Learning from mistakes is the best education - if you can afford the tuition.
從錯誤中學習是最好的教育——如果你能負擔得起學費的話。
Much cheaper and safer is to learn from mistakes of others.
從別人的錯誤中吸取教訓要便宜得多，也安全得多。
So what can we learn from a multi-billion mistake of putting Marissa Mayer in charge of Yahoo, the company I always admired?
那麼，我們能從瑪麗莎•梅耶爾(Marissa Mayer)執掌的，我一直欽佩的雅虎(Yahoo)，這個數十億美元的錯誤中，學到什麼呢?
1. Experience 經驗
I would not trust a brillian trocket scientist to do a heart transplant on me. Why anyone thought that a highly intelligent person with no turn around experience, no experience in running large enterprises, and no real management experience is the right person to run Yahoo ?
我不會相信一個聰明的火箭推進器科學家會給我做心臟移植手術。為什麼會有人認為一個高智商的人，沒有扭轉局面的經驗，沒有管理大型企業的經驗，沒有實際管理經驗的人是經營雅虎的合適人選呢?
2. Compatibility 兼容性
Marissa's Google experience was not applicable. If you do a heart transplant, you need to make sure that the new healthy heart is compatible with the body.
Marissa的谷歌經驗並不適用。如果你做心臟移植手術，你需要確保新的健康的心臟和身體是兼容的。
What works in one company does not work in another. I have seen all too often new leaders come in and try to instill aforeign culture, strategy and methods - and fail.
在一家公司行得通的做法，在另一家公司可能並行不通。我經常看到新領導人上臺，試圖灌輸一種外國文化、戰略和方法，卻以失敗告終。
3. Humility 謙遜
And then there is thing called arrogance. A brilliant book "Why smart executives fail" by Sydney Finkelstein names arrogance as one of the most common reasons for executive failure.
還有一種叫傲慢。悉尼•芬克爾斯坦(Sydney Finkelstein)的著作《為什麼聰明的高管會失敗》(Why smart executives fail)將傲慢列為高管失敗的最常見原因之一。
We need to stay humble, no matter what achievements we had and what successful companies we have worked for previously, and what fancy university we graduated from.
我們需要保持謙虛，無論我們取得了什麼樣的成就，曾經為什麼樣的成功公司工作過，畢業於什麼樣的名校。
4. Leadership 領導能力
Leaders do not ask people to do what they would not do themselves.
領導者不會要求人們去做他們自己不願意做的事情。
Much was made in the beginning of Mayer's data-driven approach. As leaders, before we become data-driven, we need to become people-driven.
梅耶爾的數據驅動方法在一開始就取得了很大進展。作為領導者，在我們成為數據驅動者之前，我們需要成為人驅動者。
People first, data second!
人第一，數據第二!
"I have to walk fast to follow my people because I am their leader". I wish they would teach this quote at Stanford University.
“我必須走得夠快才能追隨得上我的人民，因為我是他們的領袖。”我希望他們聽過或者說是學過斯坦福大學教授這句至理名言。
If Marissa Mayer read this excellent article by Dr. Marla Gottschalk -- Managing Others? 8 Research-Backed Strategies to Help You Excel things may have been different.
瑪麗莎·梅耶爾讀過瑪拉·戈特沙爾克博士的這篇優秀的文章：《8項研究--支持幫助你脫穎而出的策略可能導致的事情結果有所不同》。
5. Strategy 戰略
Marissa's strategy was Video, Mobile,Native and Social. On the surface it sounds common sense. It is so common sense that a college graduate can come up with this. And that is precisely the problem - the strategy is too broad.
瑪麗莎的戰略是視頻、移動、本地化和社交。從表面上看，這是常識。但是這個常識是如此的平常，以致於一個大學畢業生都可以想出這個。而這正是問題所在——這一戰略過於寬泛。
The hard part about a strategy is deciding what not to do. Steve Jobs did not turn around Apple with broad platitudes trategies, but with brilliant new products.
戰略中最難的部分是決定不做什麼。史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)並不是用陳詞濫調來扭轉蘋果的頹勢，而是用出色的新產品。
IBM CEO Louis Gerstner decided to pivot the company into Services.
IBM首席執行官郭士納(Louis Gerstner)決定將公司的重心轉向服務領域。
Saying we will do social, video, mobile and native is saying we will do everything everyone else is doing.
與其說我們會做社交、視頻、移動和本地化，不如就是在說我們會做所有其他人在做的事情一樣，這與什麼都沒有說又有什麼區別呢？
I feel bad for all those people who worked So hard at Yahoo all these years, nights and weekends. What a monumental waste of efforts by so many smart and dedicated employees. What was the number one Internet Company becomes a division of a telephone giant.
我為那些在雅虎這麼多年、這麼多夜晚和週末努力工作的人感到難過。這麼多聰明而敬業的員工的努力是多麼巨大的浪費。曾經排名第一的互聯網公司變成了電話巨頭的一個分支。
Do not ditch your Yahoo email accounts! Yahoois a great site, and always will be.
不要拋棄你的雅虎電子郵件帳戶!雅虎是一個偉大的網站，永遠都是。
Finally，you will enjoy values of experienced leadership.
最後，你將會享受到有經驗的領導的價值。
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