Everyone has advice to give.

每个人都有建议要提出来。

But not everyone has advice worth listening to.

但并不是每个人的建议都值得聆听。

Opportunity comes by creating it. The most successful of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and average people will tell you that.

机遇，在你创造它的时候应运而生。接下来由最成功的CEO们，企业家们以及平民老百姓告诉你。

Success comes from a unique combination of knowing where you’ve come from, where you want to go, your goals, knowledge, commitment, personality, etc. That combination has allowed me to successfully invest in a great number of industries. There are no shortcuts¹ to anything in life. And if you think there are, you’re in for some very tough life-lessons. Life isn’t about possessions or money. It’s about people. It’s about working hard because nothing worth having will be handed to you.

成功源于一个关于从何而来，到哪儿去，你的目标，知识，决心，个性等等的特别组合。这个组合已经让笔者成功地在多个行业领域进行投资。生活没有捷径。而如果你认为有的话，你必然要上一门相当困难的生活课程了。生活不在于财产和金钱。生活在于人。在于努力工作，因为没有什么值得拥有东西会直接送到你的手中。

Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess and learn to emphasize.

下面便是每一位好的领导都应该具备以及学会着重培养的特质。

No. 1 - Have Credibility

第一点—讲信用

Once you lose the trust of your audience, it’s gone. It’s tough to gain it back. Know your business inside and out. The last thing you want is to get caught with your pants down when you can’t answer a simple question about your own business. And always be ethical² in your business approach and in the way you conduct business.

一旦失去了客户的信任，就真的失去了。很难再重新获取客户的信任了。你应该里里外外彻底地了解自己的业务。你最不想遇到的就是被客户抓到无法回答一个自己业务的简单问题。还要时常恪守职责，遵循自己公司的经营发展之道。

No. 2 - Accept that Failure is a Necessity

第二点—承认失败是兵家常事

Success isn’t a guarantee. Not all rock stars were born with the voice of Robert Plant. Not all of us can perform brain surgery or be a rocket scientist. The truth is, we may not succeed right out the gate, or at all for that matter.

成功不是必然的。不是所有的摇滚明星天生就具有Robert Plant的好嗓音。并非所有人都能做脑部手术或成为一位火箭专家。真相是，我们可能刚开始就面临失败，甚至完全失败。

As discouraging as that may sound, we must accept failure as a necessity. It’s okay to fail. But it’s not okay to give up on what you hope to achieve. According to Bloomberg, eight out of every 10 entrepreneurs will fail in the first 18 months of whatever endeavor they set out to take on.

尽管这听起来很令人沮丧，但我们都必须接受失败是必不可少的事情。失败没什么的。但如果你放弃了自己的目标，那就很有问题了。根据Bloomberg所说，每10位企业家中有8位都会在头18个月中遭遇失败，不管在他们付出过多大的努力。

No. 3 - Remember that People are Most Important

第三点—请谨记：人品，才是最重要的

If you’re difficult to work with, you’ll be thought of as someone to avoid like the plague. No one wants to work with a person like that - and trust me, I’ve dealt with plenty of those people.

在职场里，如果你很难相处，你就会被认定是人人避之大吉的讨厌鬼。没有人希望跟这样的人一起共事——相信我，我已经跟许多这样的人打过交道了。

Treat people as you would like to be treated. When it comes to business, it’s not about making money. It’s about treating people right and always doing what’s right. It’s about the compassion³ you have for others and your willingness to be there and put their feelings first. Respect your team, your public, your investors⁴, and the people that make your business possible. Profits will follow as long as you take care of others.

对待他人如同你希望被对待的样子。当谈论到商业，这就不是赚钱的问题了。这是关于善待对待他人，以及永远要与人为善。这关乎于你对他人的同情心，主动提出帮忙的意愿以及以他人的感受为先的情操。尊重你的团队，尊重你的受众，尊重你的投资者以及那些为你事业助力的人。只要你顾及他人，收益就会随之而来。

That’s why I have an open door policy. Transparency above all else is essential if you want to be a success.

这就是为什么笔者采取开门政策。如果你想成功，那么透明度首先就是一个不可缺少的因素。

No. 4 - Protect your Standing⁵

第四点—保护自己的身份

Failure to protect yourself, your name, your standing in society can hurt you for years after the fact. Your reputation is your most important asset. The moment it’s tarnished⁶ you stand to lose everything - customers, sales, partners, and eventually your business.

如果你无法保护自己的身份，名声，社会地位，这将会在此后多年仍然损害你的利益。你的声誉是最重要的资产。被玷污的那一瞬间你就失去了所有——客户，销售额，合作伙伴，最终是你的事业。

Always be proactive and aware of what is and has been said about you in the press. Failure to do so, failure to counter what has been reported, could cost you customer trust.

永远要保持前瞻意识，要了解公众媒体目前以及过去关于你的言论。如果你无法做到这一点，无法应对报道，最终会把你的客户信誉度赌上了。

Trust and the loyalty⁷ that comes with it is one of the most essential parts of business. Keeping your promises, under-committing and over-delivering, communicating often, and looking beyond initial targets is a winning formula for a successful outcome. If you really want to impress someone and gain trust, make promises you can keep.

商业的信任与忠诚度是个人身份最重要的组成部分。请遵守自己的承诺，过低承诺，过高传递，多沟通，然后放眼初始目标以外，这才是获得成功的必胜法则。如果你真的希望给别人留下深刻的印象并获得新任，那么许下的承诺必须保证能够实现。

No. 5 - Know how to Manage Growth

第五点—了解如何管理发展进度

By all means, grow and expand, but make sure you can adequately manage all facets⁸ of your business and be cognizant of what’s impacting the bottom line.

无论如何，都要发展与拓宽业务范围，但要确保你能恰如其分地顾及业务的方方面面，以及认识到影响着底线的因素。

If you find that your business expenses are outweighing⁹ revenue, there’s a problem. If you find that you - or your employees - are unhappy and overworked, it may be a sign of not keeping up with growth.

如果你发现业务的支出超出利润，那就有问题了。如果你发现自己或员工一点都不高兴，甚至工作过度，这也有可能是赶上进度的信号。

Never believe that sales growth is the most important rule. Never lose touch with your customers.

永远不要相信“营业额至上”的说法。绝不与客户失去联系。

No. 6 - Surround yourself with Success

第六点—让成功围绕着自己

The sooner you come to the realization¹⁰ that you’re ‘not perfect’ the sooner you will have ‘success’ knocking at your door. As we grow professionally and personally, we need to reach out to others for help. I do it all the time with a great team (I hope I tell them that often enough because they truly are).

当你越早意识自己的不完美，你就会越快发现成功来敲门。正如我们朝着更专业、更个人的方向成长，我们都需要寻找他人的帮忙。而笔者常常与一个很出色的团队也这样做。（我希望我能以足够多的机会告诉他们，因为这是真实的。）

If it weren’t for my family, the marketing¹¹ team, sales staff, accountants, legal counsel, IT support, or just an old friend that tells me some of my decisions are off base without the fear of retribution, I, and many of us for that matter, wouldn’t be successful.

如果没有我的家人，我的营销团队，营业员，会计，法律顾问，技术支持，或仅仅是一位老朋友来告诉我：我的一些决定大错特错，而且还没有感到一丝的报复恐惧，我，以及许多像我一样面临这样的问题的人，都不会成功。

The best quality a great leader can have is realizing he or she can’t take on the world without some additional help. Unless you surround yourself with others that make up for any shortfalls you may have, you begin to limit your capabilities¹² as an effective leader.

一位出色的领导应具备的最好的特质便是能意识到他/她并不能在毫无他人帮助之下统治这个世界。除非你多与他人打交道以弥补可能存在的不足，不然你就会限制自己成为一名出色领导者的能力。

These are just some of the qualities I think make up a great leader. The good news is that all of these characteristics can be learned if you take the time to practice and be self-aware of what you’re trying to accomplish and how best to go about it.

以上这些就是笔者认为一名成功的领导应该具备的特质。好的消息是所有的这些特质都能通过学习而获得，如果你愿意花时间去锻炼，保持自我意识，意识到前进的目标以及怎样做才是最合适的。