李开复

Kai-Fu Lee

选择的智慧选择的智慧

Wisdom of ChoiceWisdom of Choice

2

21st Century: A Century of Choice

“The most important event is not technology or Internet.

It is … for the first time …

Substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices.

For the first time, they will have to manage themselves.”

Peter DruckerPeter Drucker

3

How to make better choices?

3. Pragmatism

2. Flexibility

4. Objectivity

7. Courage

6. Perspective

5. Self-Awareness

1. Moderation

8. Follow Your Heart

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6 Wise Waysto Choose

1. Moderation to Avoid Extremities: “The Middle Way” 中庸

Cowardice

Blindly Follow

Arrogance

FatalisticBully

Quixotic

ExtremeExtreme

ModerateModerate

Pro-Active

Self-Confidence

Serenity

Empathy

Self-Critical

Courage

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How to choose the right way?

It depends!

2. The flexibility to decide situationally: 择善而从

Pro-Active

Self-Confidence

Serenity

Empathy

Self-Critical

Courage

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2. Flexibility ： I disagrees with my boss; should I tell him?

N

Is he open-

minded ？

Is he open-

minded ？

Do not challege; get a new boss

Do not challege; get a new boss

Y

Bring up constructively

Bring up constructively

否

N

Y

Speak openlySpeak openly

Has he made up

his mind?

Has he made up

his mind?

Is this in a large forum?

Is this in a large forum?

Y YIs this in a large forum?

Is this in a large forum?

Do not challenge him

Do not challenge him

N

Speak openlySpeak openly

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2. Flexibility: Leadership

6 。 Coaching

5 。 Accountable

4 。 Democratic

3 。 Harmonious

2 。 Visionary

1 。 Directive

6 Leadership Styles

Best leader ： those who can possess all six styles,

And flexibly decide on the style that applies to the situation

Company needs to move to a new directionLeader is a good motivator

Employees are domain expertsOr when task is easy

When employee knows more than the leaderOr when the leader doesn’t hold an opinion

Employees are highly motivated but lacks experienceLeader is a good teacher

Employees are pro-active and capableLeader will lead by example

Company under crisisEmployee not experienced

Applicable when: Effective Leadership, D. Goleman

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3. The Pragmatism to Pick Your Battles

Steve Covey

“7 Habits”

NoInfluence

IndirectlyInfluence

DirectlyInfluence

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NoInfuence

3. The Pragmatism to Pick Your Battles

IndirectlyInfluence

DirectlyInfluence

1 。 Focus

Accept things you cannot change

2 。 Increase circle of influence

Change “indirect” to “direct”

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4. The Objectivity to Analyze Your Options

Worst case scenario

– What’s the worst that could happen?

– Can I accept that?

– How can I do better than the worst case?

What is the probability of success?

– If you think your likelihood of success is in the 40-70% range, you should do it. Waiting longer could cost you more.

Colin Powell

Pros & cons analysis

– Forces you to be objective

– Solicit others to analyze

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4. Objectivity: Pros & Cons Analysis

Stay Join Weight W Stay W Join

Learn new technologies 2 4 2 4 8

Good manager 1 4 3 3 12

Like my work 3 4 3 9 12

Empowered, set own agenda 3 4 3 9 12

Larger job 5 2 1 5 2

Career growth opportunities 4 3 3 12 9

Enjoyable work environment 3 4 2 6 8

Have high credibility 5 1 1 5 1

Make more money 3 3 3 9 9

29 29 62 73

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5. The Self-Awareness to Set Expectations

If you lack self-awareness

• If you set expectations too high…

– Result in disappointment, blame transfer

• If you set too low expectation…

– Result in not stretching yourself, taking risks

If you have self-awareness, you…

• Won’t give up on any failure

• Won’t be complacent on any success

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6. The Perspective to Learn from Mistakes

“What is wisdom?”

“Making good decisions”

“How do I make good decisions?”

“Experience.”

“How do I gain experience.”

“Make bad decisions.”

“The journey is the reward”

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6. Perspective : How I benefited from failures

Resolution BenefitFailure

Learn communication

skills

Became a good speaker &

communicator

Voted “Worst Teacher”in 1984

It’s not innovation that

matters, but useful innovaton

that matters

“Useful innovation” became hallmark of

my career

Forced to disband an innovative team in 1998

A failure is not a punishment, but an opportunity for resolution & benefit

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7. The Courage to Let Go

To choose one thing, you may have to forgo another

– The more you possess, the harder it is to let go

– Keep in mind: best opportunities are transient

Peak?

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7. Courage: How I let go

No learningany more &

want to move to China

Joined Google China

Impact to Google, China, Chinese students

2005: Let go of Microsoft career

& connections

Not seeing research turn

into real impact

Work in industry

Products from past 17 years of industrial R&D

1990: Let go of 2 years of tenure-

track work

No passion

Reason

Accomplishments in the Computer Science in the

past 20 yrs

Change to Computer

Science Major

1980: Let go of 1 year of work in pre-law major

Result BenefitLet go of…

Expert system approach not

scalable

Built basis of modern speech recognition

technologies & products

Use machine learning and

statistical approach

1984: Let go of 1 year of work on

Ph.D. thesis

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8. The Courage to Follow Your Heart

• Heart ：– Value : What is right?

• Newspaper test

– Purpose: What do I want my life to be?• Tombstone test

– Passion : What do I love doing?• If you find a job you love, you will never work a day in your life.”

• Best way to find your passion: “Stay hungry; stay foolish”

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Wisdom of Choice:

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything else is secondary.

Steve JobsStanford Commencement

2005