乔布斯传 第490期:连点成线(1)

 Connecting the Dots 连点成线

Once a year Jobs took his most valuable employees on a retreat, which he called "The Top 100." 每年，乔布斯都会带着他最有价值的员工进行一次百杰外出集思会。

They were picked based on a simple guideline: 这100名员工是这样被选出来的：

the people you would bring if you could take only a hundred people with you on a lifeboat to your next company. 如果你只能带上100人跳上救生船去开创下一家公司，你会带上谁？

At the end of each retreat, Jobs would stand in front of a whiteboard 在每一次秘密会议结束时，乔布斯会站在一块白板前

(he loved whiteboards because they gave him complete control of a situation and they engendered¹ focus) （他非常喜欢白板，因为白板能让他完全掌控现场，而且方便讨论要点），

and ask, "What are the ten things we should be doing next?" 问大家：“我们下一步应该做的十件事情是什么？”

People would fight to get their suggestions on the list. 人们会互相争论，让自己的建议能被采纳。

Jobs would write them down, and then cross off the ones he decreed dumb. 乔布斯会把这些建议写下来，然后再删掉那些他认为愚蠢的。

After much jockeying, the group would come up with a list of ten. 几轮辩论下来，整个小组将最终确定前十大“最应该做的事”。

Then Jobs would slash² the bottom seven and announce, "We can only do three." 乔布斯会把最后七件全部画掉，然后宣布：“我们只能做前三件。”

 

1 engendered   

v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The issue engendered controversy. 这个问题引起了争论。
• The meeting engendered several quarrels. 这次会议发生了几次争吵。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。