Chegg掌门人：押宝也要押自己

    丹•罗森维格信仰美国梦。他在霍巴特和威廉史密斯学院（Hobart and William Smith Colleges）获得政治学学士学位后从卖电脑杂志做起，直到成为互联网热潮中的重要人物【这会成就怎样的一份简历呢——他在网络媒体公司CNET Networks担任了总裁，在雅虎（Yahoo）担任了首席运营官，还是音乐游戏《吉他英雄》（Guitar Hero）的首席执行官】。

    一路走来，罗森维格发现，有一个市场一直在恳求人们去颠覆它，这就是教育行业，特别是在教科书成本不断上升的情况下。出于这个原因，他在2010年加入了在线教科书出租服务以及学生资源调配机构Chegg。

    52岁的罗森维格日前接受了本刊的采访，内容如下：

    1. 你在技术领域最欣赏谁？为什么？

    我要给你两组答案。首先，我欣赏的人非常多，比如马克•安德森、马克•扎克伯格等等，他们都很出色。不过，目前我欣赏的是布莱恩•切斯基和乔•杰比亚，也就是短期租房网站Airbnb的两位创始人，原因是他们没有任何工程或技术背景。他们上的是自由艺术设计学院，却把一个偶然产生的想法打造成了所有行业中最具有颠覆性的公司之一。他们无所畏惧，而且拥有极大的价值。他们真的是让人欣赏的年轻人，这也正是我们想看到的美国新生代。

    2. 你欣赏哪家公司？为什么？

    我欣赏星巴克（Starbucks），因为它把一个想法变成了一个品牌，又把这个品牌培育成了一种文化，而且是一种向上的、能带来积极变化的文化。

    我也欣赏Adobe，不光是因为我是这家公司的董事会成员，还（因为）多年来这家公司在CEO更迭方面一直把握得非常好。它的联合创始人如今仍然在担任董事，原因是他们重视长期发展思路和长期投资，而且希望为别人提供干一番大事的能力和手段。他们的文化妙不可言，他们是最受推崇的公司之一。

    我还欣赏Airbnb和Facebook，以及其他许多公司。这些公司的共同之处在于，它们的成员都有勇气和信念，眼光比较长远，有担当，而且不会改变自己的渴望，立志打造一家伟大的公司，同时为人们作出巨大的贡献。这是一种令人羡慕的状态。

    3.有些人希望从事和你一样的工作。你对他们有什么建议？

    采取行动时不要像我一样长时间等待。如果要押宝，那就押在自己身上。我不是说一个人得自大。人们应该谦逊行事，同时要意识到自己失败的次数一定会比成功多。不过，就算会失败，采取行动的时候至少也要有自己的信念。美国的美妙之处并不在于跌倒，而在于站起来。我们欣赏的，或者说我欣赏的那些人都在获得成功前品尝过失败的滋味。但他们有信念。如果你觉得自己想做什么事，那就去做好了。别去管那些老爱唱反调的人。要全力以赴。

    4. 你得到过的最好建议是什么？

    许多人都曾通过各种方式给了我这条建议，比如我爷爷、我妻子、我的女儿们，还有约翰•多纳霍这样的朋友，那就是“做真的自己”。我无法成为史蒂夫•乔布斯、马克•扎克伯格或者谢丽尔•桑德伯格。而且，实际上我也不必成为他们。我就要做自己，而且必须忠实于我自己。我必须学会掌握那些对我来说很难的事情，也必须借助“我是谁”的信念所提供的力量前进。

    5. 现在你的公司面临着什么样的挑战？

    和所有创新者相比，我们公司现在面临的挑战没有什么不寻常的地方，那就是不可知和不确定。一个行业的参与者很多，很多老公司都根基牢固，它们都不希望局势发生改变。我在发言时总是这样说：“你们中间有多少人希望自己三年以后就能退休，这样就能把问题甩给别人呢？”对每一个被颠覆的行业来说，都有许多人希望它不被颠覆。具体到教育上，人们需要的是可变技能，而教育机构是不变的。整个教育体系都旨在为这些机构提供支持，而不是帮助学生。所以存在许多障碍，但任何这样做过的人都曾面对过同样的障碍，而且我们知道这些障碍最终都能得到克服。

    Dan Rosensweig believes in the American Dream. After earning a bachelor's degree in political science from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, he worked his way up from a job selling computer magazines to becoming a major player in the Internet boom. (How's this for a résumé: He has been the president of CNET Networks, the chief operating officer of Yahoo, and the chief executive of Guitar Hero.)

    Along the way, Rosensweig noticed that there was a market begging to be disrupted: Education -- specifically around the escalating cost of student textbooks. Which is why in 2010 he joined Chegg, an online textbook rental service and student resource hub.

    Rosensweig, 52, spoke with Fortune.

    1. Who in technology do you admire most? Why?

    I'm going to give you two answers. First of all, there is a whole host of people that I admire. I admire [Marc] Andreessen and [Mark] Zuckerberg and all of these people; they're amazing. But right now I admire [Brian] Chesky and Joe Gebbia -- they're two of the founders of Airbnb -- because they had no engineering background or technology background. They went to a liberal arts design school, and they had an idea that they discovered by accident, and they're building it into one of the most disruptive companies in any industry. They have no fear. They have great values. They're just admirable young people, exactly what you want to see coming out of this country.

    2. Which companies do you admire? Why?

    I admire Starbucks (SBUX), because here's a company that had an idea, then turned it into a brand, then turned into a culture. And it's a culture for good and a positive force for change.

    I admire Adobe (ADBE), not just because I'm on the board, but [because] this is a company that has handled the transition of CEOs remarkably well over the years, and their co-founders are still on the board because they value long-term thinking and long-term investment, and they want to provide the capabilities and the tools so that other people can do great things. They have an unbelievable culture around their people, and they're one of the most admired companies.

    I admire Airbnb and Facebook (FB) and so many other companies, too. But what they all have in common is that they all have people who had their own courage and conviction, took a much longer view, took lumps along the way, but didn't waver from the desire to build a great business while doing great things for people. It's an admirable position to be in.

    3. What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

    Don't wait as long as I did to do it. If you're going to bet on somebody, bet on yourself. I don't mean you should be arrogant. You have to do it with humility and recognize that you're going to fail more often than you succeed, but at least you're going to do it with your own convictions if you do fail. The beauty of America is not in failing; it's in getting up. Every one of those people that we admire -- that I admire -- are all people who have failed prior to success. But they had a belief. If you think you have something you want to do, go do it. Don't worry about the naysayers. Do it with everything you have.

    4. What is the best advice you ever received?

    I've been given it many ways by many people, by my grandfather, by my wife, by my daughters, by my friends like John Donahoe, which is: "Be authentic." I am not going to be able to be Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg, and the truth is, I don't have to be. I have to be Dan, and I have to be authentic with who Dan is. I have to learn to overcome the things that are hard for me to do, and I have to go with the strength of my conviction of who I am.

    5. What challenges are facing your business right now?

    The challenges facing our business are not unusual to anybody that's building a new category, which is the unknown, the uncertainty. There are a lot of players, a lot of entrenched constituents, who would prefer things don't change. As I say when I give speeches: "How many of you wish you were three years away from retirement so this was someone else's problem?" Every industry that's been disrupted has had a lot of people who prefer that it not be. With education in particular, the skills you need are fluid, but institutions are not fluid. The whole system has been designed around supporting the institution and not supporting the student. So there are a lot of obstacles, but they're the same obstacles that anyone who's taken on these things has faced, and we know they can be overcome.