想做最好的自己，你该换个工作

    对于商业精英们而言，这是一个永恒的话题：一个人如何才能达到最佳表现？对于工作中正在为超越平庸而努力的人，有没有令他们重新振作起来的秘诀？有没有一种运动疗法可以让人达到认知能力的高峰？是否有一本商业智慧图书能有所帮助？需要进行多少次冥想？

    一些高管给出的答案更简单：换个工作。

    默克公司（Merck）执行副总裁兼顾客关怀部门总裁布里奇特•海勒，曾在强生公司（Johnson & Johnson）担任高管，当时她产生了一种挥之不去的感觉，即那份工作不适合自己。她说道，每当自己头脑清晰地直面这个问题时，“我发现自己经常遇到同样噩梦般的情景：有一个声音在说，‘你应该做出改变。’”

    上周一，在加州尼格尔湖召开的《财富》（Fortune）最具影响力商界女性峰会（Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit）上，海勒出席了“挖掘你的天赋”座谈会并发言。她与其他几位身居高位的女性高管就如何挖掘潜在的天赋发表了看法。

    其实，海勒有许多留在强生公司的理由。她回忆道：“我要养家，我要挣很多钱。你能找到各种理由，说服自己为什么不想离开那里。但我最终意识到，如果我不这么做，我就不可能充分展示自己或者真正感到快乐。”

    于是她离开了强生，现在成为默克公司的资深高管。海勒表示，那次跳槽彻底改变了自己。她发现，在合适的工作当中，“推动增长，作为团队一员去真正努力，就像在空中翱翔一样。”她说道，如果没有这样的氛围，“那感觉太可怕了。”

    要达到最佳表现，一个关键要素是找到合适的环境，但到达那里可能需要经历一段艰险的旅程。

    塔玛拉•伦德格伦现任美国史尼泽钢铁公司（Schnitzer Steel Industries）CEO及美国商会（U.S. Chamber of Commerce）董事会主席。其领导的史尼泽钢铁市值达到26亿美元。她表示，每当自己感到厌倦的时候，她就知道应该继续前进了。作为一位富于创造力的跳槽者，她一度非常喜爱律师业与银行业。她说道：“每次改变职业的时候，都是类似的情况。我渴望尝试新的职业。”

    只要有来自其他行业的邀请，她都会做出回复。她回忆道：“人们在我清闲的时候找到我。我说：‘为什么不呢？’”

    成功的沃土通常都有一些共同点：宏大的目标，适度的压力，以及致力于一个比自身更大的事业。咨询公司Gap International的创始人兼CEO彭蒂什•耶拉姆让说道：“大量研究显示，人们挖掘出的天赋其实与他们自己无关。这并不关乎他们自己能否实现目标，或他们自己的成功，而是关乎一个比自身更大的事业。”

    耶拉姆让认为，树立远大的志向有助于挖掘自己的潜力。致力于有所作为和仅仅以生存为目标，存在很大的差别。研究显示，那些只专注于不能失败的人，往往不太可能取得真正的成功。她说道：“与扬名立万相比，设法做好工作是截然不同的思考状态。”

    在考虑是否应该改变职业时，牢记一点非常有帮助：失败并非致命的。哈维穆德学院（Harvey Mudd College）院长、微软（Microsoft）董事会成员玛利亚•克拉维说道：“我想改变这个世界。所以我一直在经历失败。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    It’s a timeless question for the business elite: How does a person reach optimal performance? For those struggling to transcend mediocrity at work, what’s the trick to snap out of it? Is there an exercise regimen that unlocks peak cognition? Maybe a book of business wisdom that can help? How much meditation does it take?

    Some execs think there’s a simpler answer: Find a different gig.

    Bridgette Heller, a Merck EVP and president of the company’s consumer care segment, was an executive at Johnson & Johnson when she got the unshakeable sense that the job just wasn’t clicking. In moments of honesty and clarity, she says, “I always found myself coming up against the same sort of nightmare scenario: a voice that said, ‘You need to make a change.’”

    Heller spoke on Monday at the Finding Your Genius panel at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, California. She joined a group of other high-wattage female executives speaking about how to tap into your inner genius.

    There were plenty of reasons for Heller to stay at Johnson & Johnson. “I’ve got to feed my family, and I’m making a lot of money,” she recalls thinking. “You’ve got all these excuses about why you don’t want to go there. But at the end of the day you come to realize that unless I get there, I can’t be fully expressed or fully happy.”

    So she left, and is now a senior executive at Merck. Heller says the switch made all the difference. In the right job, she found, “driving the growth, and really hitting it as a team, it felt like soaring.” Not having that, she says, “It felt horrible.”

    A key component of reaching peak performance is being in the right environment, but getting there can be hard and risky work.

    Tamara Lundgren, now CEO of $2.6 billion Schnitzer Steel Industries and chairman of the board at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says she knew it was time to move on when she found herself getting bored. A prolific career hopper, she loved lawyering and banking until she didn’t. “Each time I changed careers it’s been that type of situation,” she says. “I’d been itching for something new.”

    When the call came from other industries, she answered. “People got me on a slow day,” she recalls. “And I said, ‘Why not!’”

    There are a few characteristics that often accompany a fertile environments for success: Big goals, a healthy amount of pressure, and working for a cause bigger than oneself. “A lot of research shows that when people [find their] genius, it’s not about them,” says Pontish Yeramyan, founder and CEO of consulting firm Gap International. “It’s not about them making it, it’s not about their success. It’s about a bigger thing.”

    It’s helpful to aim high, Yeramyan says. There’s a big difference between aiming to make a difference, and just trying to survive the day. Research shows that often people who are focusing on just not failing, are less likely to actually succeed. “Getting through something is a very different state of thinking than making your mark,” she says.

    In thinking about whether to make a career leap, it can be helpful to keep in mind that often, failing is survivable. “I want to change the world,” says Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and Microsoft board member. “So I fail all the time.”