1、 翻译评论 QQ 群：54592418牛斯狗评论 系列双语读物 财经类Richard Branson: Five Questions on Business Philosophy理查德布兰森：商业理念的五个问题The celebrated entrepreneur offers his views on advice, inspiration, motivation and regret. 著名的企业家分享对建议、灵感、动机和遗憾的看法。 I thought it would be helpful to answer the five questions I am asked most oft
2、en on my travels. They cover advice, inspiration, motivation and regret. Let me know if you have other questions you are keen to know the answers to.我认为，回答这五个在旅途中人们最常问的问题，对大家有所帮助。它们涵盖了建议、灵感、动机和遗憾。如果你们有其他想了解的问题，请告诉我。1. What is the best advice you ever got?翻译评论 QQ 群：54592418牛斯狗评论 系列双语读物 财经类1、你曾经得到的最好建
3、议是什么？ Three gems come to mind. First, an enduring one from my mother, Eve, who always taught me never to look back in regret but to move on to the next thing. The amount of time people waste dwelling on failures rather than putting that energy into another project always amazes me. I have had fun ru
4、nning all of the Virgin businesses, so I never see a setback as a bad experience; it is just a learning curve.三件美好的往事浮现在我的脑海。首先是我母亲伊芙常常教育我，永远不要遗憾地回顾过往，而要开始做下一件事。人们喜欢把时间浪费在追究失败上，而不是把精力投入于另一个项目，这种情况令人吃惊。我在所有维珍业务的运作过程中获得了乐趣，所以，我从来未将挫折视为糟糕的经历；它只是一条学习曲线。My mother also told me not to openly criticize othe
5、r people. If she heard me speaking ill of someone, she would make me stand in front of the mirror for five minutes and stare at myself. Her reasoning? All my critical talk was a poor reflection on my own character.我母亲还告诉我，不要公开批评其他人。如果她听到我指责别人，她会让我在镜子前站五分钟，凝视自己。这样做的理由？我所有的苛责言辞都是性格缺陷的写照。 In the 1980s
6、Freddie Laker, the British airline executive, gave me a great piece of advice on setting up my own airline. He told me two key things: “Youll never have the advertising power to outsell British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you w
7、ont survive.” He also wisely said: “Make sure you appear on the front page and not the back pages.” Ive followed that advice ever since. Ive been very visible and made a fool of myself on more than one occasion.翻译评论 QQ 群：54592418牛斯狗评论 系列双语读物 财经类在上世纪 80 年代，在我建立自己的航空公司时，英国航空公司经理弗雷迪雷克尔给了我大量建议。他跟我提到两个关键
8、事项：“你的广告威力永远不可能超过英国航空。你要跳出这个框框，发挥自己的优势。让自己出丑，否则，你无法生存。 ” 他也还明智地说：“让你出现在媒体的首页，而不是封底。 ” 从那以后我一直遵照这些建议行事。我始终出现在公众的视线中，在很多场合让自己出丑。2. And the worst advice?2、最糟糕的建议呢？ Id never embarrass the person who gave it by revealing that. Advice comes in many forms. I believe in never asking just one person but in a
9、sking many. Opinions always vary. By asking several people what they think, you get many angles and can weigh them all. This way, you are never considering just one persons opinion, so no one piece of advice is ever truly bad.我从来不会让提建议的人难堪。建议有多种形式。我认为永远不要只向一个人请教，而是要询问很多人的意见。建议往往不一致。但是，向很多人征求意见，你会得到来
10、自不同角度的意见，可以加以权衡。如此一来，你就不会只考虑一个人的见解，所以，没有一种建议是完全错误的。3. What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs on how best to start?3、您要向年轻的企业家提供什么建议，让他们更顺利地起步？ To remember that it is impossible to run a business without taking risks. Virgin would not be the company it is today if we had not taken risks al
11、ong the way. You really do have to believe in what you are doing. Devote yourself to it 100 percent and be prepared to take a few hits along the way. If you go into something expecting it to fail, nine times out of 10, it will.翻译评论 QQ 群：54592418牛斯狗评论 系列双语读物 财经类要记住，经营企业不可能不冒风险。如果我们不是一路敢冒风险，维珍公司就不会有今天
12、。你确实要相信你正在做的事情。百分百地投入，并做好沿途遭遇挫折的准备。如果你预期某件事情注定失败，结果十有八九会是这样。Above all, remember to have fun with it. That keeps you and your colleagues enthusiastic and motivated. One of my favorite sayings summarizes this perfectly: “The brave may not live forever - but the cautious do not live at all!”最重要的是，记得要享受
13、它的乐趣。这会使你和你的同事保持热情和积极性。我喜欢的一句格言能完美地总结这一点：“勇敢的人不会长生不老，但谨小慎微的人根本无法生存。 ” 4. In your career you have had lots of successes, but you have failed in some businesses. What have you learned from those?4、在你的职业生涯中有很多的成功，但在一些事业中遭遇失败。你得到了什么教训？As an entrepreneur you have to learn very quickly that theres no such
14、 thing as a failure. Looking back on Virgins history, our ability to adapt quickly to changes has helped mitigate reverses. You must be quick to accept that something is not going well and either change tack or close the business. We run our companies lean and small; there is very little red tape an
15、d certainly no bureaucracy. We make and implement decisions quickly - usually before our competitors in the market have held their fifth meeting on the same issue.作为一位企业家，你必须很快学会没有失败这回事。回顾维珍的历史，我们迅速适应变化的能力有助于减轻挫折。你必须快速接受业务不顺利的事实，要么设法改变，要么关闭生意。我们精简机构；极少有繁文缛节，当然也没有官僚主义。我们快速地制定和执行决策，往往在我们的竞争对手还在就同样问题举行
16、第五次会议前，就率先行动。 翻译评论 QQ 群：54592418牛斯狗评论 系列双语读物 财经类Though I believe in taking risks, I also firmly believe in “protecting the downside.” This means working out in advance all the things that could go wrong and making sure you have all those eventualities covered. We have come close to failure many time
17、s. Most entrepreneurs skirt close to it. I nearly failed when Virgin was in its infancy, I nearly failed in the early 1980s, and, of course, I have nearly died more than once trying to achieve world records for boating or ballooning. But through a combination of luck and planning, both Virgin and I
18、are still here.虽然我认为要敢于冒险，我也坚信“未雨绸缪。 ”这意味着在出问题之前作出预案，确保已经考虑到所有可能性。有几次我们曾接近失败。大多数企业家会绕道而行。在上世纪 80 年代初维珍公司创始阶段，我几乎功亏一篑，当然，为了创造划船或乘坐热气球的世界纪录，我也多次差点儿丧命。但是，在好运和规划的双重作用下，维珍和我都还健在。5. Do you have any regrets?5、你有什么遗憾？ There are always things in life that you might regret, and there are probably a lot of bus
19、iness decisions I regret - but I try not to dwell on them. I move on to more positive things.生活中总有遗憾，可能也有一些让我遗憾的商业决策。但是，我尽量不要老想这些事。我会去做更积极的事情。One missed opportunity does rankle still. That was the chance to run the United Kingdoms national lottery. Our proposal was to run a not-for-profit game, with
20、 much of the money going to good causes, but we were just beaten by the eventual winner.有一件事确实让我难以释怀。那就是经营英国国家彩票的机会。我们翻译评论 QQ 群：54592418牛斯狗评论 系列双语读物 财经类的方案是运作一个不以营利为目的的游戏，将钱用在公益事业上，但是，最终我们没有获胜。 We have moved on and set up Virgin Unite, our foundation, to act as the catalyst to helping others and gal
21、vanizing our companies into action. It has been crucial in helping us establish The Elders and The Carbon War Room, initiatives aimed at solving conflict and helping to combat climate change.我们继续前进，建立了我们的基金维珍国际，作为帮助他人的媒介，激励公司采取行动。它在帮助我们建立老年基金和碳作战室中发挥了关键作用，这个组织旨在解决冲突和协助应对气候变化。 And finally, I am often asked: Are you a man of habits?最后，常有人问我：你是习惯的奴隶吗？ I guess being a serial entrepreneur is a pretty big habit.我想，多次创业是一个相当大的习惯。
