won't get a chance for their own point of view to be heard

all of the above

Other obstacles exist for why we don't truly listen, but if we're going to get past them we must acknowledge one very important fact: Truly understanding someone else's point of view does not come naturally. It's a learned skill that always requires effort.
【373】

[Time 5]
The mechanics of listening

What follows are two steps that help with true listening. That said, know that these steps are only techniques. They will be effective only when they are born out of a sincere desire to understand.

If you don't have that desire, it might help to realize that nobody has all the answers, not even you. It also helps to realize that other perspectives have value, and that through true listening you can see a bigger picture and subsequently make better decisions. We could spend more time on the reasons to listen, but for now let's address the how.

Step One: Focus on the other person

To truly listen, start by focusing totally on the other person. This means making good eye contact and halting all unnecessary activity. You'll also need to put your own opinions aside for a moment (don't worry; you can share them them later). When focusing on another person you do no speaking. Instead, tune into the other person's body language and voice inflection to identify his/her core perspectives.

Inside your head you might even ask yourself, "What is this person thinking or feeling?" Is this person frustrated? Concerned? Thrilled? Happy? Disappointed? Is he or she describing a problem? Offering a solution to a problem? Expecting a particular action? Looking for help? Relaying information?

Strive to understand more than the person's words by looking for nuances in the thoughts and feelings surrounding their words. If you're visual, strive to see the picture that's inside the other person's head.

Step Two: Seek confirmation on what you perceived

During Step One you may think you understand what's being communicated, but the other person has no assurance that you do, and frankly, neither do you.

Verify your perceptions (which are simply "educated guesses" at this point) by getting confirmation from the other person. This can done several ways, but usually by asking questions. "If I understand you correctly, you're concerned about the deadline?" Or, inquisitively, "So you're concerned about the deadline?"

Confirmation questions should be genuine (ie, not jaded), and should allow the other person to say "yes, that's it," or "no, not quite."

If you hear "not quite," ask the person to clarify and then start over again. Until you can briefly sum up the other person's point of view to his/her satisfaction, true listening will not have occurred.

Try this process the next time you encounter a difference of opinion. It requires much patience and a strong desire to truly understand, but the result is almost always better working relationships, better decisions, and a better bottom line
【433】

Source: http://www.management-issues.com/opinion/6564/the-price-of-poor-listening/

Article 4:

Why you need to care about Puerto Rico's debt

[Time 6]
Over the last week both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have downgraded Puerto Rico’s bonds to “junk.” The move exacerbates the Island Commonwealth’s already crippling debt burden and raises the very real possibility that a US bailout could be needed to save it from a full-scale economic meltdown.

Puerto Rico has more than $70 billion in municipal debt outstanding, a sum comparable in size to New York and California, though both of those states have much larger underlying economies. Unlike those states or even the city of Detroit, Puerto Rico is unable to file for bankruptcy and restructure under the umbrella of American law. Puerto Rico is officially an unincorporated territory, leaving it in something of a grey area for legal purposes.

According to David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors, Puerto Rico’s debt obligations are about eigh times the size of what Detroit is facing but without the same safety net for investors. In the attached clip Kotok explains that Puerto Rico is already getting what amounts to $2 billion a year in the form of a tax credit from a law that dates all the way back to 1921. That figure alone would “be enough to pay all the interest on their debt for a year” according to Kotok but it certainly hasn’t helped so far.

If the IRS decides to rescind the $2 billion credit Puerto Rico could plunge into chaos, leaving the 400 some mutual funds across the US that own the territory’s existing debt holding the bag. That’s unlikely to happen, but given the deterioration in the PR economy, even with the subsidy and the credit agency downgrades that continue to drive up the cost of capital for the island nation it’s hard to see how this story ends well.

Wealth and the population of Puerto Rico are migrating away from the country, services are collapsing and the murder rate exceeds that of Chicago. The threat for US investors is a loss of our entire investment and the risk to Puerto Rico citizenry is disintegration into economic anarchy.

“If we had a financial institution with $110 billion of liability we would call it systemic,” Kotok concludes, “This is an island of 3.5 million poor people. It could be systemic.”

As the US nears the fifth anniversary of its own near systemic collapse it’s unlikely tax payers are ready to rubber stamp another way. For those with money in funds exposed to Puerto Rican debt it might be time to reassess the risk.
【415】

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/why-you-need-to-care-about-purto-rico-s-debt-122546984.html
 

kimwang53

Part III: Obstacle

Article 5:

The Right Way to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

[Paraphrase 7]
Thomas Jefferson once said that “honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom”. Though truth-telling abounds in grade school platitudes, it seems scarcer the older we get. But this decline in honesty — let’s call it dishonesty — isn’t necessarily innate. Dishonesty can be taught. In my experience, I’ve noticed that, of all culprits, college career centers are exceptional traffickers of such miseducation. In the process, they’re hurting their brightest students’ chances of making it in the world of startups by convincing them to give dishonest answers to tough interview questions.

Full disclosure: I work at a startup, and it’s my job to quickly build a team of the right people. Throughout my earlier career in larger companies, honesty and being self-critical have always been obvious qualities to look for in candidates, but it wasn’t until I joined Medallia that I realized their special significance for startups. Brandon Ballinger’s now famous blog post about his experience with Y Combinator’s Paul Graham shows why. To cut a long story short, Graham told Ballinger (to his face) that his startup idea sucked — a tough-love approach Ballinger now extols. Why? Well, in a startup, it’s much more comfortable to be a “team player” than “the bad guy,” as Ballinger describes it. The real hard work in a startup, however, is being able to openly admit that the current strategy is just not working — no matter how uncomfortable it is, or how much has been invested in getting to that point.

In other words: one of the biggest dangers for a young company is that a roomful of smart people who aren’t being honest could easily be steering their rocket ship into the ground.

And yet college career centers continue to operate in a 20th century world in which top talent was funneled into careers in mature, staid organizations and industries. These are cultures where people are much more likely to divulge their net worth than a weakness. While a mature organization might have once been able to get by with a “don’t stick your neck out” culture, that attitude is simply lethal to startups.

Nonetheless, the importance of this simple truth seems to still be elusive for the Office of Career Services at many of the nation’s top colleges and universities. Besides guidance on basic items like resumes, cover letters, how to dress, and how to eat, many of these schools are providing either no advice or bad advice on how to adequately answer important questions. Take a very common question that I always like to ask, for example:

What is your greatest weakness?

Even if you’ve only had just one professional interview in your life, then you’ve probably still been asked some version of this question. Do you remember how you answered? Did you say that you work too hard? That you have perfectionist tendencies? Or that you’re too passionate? Be honest.

The truth of that matter is that a quick search of career center websites indicates that students are being encouraged to apply this type of spin to their answers. Even for those that advocating for honesty, there’s often still the contradiction that one’s answers must always be positive. The result of which? Answers that focus on lesser skills (but still skills) rather than actual problems or challenges. One school goes as far as to call it an “angelic weakness.” And if you’re pressed to give a real answer about a flaw, nearly every career center in the universe has apparently decided that “public speaking” is an appropriate response.

Others are more direct at giving the advice that everyone seems familiar with — to make weaknesses into strengths (and vice versa). Northwestern tells grad students, “Turn a negative into a positive.” Boston College advises students to “Turn your weakness into a positive (for example) ‘Because I tend to procrastinate, I have learned to work well under pressure in order to always get work done on time.’”

This is terrible advice. Responses like these tell me little about how a candidate faces challenges and immediately implies a lack of sincerity. It doesn’t demonstrate to me how they think — beyond their ability to creatively avoid being honest or self-critical. It indicates to me that they’re not willing to stand up and say what’s not working — the opposite of what a startup needs. That’s why my recent interviews with college graduates have all started to follow the same pattern. I start with two sentences: “Forget what your career center has taught you about interviews. I want to have a real conversation with real answers, and I promise to do the same.” The candidates take a minute to evaluate whether I’m somehow tricking them. If they lean into their discomfort and take me at my word, the level of conversation improves dramatically — we have a great time getting to know one another in an authentic way. I’m not really looking to find out whether their organizational skills could use improvement, or that they struggle with presenting to large groups or even leading large teams. I’m trying to find out whether they have self-awareness; whether they are able to be critical; and most importantly, whether they’re able to tell the truth — when it’s difficult.

For those candidates who don’t buy in, however, I spend the majority of the interview trying to pry off their layers of canned responses. I leave the interview wondering: Who are you? And what’s worse — I’ll never know. Because they’ll never get the job.
【911】

Source：http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/the-right-way-to-answer-whats-your-greatest-weakness/

疏离无罪

再次的沙发～～～
interesting topic但是 不知道这在现实中的可行性怎么样
Speaker:The problems faced by US after the cold war.The biggest threat to security is not from outside but from inside.The america itself has many troubles in economy,social issues and so on.But the government put too much attention to show off and on outside issues.A good leader or policy is not enough to change the situation,Pain and cost are neede to be suffered.The job is lossing and the political system is not open enough.The world competition and tech improvement may be a big reason.So the government need to do more on education system and job training.Let more individuals to get new skills and be more competitive.A good president should play well in both inside and outside games.But Obama did more in outside games.

02:01
Not knwoing may make us feel uncomfortable and be defensive.But not knowing also can be a catalyst for creativity and insight.

01:00
Give up the idea that defending against what we don't know and ask youself some questions about the thing.Remember that it's ok not to know.

01:36
Poor listening may bring many losts.Listening is far different from hearing.Listening need to understand the words you have listened.The two big obstacle of listening is fear and skill.

01:19
Two steps to good listening(the premise is that you are desire to understand):1 forcus on the person you are talking with and ask yourself about his feelings 2 seek comfirmation on what you have heard.

02:06
Puerto Rico's debt problem is in high risk and the economy will melt down without help.What is more worse is that Puerto Rico can not bankrupt under the US law.Population and capital are migrating out this coutry for the dark future.And the US seems to be unable to give a hand.

06:03
Main Idea: Be honest in the interview
Honesty is important in many ways,especially in start-ups.Employees need to be honest to tell the truth about the current strategy.Even these words may be uncomfortable,but the un-worked strategy may be harmful to the new company.
Many carreer centers are still work in old ways.At 20th century,most students went to mature industry and this honesty is not necessary.But the 21th century is totally different.Old advices are always like this: the answer to your weakness must be positive and make weakness into strength.But these advices are terrible.Becuase they make you be lack of sincerety and not show really who you are.
So tell the truth may be a new advice to the interview.

sherlock1992

Thx, Kim!            
---------------------------------
2'08''
2'02''
2'15'' -> 1'49''
2'38''
2'30''

5'23'' <好文>

MAGGIEHE1993

首页~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~谢谢楼主~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
time2: 2min 35"
       We always tend to be "know-how" and want to feel in control. In fact, admitting not knowing is benefit for us. The passage
       also talked about the positive side of not knowing.

time3: 2min 01"
       The writer listed some questions for us to ask ourselves when we find something that we don't know. It's OK not to know!

time4: 2min 13"
       First the writer stated the price of lacking of listening skills and then said that listening is a learned skill that always
       requires effort.

time5: 2min 41"
       The writer describes the mechanics of listening. Step One: Focus on the other person; Step Two: Seek confirmation on what you
       perceived.

time6: 2min 53"
       Puerto Rico is experiencing systemic and its bond was downgraded by both Standard & Poor's and Moody's last week. It's time for
       those with money in funds exposed to Puerto Ricp to reassess the risk.

Obstacle: 6min 01"
          Honesty is very important. The writer thinks that dishonesty can be taught and college career centers are exceptional traffickers
          of such miseducation.
          The life experience of the writer himself. The writer stated that the real hard work in a startup is being able to openly admit that the
          current strategy is just not working.
          One of the biggest dangers of young companies is that a roomful young people are not honest.
          Qualities that are valued by large and mature organizations are lethal to young companies.
          However, many college career centers provide either no advice or bad advice on how to adequately answer important questions.
          The writer listed some examples that college career centers encourage students to answer the question"What's your greatest weakness?".
          The writer thinks that is terrible advice. He advocates candidates to answer honestly and tell the truth.

MAGGIEHE1993

sherlock1992 发表于 2014-2-15 05:17
Thx, Kim!

你每天都这个点起吗？？？？

ieveline

先签到！
谢谢楼主！

Speak
Prehistory
The strategy risk in from inside not outside.
--inside is underwork
--outside is work too much
Presedent can make difference.
People collective also can make difference.
American companies works well but not create jobs.
--Improve the educational systems to be more competive.
--system to provide lifelong studying.
--muli-way to provide education
leadership style of presedents
Speed
1--02:02
In west, not knowing is a problem, because people want to know to stay in control and propect their fragile egos.
In eastern culture, there is positiv side of not knowing.
2--01:20
Not-knowing is a part of everyday life and a chance to grow and learn new things.
3--02:07
Not listening makes companies lose money.
Sometime, we are just hearing not listening.
Listening needs attention and requires efforts
There are reasons that we do not listen.
One is fear. The other is listening needs efforts.
4--02:20
Two steps to listen:
1.Pay attention to the person who is speaking.
Try everyway to understand him/her by looking at him/her, thinking about the underlying reason why the tops comes from and etc.
2.See confirmation on what we perceived
Confirm the topic with the speak to make sure we fully understand them.
5--02:28
Hardly understand...
Puerto Rico seems have worse financial problem than detroit, but it can not file or bankrupt.
The environment in Puerto Rico gets worse.
Obstacle--05:14
Be honest is vaubled by author.
He criticed the tricks colleges teach their students how to spin the question-what is your weakness.
He won't hire the students who are not honest in his question.

云游

占座，别让他跑了！！！！
Time 1: 2'05''  In many of the western cultures, not knowing will lead people to pretend to be in the know with spucious assumptions, jargons, and techno-babbe, creating a feeling of uncertainty; In contrast,in the eastern culture, unknown has a positive effect that enables us to slow and dig deeper into the unfamiliar knowledge, therefore preparing us well for future challenges.
Time 2:1'59'' Not knowing is bascially a part of our lives, so there is no need to defend ourselves against unknowns; rather, giving us the need to be expert frees us from ego, blaming, judging, or needing to be right.
Time 3:1'37'' Unlike hearing which can be made as long as our audio system functions well, successful listenning requires a lot of mental effort.
Time 4: 1'45'' To put in more initiated efforts in listenning and clarify more on your and respondent's information, we're able to create a more efficient communication.
Time 5: 1'35'' The debt credibility in Puerto Rico is in the worst situation in its history, not only deteriorating not only its domestic economy but also influencing part of the economy on its neighbouring country.

jokerking

占之~   又有首页啦~
spd： 2.14   1.44   1.59   2.18   2.22
OB： 5.30
honest is a virtue,but most of us are taught to be dishonest--honesty and self-critical is very important in a startup--some career centers provide uncorrect answer to graduates in some special questions-- when to answer the question of " What is your greatest weakness?", career centers encourage prople to say positive things or make the weakness into strength-- author always propose interviewer to be real.