越来越受年轻专业人士青睐的5大成功关键素质

5 Key Qualities For Success That Increasingly Favor Young Professionals

“变化”和“不确定性”这两个词定义了我们今天的世界。中国经济正经历着重大转变，越来越重视消费者和服务，英国脱欧、特朗普当选美国总统也有着巨大影响。此外，颠覆性技术（例如移动应用、社交媒体、人工智能）和新的商业模式（例如O2O /线上线下、P2P /点对点（如Uber，AirBNB）、共享办公空间）也在不断发展，冲击甚至改变着各行各业的各个公司。

Change and uncertainty, these are two words that define our world today. There’s China’s major shift towards a more consumer and service-based economy, the huge implications from Britxit, and Donald Trump’s new presidency. In addition, there’s the constant development of disruptive technologies (e.g. mobile applications, social media, artificial intelligence, etc.) and new business models (e.g. O2O/online-to-offline, P2P/peer-to-peer (ex. Uber, AirBNB), etc.) that are transforming industries and companies.

这些事件不仅对人们的职业产生着巨大影响，还意味着企业和个人想要成功，就得培养新能力和新特质。要想在这个“勇敢”的“新世界”中取得成功，有五种特质正变得越来越重要。实际上，这些特质中的大部分更有利于年轻的职场人士。总体而言，拥有这五种品质的人将比其他人获得更大的成功。

Not only do all these events have a huge impact on your career situation, they also mean new capabilities and qualities that are needed to be successful, whether you’re a business or an individual. In response, certain qualities are becoming increasingly important to succeed in this brave, new world.  Here are five that are becoming more and more critical. Actually, most of these qualities favor younger professionals. Overall though, in today’s market conditions, those who have them will achieve greater success over those who don't . 

1）敏捷 － 与“敏捷”相对的是“反应迟缓”。要想在当今商业环境中跟上快速的变化和不可预测性，你需要能够对变化做出快速反应。这并不是让你对周围的一切盲目地做出回应。但如果你在采取新方向和新情况时感到困难，那么你会面临巨大的挑战和困难。

1) Nimble – The opposite of nimble is slow to react or respond. However, to keep up with the fast-paced change and lack of predictability in today’s business environment, you need to be able to respond quickly to change. This doesn’t mean reacting blindly to everything going on around you. But if you’re someone who has a hard time getting yourself to move in new directions and to take on new situations, you’re going to face big challenges and difficulties in your career.

虽然敏捷未必是只有年轻人拥有的品质，但灵活和变化这两个词和能力通常是和更年轻和更有活力的人联系在一起的。

While being nimble is not necessarily a quality that only young people possess, this word and the ability to change and be flexible are usually associated with those who tend to be younger and more energetic.

2）适应性 － 每个行业和公司都面临着前所未见的挑战，许多传统情况和成熟的商业模式正经历着巨大的变化。一个很好的例子便是电子商务对所有处于消费品、消费者服务或零售相关行业人员产生的影响。另一个是社交媒体对营销、公关或通讯行业人员的影响。

2) Adaptable – With every industry and company facing challenges that they’ve never seen before, many traditional situations and proven business models are undergoing dramatic change. A good example is the impact that e-commerce is having on anyone who is in a consumer products, consumer services, or retail industry. Another is the effect of social media on everyone in a marketing, PR, or communications function. 

这就是典型的“适者生存”。在当今世界，你的思想不能太过保守，不能抵触变化。无法适应当今的新现实，你的业务竞争力便会锐减。相反，如果你能接受变化和新情况，接受它们已经成为了这个世界的一部分，你便会更加成功。

These days, you can’t be someone who thinks too conservatively or is resistant to change. If you can’t adapt to today’s new realities, you’ll become less competitive in what you do. Conversely, you’re going to be much more successful if you can be open to the changes and new realities that are a growing part of our world.

再说一次，年轻的职场人未必有天生的适应能力。但因为更少经验，更少根深蒂固的习惯，和更少的既成的做事方法，他们不必在尝试新的事情之前首先改变一些事情。

Again, younger professionals do not necessarily have a more natural ability to be adaptable. However, with less experience and fewer engrained habits and existing ways of doing things, they don’t have to change something first before they try something new.

3）学习能力 － 随着你周围的商务情况发生改变，你也必须做出改变。这意味着你要具备学习新技能的能力，以便运用对我们生活影响越来越大的新技术、新平台和新渠道。尤为重要的是，你的软技能，特别是沟通交际能力有多强？运用社交媒体的能力如何？融入数字世界的程度如何？

3) Trainable – As business realities around you change, so must you. This means your ability to learn new skills that can allow you to utilize the new technologies, platforms, and channels that are becoming a bigger part of our lives. In particular, how strong are your soft skills, especially your communication and people skills?  How capable are you with social media?  How much are you able to participate in today’s digital world? 

虽然这些因素可能在之前对你的工作和事业成功不太重要，但如今世道变了。因此，快速学习新知识的能力是取得持续成功的一个重要因素。

While all of these may have been less relevant to your job and career success before, that’s not the case now. As such, your ability to learn new things fairly quickly is an essential factor for your ongoing success.

与适应性类似的，年轻的职场人不需要在学习新事物时消除老的习惯。打个比方，在我们公司，我们招的年轻人没有做猎头的相关经验，但是他们学得反而更快，表现得比其他之前有相关经验的人更出色。对年轻人来说，除了你教的法子，他们也不会别的。相比起来，那些之前有经验的人则需要不断去消除老的习惯和方法带来的反作用。

Similar to adaptable, younger professionals don’t need to undo or unlearn something before they learn something new. For instance, in our company, the younger staff we hire with no recruitment experience always learn our consulting approach faster and perform better than those who have previous recruitment experience that is heavily sales-oriented. With no other way to do it, our younger staff just do what we teach them. While those with recruitment experience struggle to resist their previous habits and approach.

4）表达能力 － 无论你喜欢与否，我们现在都处于社交媒体的时代，它影响着我们个人和职业生活的方方面面。能与他人建立联系的人比其他人拥有更大优势。即使你不处于营销、销售或前端岗位，清晰沟通、传达信息、向他人表达独特价值的能力对成功的重要性也在与日俱增。

4) Expressive – Like it or not, we are now in the age of social media, which is impacting so many aspects of our personal and professional lives. Those who are able to reach out and connect with others have a big advantage over those who are less able to do this. Even if you’re not a marketing, sales, or front-end professional, your ability to communicate clearly, deliver messages, and express your unique value to others is becoming increasingly relevant to your success.

如果你是20多岁的人，社交媒体已经成为你生活和与人交流的一部分。但是对于我们许多年长的人来说，如此公开和频繁地发布我们的想法和评论不是我们的习惯。

If you’re someone in your 20s, you pretty much grew up in the social media era. It’s always been a part of your life and way of communicating with others. While for many of us who are older, posting our thoughts and comments so openly and frequently on social media is not our habit.

5）上进心 － 事实上，我主要将这个特质和变化的工作环境相联系。我这代人中的大多数面临的就业形势意味着一个更加正式的公司环境。它是有组织结构的的，清晰的。公司告诉你什么时候怎样去做每一件事。

5) Self-driven – Actually, I mainly relate this quality to the changing orientation of work situations and environments. I’m part of the generation where the employment situation for most meant a more formal, corporate environment. It was structured and defined for you. The company told you when and how to do just about everything. 

然而，今天许多就业情况和职业选择正朝着小公司和更灵活、更有吸引力、员工觉得更舒适的办公环境发展。然而，要想在这种环境中好好表现，你要做到自律，能管理好自己，主动完成工作。

Today, however, the direction of many employment situations and career choices is heading towards smaller, entrepreneurial companies and more flexible, attractive and employee friendly office environments. However, to work well in these environments, you need to be someone who is disciplined and who can self-manage yourself to get things done. 

例如，我最近遇到了一个朋友，他正在经营着Naked Hub（一家快速成长的共享办公空间公司）的一项业务。虽然很满意目前的工作环境，但他很快也说，“问题是，我很难约束自己。”如果你的办公环境比较宽松，这也是个大问题。你可能会更加享受工作环境，但不一定能有效、成功地工作。

For instance, I caught up with a friend recently who is running a business out of the Naked Hub here in Shanghai, a fast-growing, shared office space company. However, while he was enthusiastic about how great his working environment is, he was also quick to say, “The problem though is at I have a hard time disciplining and motivating myself.” Well, if you’re working in a much less formal work situation, this is a huge problem. You may enjoy where you work more, but you’re not necessarily going to work more effectively and successfully.

事实上，就这一点而言，年轻人并不一定更能自我激励。但这一代人看重更加灵活变通工作环境。除了激励自我的能力，在一个更灵活变通的环境里表现自己的关键是自律。

Actually, in this regard, younger professionals are not necessarily more self-driven. But they are part of a generation that values and seeks more flexible, less structured work situations. Beyond the ability to independently drive yourself though, the key to performing in a more flexible, less structured situation is also having the discipline to manage yourself.

正如我所说，以上这些特质往往在处于职业生涯早期阶段的年轻职场人士身上体现得更明显。就像俗话说的，旧习惯是很难改的。这意味着你年龄越大，越难改变。所以，如果你目前工作经验还不太丰富，请不要担心，看看自己是否拥有这些对成功影响力越来越大的特质。目前，许多与职业成功相关的因素正朝着有利于你的方向发展，你甚至可能会比那些工作年限比你久，比你资深的人拥有更大的优势。

As I mentioned, the above qualities tend to be stronger in younger professionals who are at an earlier stage of their career. As the saying goes, old habits are hard to break. The older you get the more difficult it becomes to change. So if you’re someone who doesn’t have much experience at this point in your career, take heart! Instead, see how much you possess these qualities that are becoming increasingly relevant for your success. Many things that relate to career success these days are evolving in your direction, where you may even have an advantage over those who are older and more experienced than you.