Track Video 01

Find Your North Star 寻找属于你的“北极星”

Profile

2015年5月，苹果CEO蒂姆·库克在乔治·华盛顿大学发表了毕业演讲。在演讲中，库克鼓励毕业生们寻找自己的“北极星”，指引自己的人生道路，树立正确的价值观并为之奋斗，以实现自我发现、自我创造以及自我重塑的过程。

库克说，他有两颗启发他人生的北极星。第一颗是致力于对抗种族歧视的马丁·路德·金。他引导库克学会探索自我，明辨是非黑白，树立正确的价值观。而第二颗就是乔布斯。他坦言，乔布斯颠覆了他之前的认知，让他开始质疑一切。库克形容乔布斯是一个理想主义的人。第一次会面，乔布斯就让库克相信了，只要努力工作，创造出伟大的产品，就可以改变世界。库克于是欣然接受了乔布斯提供的工作，至今从未回头。库克建议毕业生们也要找到工作的意义，否则，工作就只是工作，人生太短，不应如此。

除此之外，库克还鼓励毕业生们要合理质疑：只要刨根问底，谎言就会被揭露。

最后，库克鼓励毕业生们不要只做旁观者，而要勇于迎接挑战，相信自己可以改变世界。他说：“在台下观望并不是你们想要的生活，世界需要你们登上舞台。还有许多问题需要解决，还有许多不公需要终结。仍然有许多人在遭受迫害，仍然有许多疾病需要治愈。不管你们下一步将要做什么，这个世界都需要你们的能量，需要你们的激情，需要你们迫切想要进步的心情。不要在风险面前退缩，不要理会那些批评者和愤世嫉俗的人。”

Speech 演讲

Hello GW. Thank you very much, President Knapp for that kind intro. Alex, trustees, faculty and deans of the university, my fellow honorees, and especially you, the class of 2015. Yes.

Congratulations to you, to your family, to your friends that are attending today's ceremony. You made it. It's a privilege, a rare privilege of a lifetime to be with you today. And I can't thank you enough for making me an honorary Colonial.

Before I begin today, they asked me to make a standard announcement. You've heard this before. About silencing your phones. So, those of you with an iPhone, just place it in silent mode. If you don't have an iPhone, please pass it to the center aisle. Apple has a world-class recycling program.

You know, this is really an amazing place. And for a lot of you, I'm sure that being here in Washington, the very center of our democracy, was a big draw when you were choosing which school to go to. This place has a powerful pull. It was here that Dr. Martin Luther King challenged Americans to make real the promises of democracy, to make justice a reality for all of God's children. And it was here that President Ronald Reagan called on us to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds.

I'd like to start this morning by telling you about my first visit here. In the summer of 1977——yes, I'm a little old——I was 16 years old and living in Robertsdale, the small town in southern Alabama that I grew up in. At the end of my junior year of high school I'd won essay contest sponsored by the National Rural Electric Association. I can't remember what the essay was about, but what I do remember very clearly is writing it by hand, draft after draft after draft. Typewriters were very expensive and my family could not afford one.

I was one of two kids from Baldwin County that was chosen to go to Washington along with hundreds of other kids across the country. Before we left, the Alabama delegation took a trip to our state capitol in Montgomery for a meeting with the governor. The governor's name was George C. Wallace. The same George Wallace who in 1963 stood in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama to block African Americans from enrolling. Wallace embraced the evils of segregation. He pitted whites against blacks, the South against the North, the working class against the so-called elites. Meeting my governor was not an honor for me.

My heroes in life were Dr. Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy, who had fought against the very things that Wallace stood for. Keep in mind, that I grew up, or, when I grew up, I grew up in a place that where King and Kennedy were not exactly held in high esteem. When I was a kid, the South was still coming to grips with its history. My textbooks even said the Civil War was about states' rights. They barely mentioned slavery.

So I had to figure out for myself what was right and true. It was a search. It was a process. It drew on the moral sense that I'd learned from my parents, and in church, and in my own heart, and led me on my own journey of discovery.

I found books in the public library that they probably didn't know they had. They all pointed to the fact that Wallace was wrong, that injustices like segregation had no place in our world, that equality is a right.

As I said, I was only 16 when I met Governor Wallace, so I shook his hand as we were expected to do. But shaking his hand felt like a betrayal of my own beliefs. It felt wrong, like I was selling a piece of my soul.

From Montgomery we flew to Washington. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane. In fact it was the first time that I ever traveled out of the South. On June 15, 1977, I was one of 900 high schoolers greeted by the new president, President Jimmy Carter on the south lawn of the White House, right there on the other side of the Ellipse.

I was one of the lucky ones, who got to shake his hand. Carter saw Baldwin County on my name tag that day and stopped to speak with me. He wanted to know how people were doing after the rash of storms that struck Alabama that year. Carter was kind and compassionate; he held the most powerful job in the world but he had not sacrificed any of his humanity. I felt proud that he was president. And I felt proud that he was from the South.

In the space of a week, I had come face to face with two men who guaranteed themselves a place in history. They came from the same region. They were from the same political party. They were both governors of adjoining states. But they looked at the world in very different ways. It was clear to me, that one was right, and one was wrong. Wallace had built his political career by exploiting divisions between us. Carter's message on the other hand, was that we are all bound together, every one of us. Each had made a journey that led them to the values that they lived by, but it wasn't just about their experiences or their circumstances; it had to come from within.

My own journey in life was just beginning. I hadn't even applied for college yet at that point. For you graduates, the process of discovering yourself, of inventing yourself, of reinventing yourself is about to begin in earnest. It's about finding your values and committing to live by them. You have to find your North Star. And that means choices. Some are easy. Some are hard. And some will make you question everything.

Twenty years after my visit to Washington, I met someone who made me question everything. Who upended all of my assumptions in the very best way. That was Steve Jobs.

Steve had built a successful company. He had been sent away and he returned to find it in ruins. He didn't know it at the time, but he was about to dedicate the rest of his life to rescuing it, and leading it to heights greater than anyone could ever imagine. Anyone, that is, except for Steve. Most people have forgotten, but in 1997 and early 1998, Apple had been adrift for years. Rudderless. But Steve thought Apple could be great again. And he wanted to know if I'd like to help.

His vision for Apple was a company that turned powerful technology into tools that were easy to use, tools that would help people realize their dreams, and change the world for the better. I had studied to be an engineer and earned an M.B.A. I was trained to be pragmatic, a problem solver. Now I found myself sitting before and listening to this very animated 40-something guy with visions of changing the world. It was not what I had expected. You see, when it came to my career, in 1998, I was also adrift. Rudderless.

I knew who I was in my personal life, and I kept my eye on my North Star, my responsibility to do good for someone else, other than myself. But at work, well I always figured that work was work. Values had their place and, yes, there were things that I wanted to change about the world, but I thought I had to do that on my own time. Not in the office. Steve didn't see it that way. He was an idealist. And in that way he reminded me of how I felt as a teenager. In that first meeting he convinced me that if we worked hard and made great products, we too could help change the world. And to my surprise, I was hooked. I took the job and changed my life. It's been 17 years and I have never once looked back.

At Apple we believe the work should be more than just about improving your own self. It's about improving the lives of others as well. Our products do amazing things. And just as Steve envisioned, they empower people all over the world. People who are blind, and need information read to them because they can't see the screen. People for whom technology is a lifeline because they are isolated by distance or disability. People who witness injustice and want to expose it, and now they can because they have a camera in their pocket all the time.

Our commitment goes beyond the products themselves to how they're made, to our impact on the environment, to the role we play in demanding and promoting equality, and in improving education. We believe that a company that has values and acts on them can really change the world. And an individual can too. That can be you. That must be you. Graduates, your values matter. They are your North Star. And work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it's just a job, and life is too short for that. We need the best and brightest of your generation to lead in government and in business. In the science and in the arts. In journalism and in academia. There is honor in all of these pursuits. And there is opportunity to do work that is infused with moral purpose. You don't have to choose between doing good and doing well. It's a false choice, today more than ever.

Your challenge is to find work that pays the rent, puts food on the table, and lets you do what is right and good and just.

So find your North Star. Let it guide you in life, and work, and in your life's work. Now, I suspect some of you aren't buying this.

I won't take it personally. It's no surprise that people are skeptical, especially here in Washington, where these days you've got plenty of reasons to be.

And a healthy amount of skepticism is fine. Though too often in this town, it turns to cynicism. To the idea that no matter who's talking or what they're saying, that their motives are questionable, their character is suspect, and if you search hard enough, you can prove that they are lying. Maybe that's just the world we live in. But graduates, this is your world to change.

As I said, I am a proud son of the South. It's my home, and I will always love it. But for the last 17 years I've built a life in Silicon Valley; it's a special place, the kind of place where there's no problem that can't be solved, no matter how difficult or complex. That's part of its essential quality. A very sincere sort of optimism. Back in the 90s, Apple ran an advertising campaign we called “Think Different.” It was pretty simple. Every ad was a photograph of one of our heroes. People who had the audacity to challenge and change the way we all live. People like Gandhi and Jackie Robinson, Martha Graham and Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart and Miles Davis. These people still inspire us. They remind us to live by our deepest values and reach for our highest aspirations. They make us believe that anything is possible. A friend of mine at Apple likes to say the best way to solve a problem is to walk into a room full of Apple engineers and proclaim, “this is impossible.”

I can tell you, they will not accept that. And neither should you. So that's the one thing I'd like to bring to you all the way from Cupertino, California. The idea that great progress is possible, whatever line of work you choose. There will always be cynics and critics on the sidelines tearing people down, and just as harmful are those people with good intentions who make no contribution at all. In his letter from the Birmingham jail, Dr. King wrote that our society needed to repent, not merely for the hateful words of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

The sidelines are not where you want to live your life. The world needs you in the arena. There are problems that need to be solved; injustices that need to be ended. People that are still being persecuted, diseases still in need of cure. No matter what you do next, the world needs your energy. Your passion. Your impatience with progress. Don't shrink from risk. And tune out those critics and cynics. History rarely yields to one person, but think, and never forget, what happens when it does. That can be you. That should be you. That must be you.

Congratulations, Class of 2015. I'd like to take one photo of you, because this is the best view in the world. And it's a great one. Thank you very much.

你好，乔大！非常感谢纳普校长的热情介绍。感谢亚历克斯、校董事会成员们、教职员工们、院长们、和我一样被授予荣誉的同伴们，特别是你们，是的，2015届的毕业生们！

祝贺你们，也祝贺参加今天典礼的你们的家人和朋友们。你们毕业了！今天能与你们一起是我的荣幸，是我一生中难得的荣耀。你们让我成了一名光荣的“殖民者”，我怎么感谢你们都不够。

今天，在我正式开始之前，他们要我先做一个常规的通告。你们之前也听过，就是把你们的手机调成静音。如果你用的是iPhone，就将它调成静音模式.如果不是iPhone，请将它送到中间的过道上，苹果有世界一流的回收项目。

你们知道，这里真的是一个神奇的地方。我相信对你们大多数人来说，在选择念哪所大学时，来华盛顿这个民主之都是一个有吸引力的选择。这个地方有着巨大的吸引力。正是在这里，马丁·路德·金博士促使美国人把民主的承诺变为现实，为上帝的所有子民实现了公平正义。也正是在这里，罗纳德·里根总统呼吁我们相信自己，相信我们有能力创造丰功伟绩。

我想告诉你们我第一次来这里的经历，以此来开始今天上午的演讲。1977年夏天——是的，我年纪不小了——当时我16岁，住在阿拉巴马州南部一个叫罗伯茨代尔的小城，我是在那里长大的。在我高三快要结束的时候，我在一次全国农村电力协会赞助的论文竞赛中获奖了。我记不清那篇论文写的是什么了，但我记得很清楚，那篇文章是我手写的，草稿写了一遍又一遍。当时打字机非常贵，我家买不起。

鲍德温郡选了两名学生前往华盛顿，我是其中之一，一同前去的还有来自全国各地的其他几百名学生。出发前，我们亚拉巴马州代表团去了趟位于蒙哥马利的州议会大厦，去跟州长见面。州长的名字作做乔治·C·华莱士。没错，就是1963年站在亚拉巴马州立大学门口不让非裔美国人入学的那个乔治·华莱士。华莱士拥护邪恶的种族隔离制度，他让白人对抗黑人，南方对抗北方，工人阶级对抗所谓的“精英阶层”。那次与州长见面对我来说不是件光荣的事儿。

我生命中的英雄是马丁·路德·金博士和罗伯特·F·肯尼迪，他们抵制华莱士所主张的那些东西。不要忘了，在我成长的年代，在我生活的那个地方，人们对金和肯尼迪并没有多少敬意。在我小时候，美国南方仍然还在解决历史问题。我的课本上甚至还宣称，南北战争是为了维护各州的利益，却几乎只字不提奴隶制度。

所以，我不得不自己弄清楚是非黑白。这是一场探索，是一个过程。这一探索利用了我从父母和教堂那里学到的、深植于我内心的道德意识，它引导我踏上了这趟自我探索之旅。

我在公共图书馆找到了一些书，可能图书馆都不知道有这些藏书。这些书都指向一个事实：华莱士是错的，像种族隔离这样的非正义行为在这世上没有立足之地，平等是一项权利。

就像我说的，我见华莱士州长时才16岁，我们都要与他握手，于是我也握了。但跟他握手让我感觉像背叛了自己的信仰。那种感觉不对，就像是出卖了自己的灵魂。

我们从蒙哥马利飞往华盛顿。那是我第一次坐飞机。实际上，那也是我第一次去美国南方以外的地方。1977年6月15日，我们900名高中生在白宫的南草坪受到新总统吉米·卡特的接见，就在椭圆广场的另一边，而我是其中之一。

我是那些跟这位新总统握过手的幸运儿中的一个。那天，卡特总统看见我的名牌上写着鲍德温郡，就停下来跟我说话。他想知道那年亚拉巴马州受大规模骚乱冲击后，民众的生活如何。卡特总统心地善良而富有同情心，他做着全世界最有权势的工作，但他却一点也没因此而失去人性。我为他当选总统感到自豪，也为他来自南方而自豪。

在一个星期之内，我与两位史上留名的人进行了面对面的接触。他们来自同一个地区，同一个政党，而且分别是相邻的两个州的州长。但是他们看待世界的方式却截然不同。我很清楚，他们中一个人是正确的，一个人是错误的。华莱士利用人们之间的隔阂来建立他的政治生涯；但另一方面，卡特传递的信息则是我们每个人都是联系在一起的。每个人都会展开一段人生旅程，指引他们寻找信奉的价值观，但这种指引力量不仅仅来自他们的经历或处境，这种力量必定来自内心。

那时我自己的人生之旅才刚刚起步，我甚至还没申请大学。而对于你们毕业生们，你们自我发现、自我创造乃至自我重塑的过程就要真真切切地开始了。这个过程就是找到你们信奉的价值，并致力于为此而生活。你们必须找到自己的“北极星”。这意味着你们将面临诸多选择，有些容易，有些艰难，还有些将会让你质疑一切。

华盛顿之旅20年后，我遇到了让我质疑一切的人，他以最好的方式颠覆了我所有的假设。这个人便是史蒂夫·乔布斯。

史蒂夫那时已经创办了一家成功的公司。他曾被公司解雇，等他再回来时，发现公司已经变成了一个烂摊子。当时他还不知道，但他打算奉献自己的余生以拯救这家公司，并将它引领到任何人都难以想象的高度。也就是说，达到除了史蒂夫外谁都想象不到的高度。大多数人已经忘了，但是在1997年和1998年初的时候，苹果公司好几年都没有明确的目标，并且缺乏有效的管理。但是史蒂夫相信苹果公司还可以东山再起。他问我是否愿意帮忙。

他对苹果公司的愿景是：将强大的技术转变成易于人们上手的工具，以帮助人们实现梦想，从而让世界变得更加美好。我本科学的是工程学，后来又获得了工商管理的硕士学位。我被训练成了一个务实的问题解决者。当时我发现自己面前坐着一个眉飞色舞的40多岁的男人，听着他说梦想着改变世界。这不是我所期待的。你看，在1998年，当涉及我的事业时，我也没有方向，人生一片迷茫。

在个人生活中，我知道自己的定位，我紧盯着自己的“北极星”，时刻记得有责任为别人，而不是自己，做些好事。但是在工作中，我一直认为工作就是工作。价值观很重要，而且没错，我也想改变世界，但我觉得那必须用我私人的时间去做，而不是在上班的时候。史蒂夫并不这么想。他是一个理想主义者，他这一点让我回想起自己的青少年时期。第一次会面，他就让我相信了，只要我们努力工作，创造出伟大的产品，我们同样可以改变世界。令我惊讶的是，我完全被这个主意迷住了。我接受了这份工作，从此改变了自己的一生。17年来，我从来没有回过头。

在苹果公司，我们认为工作不仅是为了完善自己，也是为了改善他人的生活。我们的产品可以做一些很棒的事情。正如史蒂夫设想的那样，它们赋予世界各地的人们力量。对于盲人，他们需要有人把信息读出来，因为他们看不到屏幕。对于因为距离阻隔或身患残疾而孤立无援的人，科技就是他们的生命线。对于看到不公现象并想将之公之于众的人，现在他们可以做到了，因为他们口袋里一直都装着一个相机。

我们的承诺不仅体现在产品本身上，更体现在它们的制造过程中，体现在我们对环境的影响上，体现在要求和促进平等以及改进教育的过程中我们所起的作用上。我们相信，一个有价值观并践行该价值观的公司能够真的改变世界。对于个人而言，也是如此。那个人可能就是你们，也必须是你们。毕业生们，你们的价值观很重要，它们就是你们的“北极星”。当你觉得自己被引向了正确的方向时，你的工作就有了崭新的意义。否则，它就只是一份工作，生命就太短暂了。我们需要你们这一代中最优秀、最聪明的人来领导政界和商界，科学界和艺术界，媒体界和学术界。所有这些领域的追求都可以赢得人们的尊敬。你们有机会从事符合道德目的的工作。你不必在“行善”还是“优秀”之间做出选择，这本来就是个虚假的选择，今天看来，更是如此。

你们的挑战是找到一份工作，除了可以支付房租和获得餐桌上的食物外，还可以让你们做正确的事、善良的事、正义的事。

所以找到你们的“北极星”。让它指引你们的生活、工作乃至你们的一生。我猜现在你们当中有人不认可这一点。

我对此并不介意。人们持有怀疑态度一点都不奇怪，特别是在华盛顿这个地方，现如今你们有足够的理由去质疑。

合理的质疑很正常，然而在这座城市，更常见的是质疑变成了愤世嫉俗，变成了这样一种观念：就是无论谁在说，或者说什么，他们的动机都是值得怀疑的，他们的人品都是值得怀疑的。而且只要你刨根问底，就可以证明他们在撒谎。也许这就是我们社会的现状。但毕业生们，这正是你们所要改变的世界。

正如我之前所说，我为自己是“南方之子”而自豪。那是我的故乡，我将永远热爱它。但最近的17年里，我一直生活在硅谷。硅谷是一个很特别的地方，在那里没有解决不了的问题，无论问题多么困难或复杂。这是硅谷核心特质的一部分，是一种很真诚的乐观态度。早在上个世纪90年代，苹果公司推出了我们称为“非同凡想”的广告口号。理念非常简单，每一则广告都是我们心目中一个英雄的照片。这些英雄敢于挑战并改变我们所有人生活的方式。这些人包括甘地、杰基·鲁宾逊、玛莎·格雷厄姆、阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦以及阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特和迈尔斯·戴维斯。这些人仍在激励着我们，提醒我们要遵循自己内心最深处的价值观，并为实现我们的最高理想而奋斗。他们让我们相信，一切皆有可能。我在苹果公司的一个朋友喜欢说，解决问题的最好方法就是走进一间满是苹果工程师的屋子，然后对他们宣称“这是不可能做到的”。

我可以告诉你们，他们是不会吃这一套的。你们也不应该（吃这一套）。这就是我从加州库比蒂诺一路赶来想要和你们分享的一个观点：不管你们选择什么样的工作，取得巨大的进步都是可能的。总会有一些旁观的愤世嫉俗者和批评者打击人们的信心，同样糟糕的还有那些虽怀有好意但毫无贡献的人。金博士在他从伯明翰监狱发出的信中写道，我们的社会需要忏悔，不仅仅要为坏人的恶言而忏悔，也要为好人那可怕的沉默而忏悔。

在台下观望并不是你们想要的生活，世界需要你们登上舞台。还有许多问题需要解决，还有许多不公需要终结。仍然有许多人在遭受迫害，仍然有许多疾病需要治愈。不管你们下一步将要做什么，这个世界都需要你们的能量，需要你们的激情，需要你们迫切想要进步的心情。不要在风险面前退缩，不要理会那些批评者和愤世嫉俗的人。历史很少向一个人屈服，但想想看，也永远不要忘记，如果真的向谁屈服了，那会是怎样的情形。那个人可能就是你们，也应该是你们，而且一定会是你们。

恭喜你们，2015届的毕业生们！我想给你们拍张照，因为你们是世界上最美的风景。拍得不错。非常感谢！

（译/武宁 韩子满）

Quotes 语录