商业往事丨第85话：困难的环境是最好的老师

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困难的环境是最好的老师

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（英文文章在中文文章之后）

许多人看过威尔·史密斯2006年的电影《当幸福来敲门》，这部影片是根据一个真实的故事改编的。在片中，史密斯饰演克里斯‧加德纳，他是一个无家可归的人，想办法要抚养他的儿子，同时他也想成为一名证券分析师。在电影的最后一幕中，他和儿子背对着镜头走在街上，他的儿子（碰巧是史密斯的亲生儿子扮演）给他讲了个笑话。朝相反的方向走的是一个高大个子的男人，似乎只是一个路过的陌生人。但是那个高大的男人，正是威尔史密斯在电影里演的克里斯‧加德纳。

这部电影是根据克里斯‧加德纳的自传《当幸福来敲门》改编的。加德纳的成功之路甚至比电影呈现的更长、更艰辛。加德纳把幸福这个英文字的「Happiness 」的「i」改用「Happyness 」「y」来取代。因为他曾经在儿子托儿所的墙上看到小朋友「Happiness 」写错为「Happyness 」。但是他很喜欢。所以他用那个拼写来区分他的书名。加德纳认为，「y」可以代表「你或你的」(You, 或yours)，这可以鼓励人们追求自己的幸福。

想要成为美国的证券分析师并不容易，尤其是对于一个没有大学学位的有色人种。但是，加德纳一旦决定追求这个目标，他就真的全心投入了。

加德纳1954年出生于米尔沃基。他一生中从来没有真正的男性榜样可以学习。他是在一个充满暴力的家庭里长大。他的继父经常虐待他的母亲和姐妹。加德纳两次被送进寄养中心，因为有一次，加德纳的继父指控他的母亲有诈领社会福利金的行为，还有一次，他的母親試圖燒毀繼父的家，他的繼父在裡面。

加德纳永远不会忘记一事件；有一次他的继父拿着猎枪冲进在浴室里，当时他正在洗澡，他继父命令他立即离开家。加德纳当时还只是个十几岁的孩子，他担心自己的被继父杀了。就赤身裸体地跑出了家门，就浑身湿透跑在威斯康星州的冬天街头里。那时，加德纳的母亲已经被他的继父赶出了家门。

在电影《当幸福来敲门》中，加德纳被描绘成一个医疗器械推销员，试图销售骨质密度扫描仪（因为真正的加德纳曾经担任过医疗设备推销员）。在电影中令人难忘的一幕中，加德纳追赶一个偷了他扫描仪的人。在穿过一条繁忙的街道时，他差点被车撞，情绪激动。加德纳说，这起事件实际上并没有发生。但作为一名医疗设备推销员，他确实在经济上举步维艰。

但电影中的接下来的事确实都是真实的发生了。特别是；他在街上看到一个穿着考究的男子开着红色的法拉利，他问他，「你是做什么的？」那人告诉他，他是一个股票经纪人。加德纳对这个人的成功印象极为深刻，他决定尝试进入这个领域。最后，他在股票经纪培训计划中获得了一个职位，在那里他学习如何向客户出售股票。虽然那段实习期间，他没有报酬。但课程结束时，表现最好的学生将得到一个带薪职位。

加德纳辞去了医疗器械推销员的工作，全身心地投入到这项培训计划中。但由于收入不足，他失去了公寓，最后和儿子一起上街。晚上，他们睡在不同的地方。有时他们能呆在教堂里。有一次，他们睡在奥克兰麦克阿瑟巴特车站的浴室地板上。同时，他每天还得在儿子上学期间参加培训计划。课程结束时，他得到了班上最好的成绩，并得到了一份工作，而且成了一个更好的人。

从此之后，他走到了向上的路上。在从事证券领域工作五年后，加德纳创办自己的公司，名为「加德纳财富管理公司」。到1988年，加德纳公司的收入达到创纪录的高点，加德纳当年的收入为100万美元。当时加德纳34岁时，他决定买一辆法拉利作为礼物犒赏自己。这辆法拉利并不像那位曾经激励他成为股票经纪人的法拉利那样红。相反，他买了一辆曾经属于篮球传奇人物迈克尔·乔丹的法拉利。他得到了一个定制的车牌， 上面写着 「NOT MJ」， 意思是 「我不是迈克尔 · 乔丹」。

加德纳现在身价超过6000万美元。他卖掉了「加德纳财富管理公司」的股份，然后于2006年开了一家名为「加德纳国际控股公司」的新公司。从那时起，他就以励志演说家的身份周游世界，把大部分时间都投入到慈善事业上。他的故事鼓舞了许多人。与此同时，他也继续分享他的奋斗故事，鼓励其他人一起成功。

加德纳认为，我们从哪里来并不能决定我们成为什么样的人。如果出生环境决定一切的话，那么他就会成为另一个失败者。但他没有，他超越了这一切。但是，为了改变一个人的命运，人们往往不得不努力克服各种限制。例如，当加德纳从医疗相关领域转向证券经纪领域时，除了与人互动的能力之外，他没有在新领域的任何技能。用加德纳的话说；「我从绝对最基层开始，我挣扎、奋斗，并努力以我的方式到达了绝对上层社会。我喜欢我正在做的事情，我有机会向业内最好的人学习。我有机会了解它是如何在最高水平上完成的」。

环境，尤其是困难的环境，通常是最好的老师。我们可以从学校学到一些东西，甚至向成功的人学习：然而，这种学习只会帮助我们模仿别人的成功。它并没有给我们一个伟大的心灵。只有征服一个具有挑战性的环境，我们才能拥有真正伟大的心灵，能够在自己的领域开辟新的天地。艰困的环境是最好的学校。

The Best Way to Learn is the Hardest

Many people have watched the 2006 Will Smith movie The Pursuit of Happyness, which is based on a true story. In it, Smith portrays Chris Gardner, a homeless man trying to raise his son while trying to become a securities analyst. In the final scene of the movie, he and son are walking down the street with their backs to the camera as his son (who happens to be played by Smith’s real son) tells him a joke. Headed in the opposite direction is a tall man, seemingly just a stranger passing by. But that tall man who passes the actor portraying Chris Gardner (Smith) is the real Chris Gardner.

The movie was based on the Chris Gardner’s autobiography “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Gardner’s road to success was even longer and more difficult than the movie presented. Gardner changed the word “Happiness” with an ‘i’ to “ Happyness” with a ‘y’ because he once saw it written incorrectly on a wall at his son’s school and he liked it. So he used that spelling to distinguish his book title. Gardner considered that the ‘y’ could represent “you or yours,” which might encourage people in the pursuit of their own happiness.

Trying to become a securities analyst in America is not easy, especially for a person of color without a university degree. But once Gardner decided to pursue this goal, he really put his heart into it.

Gardner was born in Milwaukee in 1954. He never really had a good male role model in his life. He grew up in a family that was full of violence. His stepfather often abused his mother and sisters. Gardner was placed in foster care twice because, one time, Gardner’s stepfather accused his mother of welfare fraud, and, another time, his mother tried to burn down his stepfather’s home with his stepfather in it.

One incident that Gardner will never forget was his stepfather bursting in on him in the bathroom with a shotgun and ordering him to immediately leave the house. Gardner, who was still a teenager, feared for his life and ran out of the house naked and soaking wet into the Wisconsin winter. By that time, Gardner’s mother had already been kicked out of the house by his stepfather.

In the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Gardner is depicted as a medical device salesman trying to sell bone density scanners (as the real Gardner once took a job as a medical equipment salesman). In a memorable scene from the film, Gardner chases a man who had stolen one of his scanners. While running across a busy street, he is nearly hit by a car and becomes quite emotional. Gardner said that this incident did not actually happen. But it is true that he really struggled financially as a medical equipment salesman.

But the next few things in the film did actually happen. In particular, he is shown approaching a well-dressed man in a red Ferrari on the street, and he asks him what he does for a living. The man tells him that he’s a stockbroker. Gardner is so impressed by the man’s success that he decides to try to get into that field. Eventually, he secures a seat in a stock brokerage training program, where the students sell stocks to customers. Although they are not paid for their time, the student with the best performance at the end of the program will be offered a paid position.

Garner quits his job as a medical device salesman to dedicate himself to this training program. But due to a lack of income, he loses his apartment and ends up on the street with his son. At night, they sleep in various places. Sometimes they are able to stay at a church. One time they slept on the bathroom floor of the MacArthur BART station in Oakland. Meanwhile, he attends the training program every day while his son is at school. And at the conclusion of the training program, he has the best performance in the class and is offered a job, so the sacrifices were worth it.

From then on, it’s onwards and upwards. And after being in the securities field for five years, Gardner was able to start his own firm, called Gardner Rich ＆ Company. By 1988, the revenue of Gardner’s company reached a record high and Gardner earned one million for that year. When Gardner turned 34 years old, he decided to buy himself a Ferrari as a reward for himself. This Ferrari was not red like the one that had inspired him to become a stockbroker. Instead, he bought a Ferrari that had once belonged to basketball legend Michael Jordan. And he got a customized license plate for it that read “NOT MJ,” meaning “I’m not Michael Jordan,” of course.

Gardner is now worth over US$60 million. He sold his shares in Gardner Rich ＆ Company, and then opened a new company called Gardner International Holdings in 2006. Since then, he travels around the world as a motivational speaker and devotes much of his time to philanthropic causes. His story is an inspiration to many people. Meanwhile, he continues to share his story about how his struggles helped him become a success and, hopefully, a better person.

Gardner believes that where we came from doesn’t determine what we become. If it did, then he would “have become another alcoholic, wife-beating, child-abusing, illiterate loser,” to use his words. But he didn’t. He was able to rise above all of that. But in order to change one’s fate, one often has to struggle to overcome various limitations. For example, when Gardner switched from a medical-related field to the securities brokerage field, he brought no skills to the new field other than his ability to interact with people. In Gardner’s words, “I started at the absolute bottom, I scratched, fought, and worked my way up to the absolute top. I loved what I was doing, and I had an opportunity to learn from the best in the business. I had an opportunity to learn how it’s done at its highest levels.”

Environment, especially a difficult environment, is usually the best teacher. We can learn something from school and even learn from successful people; however, such learning only helps us to mimic the success of others. It doesn’t give us a great mind. Only conquering a challenging environment can allow us to have a truly great mind that can break new ground in one’s field. In life, the school of hard knocks is usually the best school.

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原文标题：商业往事丨第85话：困难的环境是最好的老师

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