德莱克斯勒（J. Crew的CEO）远离不增长的行业。逃离不增长的行业。德莱克斯勒：到1980年我已经在百货公司（布鲁明戴尔百货店）干了12年，我清楚，我该离开了。因为那里没有我的将来。我得到了一个在安.泰勒（一家妇女时装连锁商店）当董事长的职务。当你打算变动工作时，你通常会考虑一番，你会思考各种拒绝的理由，然后你会觉得有些紧张。考虑过后，我拒绝了这一职务。那天晚上我与德高望重的阿瑟·莱维特（当时的美国证券交易所主席）一起用晚餐，我告诉了他这次机会。他说：“我会接受安.泰勒这一职务，百货公司属于停止增长的行业。”他是对的。第二天早晨，我告诉这家公司，我对这一职务很感兴趣。此后的一周，我辞去了百货公司的职务。这是我一生中所得到的最佳的忠告，其意义远远大于忠告。如果那天晚上我不与阿瑟·莱维特一起用晚餐，我可能就不会回电话说我愿意接受这一工作，今天也就说不清我会在哪儿了。Bail out of a business that isn’t growing.It was 1980. I had been working at a department store [Bloomingdale’s] for 12 years, and I knew I had to get out. There wasn’t really a future there for me. I was offered the job of president at Ann Taylor [the women’s-wear chain]. I thought about it—and when you are changing jobs, you think of all the reasons you should not do it. Then you get a little nervous. I said no.That night I was having dinner with someone who was older and wiser, Arthur Levitt [then chairman of the American Stock Exchange], and I told him about the offer. He said, “I would grab that position at Ann Taylor. Department stores are a non-growth business.”He was right. The next morning I told the corporation I was interested after all. I resigned the next week. That was by far the best advice I’ve gotten in my life. If I didn’t have dinner with him that night, I don’t think I would have called back and said I wanted the job. And I am not sure I’d be where I am today.摘自《财富》——易激扬编译
