如何從前臺接待做到公司CEO

Karen Kaplan didn’t even want to work in advertising when she applied for her first job at the Boston-based ad firm Hill Holliday. At the age of 22, Kaplan walked into the company’s office for an interview to be a receptionist. She was looking for a low-commitment job that would help pay the bills while she saved money for law school and studied for the LSAT. Some 32 years later, Kaplan hasn’t left Hill Holliday. Now, after having 16 different jobs at the firm, she’s the company’s chief executive.

在向波士頓廣告公司Hill Holliday申請第一份工作時，凱倫o卡普蘭甚至都沒有想過投身廣告業。當時22歲的卡普蘭來公司面試的職位是前臺。當時，她正在攢錢攻讀法學院，而且正忙着法學院入學考試，所以她希望找一份能幫助支付賬單的低投入工作。而32年後，卡普蘭並沒有離開Hill Holliday。她在Hill Holliday先後擔任過16個不同的崗位，現任公司首席執行官。

The receptionist turned CEO talked to Fortune about her unpredictable career path, what it was like to work in advertising in the 1980s, and the best advice she ever had.

從前臺成爲公司CEO的卡普蘭，對《財富》雜誌（Fortune）講述了自己出乎意料的職業道路，上世紀80年代廣告人的實際處境，以及她得到的最好建議。

(Edited for length and clarity)

（因篇幅和清晰度對內容進行了編輯）

Fortune: When did you realize that you might want to work in advertising?

《財富》雜誌：你什麼時候發現自己可能想進入廣告業？

Karen Kaplan:When I got off the elevator for my first interview at Hill Holliday, I really liked the vibe and the energy. I was previously told by the recruiter that the then-CEO that I was interviewing with had already rejected 40 candidates. I wasn’t all in, but I wanted to see if I could get it. The 20 minutes that I sat in reception waiting for that interview became really really important to the rest of my career. It was a vibe and an energy that was magnetic and then when I got into his office for the interview, I really wanted the job.

凱倫o卡普蘭：第一次去Hill Holliday面試的時候，我一走出電梯，便喜歡上了那裏的氛圍和活力。之前，招聘人員告訴我，即將對我進行面試的時任CEO已經否定了40位候選人。我並沒有爲面試投入全部精力，但我也想看看自己能否得到認可。在前臺等待面試的20分鐘，對我之後的職業生涯有着非常重要的意義。我感覺到一種極具吸引力的氛圍和活力，當我走進他的辦公室接受面試的時候，我真的很想得到那份工作。

Did you take your receptionist job seriously?

你有認真對待前臺這份工作嗎？

One of the things the then-CEO said to me changed my life and my career ambitions. When I got the job, he looked at me and said, “Congratulations, you are now the face and the voice of Hill Holliday.” The face and the voice of the company should be the CEO, so I remember thinking in that moment that I was going to be the CEO of the reception desk. I was going to be the best damned receptionist in history and that’s how I approached the job. I took it really seriously. I didn’t just bide my time out there. I took it very seriously and I paid attention. It was the perfect perch to study people and get to know everybody and figure things out.

時任CEO對我說過的一件事，改變了我的一生和職業理想。得到工作之後，他看着我說：“恭喜你，你現在就是Hill Holliday的形象代言人了。”公司的形象代言人應該是CEO，所以當時我想，我將是前臺的CEO。我將成爲史上最優秀的前臺，這就是我當時對這份工作的看法。我非常認真地對待這份工作。我沒有消磨時間，而是非常認真地對待它，並注意觀察。在這個位置上，可以很好地研究形形色色的人，瞭解所有人，可以想清楚很多事情。

What was it like working in advertising in the 1980s?

上世紀80年代的廣告人是一種什麼樣的工作狀態？

The world in the 1980s for working women, particularly in advertising, was not far evolved from what you see in Mad Men, which was set in the 1960s. I always say we made a lot more progress in the last 20 or 30 years. When my kids were babies in the 1990s, women in the workplace kind of hid their kids. If you had kids, people would assume you couldn’t travel, without having any idea what your partner situation was. A woman with kids could be considered an excuse for not being given a job, promotion or assignment. Now, there is this transparency and celebration of women that I’ve never seen before. Women are in the social consciousness and are front and center now.

上世紀80年代，對於職場女性的處境來說，尤其是廣告行業，和以60年代爲背景的《廣告狂人》（Mad Men）相比沒有太大變化。我經常說在過去二三十年間，我們有了更多進步。上世紀90年代，我的孩子們年幼的時候，職場女性經常會隱瞞有孩子的事實。如果你有孩子，人們就斷定你無法出差，而沒有考慮你的配偶是否可以照看孩子。公司會以有孩子爲理由，拒絕爲女性提供工作、升職或任務。如今，有關性別的透明度和社會對女性的頌揚，是我前所未見的。女性具有了社會意識，並且成爲社會的中堅力量。

What is one example of working in the Mad Men-era of advertising?

能否舉個例子，說明一下《廣告狂人》時期廣告人的處境？

One of our executive creative directors didn’t just have a bar in his office. His office was a bar. It was a U-Shaped bar, beautiful mahogany, and he would sit behind the bar on the bar stool and write his copy. After I worked as a receptionist, I was a project manager, and I had an old-school Rolodex with the numbers of all the bartenders at all the bars around us because I would have to go find the writers to get their copy.

我們公司一位執行創意總監不僅僅是在他的辦公室開了一家酒吧，他的辦公室就是一個酒吧，裏面有一個U形吧檯，使用漂亮的桃花心木製成，他會坐在吧檯後面的高腳凳上撰寫文案。做了一段時間前臺接待後，我成爲一名項目經理，那時候，我有一本老式的聯絡簿，上面有附近所有酒吧調酒師的電話號碼，因爲我得通過這些號碼找到撰稿人，拿到文案。

Were you surprised when you became CEO?

成爲CEO，你是否感到意外？

It wasn’t like I started in 1982 as a receptionist and decided I was going to be CEO of this company some day. I never planned on spending my entire career here. I went to four different undergraduate schools in four years. I was the last person to spend her entire career at one company. If you ask my mother or my husband, they always said I would be running the company some day. They meant it.

1982年成爲公司前臺的時候，我並沒有決定以後一定要成爲這家公司的CEO。我從沒打算在這裏度過自己的職業生涯。我曾經在四年裏上了四所本科學校。我是最不可能在一家公司度過整個職業生涯的人。如果你問我媽媽或我丈夫，他們總是說，我以後肯定會成爲這家公司的操盤者。他們確實是這麼想的。

What type of leader are you?

你是哪種類型的領導者？

Great leaders are more impressed with what they don’t know than what they know. I think a lot of leaders are know-it-alls. The moment you think you know everything, you are dead. I am very curious. I can always do better and get better and I embrace change and I feel like everyone brings a different perspective and everyone sees the world differently. If you are not open to that, you might as well call it a day. Because I basically had every job at Hill Holliday, I respect that great ideas can come from everywhere and anyone.

相對於已知的事情，偉大的領導者會更關注未知的事情。我認爲，許多領導者會自認爲無所不知。如果你有這樣的想法，那你註定會失敗。我有強烈的好奇心。我總能做得更好和變得更好，我勇於改變，我感覺每個人都能帶來不同的視角，因爲每個人會從不同的角度看待這個世界。如果你不能以開放的心態面對不同的觀念，不如就此打住。我幾乎從事過Hill Holliday的每一份工作，所以我認爲，任何地方和任何人都能產生優秀的創意。

What do you look for when hiring new employees?

在招聘新員工時，你看重什麼？

One of my hallmarks is to give someone a job that they think is beyond their capability and then to believe in them. Because you believe in them, they believe in themselves. I was really the beneficiary of that. I was given things to do that I had no experience of background doing, but I was given the opportunity to grow.

我有一個特點，就是會給一個人安排他認爲超出自己能力範圍的工作，然後相信他們能夠成功。因爲你相信他們，他們便會相信自己。我本人便是這種做法的受益者。我曾經被安排做過許多沒有任何經驗的工作，但這些都成爲推動我不斷成長的機會。

What is the worse advice you ever had?

你得到的最糟糕的建議是什麼？

The worst career advice I ever had was to conform and not celebrate my differences. For me, I always wanted to highlight what makes me different and accentuate my personal differences. Being a woman, I never wanted to dress like a man or blend in. Today, in 2014, I am often the only woman in a meeting with lots of men. Personal differences should be accentuated.

我得到的最糟糕的建議是，要順從而不是張揚自己的與衆不同之處。對我而言，我一直希望突出自己的不同之處和個體差異性。作爲女性，我不希望像男士一樣穿着，或者放棄自己的個性，隨波逐流。即使到了2014年，我經常是會議室裏唯一的女性。必須強調個體差異。

What is the best?

你得到的最好的建議是什麼？

My sister and I would always run home with some accomplishment like a good report card or some sport award and my father would say, “You know Karen, a pat on the back is just six inches from a kick in the but.” I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me. At the end of the day, that was the reminder that you should never become too impressed with yourself or get too accustomed to success. For me it is about humility and not taking yourself so seriously.

我姐姐和我經常會把一些成績帶回家炫耀，比如優秀的成績單或體育比賽獎品，我父親會說：“凱倫，你知道嗎，表揚與懲罰之間，只相隔六英寸。”我當時並不理解他的話。最後我明白，父親是要提醒我，永遠不要認爲自己了不起或習慣於成功。我的理解是要保持謙遜，不要把自己太當回事。