????從幼年開始，變化對芭芭拉?尼爾松來說就已經是家常便飯。尼克松是一位西點軍校（West Point）高材生的女兒，生在東京，是軍營中長大的孩子，童年大部分時間都在不同地方生活。上學期間，她發現自己熱愛數學，最終還進入斯坦福大學（Stanford University），取得了電氣工程學學士學位。而在那個年代，很少有女性會選擇這個專業。

????她畢業后的第一份工作是在英特爾（Intel），當時的英特爾規模很小，而且按照尼爾松的說法，是“人少活多”。她在英特爾工作的13年里，公司實現了驚人的增長，她也上升到總經理的職位。然而，隨著公司增長放緩，尼爾松決定進行其他更多嘗試，曾分別就職于昆騰公司（Quantum）、數據存儲安全產品供應商

????目前，尼爾松是存儲與安全公司怡敏信（Imation）的移動安全部門負責人。她的職責范圍包括：IronKey系列產品，包括外形看上去像耐用的閃存盤、但實際上是擁有移動計算機存儲空間和軟件的設備。部分產品甚至具有遠程銷毀功能，在設備被盜或丟失的情況下，可以銷毀其中的數據。現年59歲的尼爾松最近接受了我們的采訪。

????1. 你欣賞哪家公司？為什么？

????那些在發展過程中能夠大幅度轉變商業模式，對產品進行調整的公司。例如，我非常贊賞亞馬遜（Amazon）。他們最初只是一家在線書店；我想他們當初可能連自己的營銷中心都沒有。之后，他們從在線書店轉向了電子書業務，現在已經成了全世界最大的網絡零售商，在那里幾乎可以買到任何東西。亞馬遜目前也是全世界最大的IT服務提供商，因為他們建立了自己的基礎設施，而且明確決定將這些設施商業化。所以，杰夫?貝佐斯說：“未來，我們將推出無人機送貨。”這很有可能！一家公司要了解自己的核心競爭力，同時在發展過程中利用自己的競爭力打入不同領域，亞馬遜便是最好的例子。

????另外一家是蘋果公司（Apple）。他們開發出了三種不同的產品——Mac電腦、iPod和iPhone——它們顛覆了人們的工作方式。現在，有了智能手機，即使身在印度最小的村莊或是非洲的偏遠地區，人們也能收到手機信號，遠程管理自己的生活。我認為，這些產品對全天下的人們都會產生深遠的影響，而且我們已經看到了這種影響。

????2. 最讓你振奮的科技行業是什么？

????我所在的與移動有關的行業。我認為實現物品的便攜性是一項日趨成熟的技術，讓人們可以做以前不敢想象的事情。

????3. 你對希望從事你這一行的人有什么建議？

????我首先想到的，是要有技術學位，我認為這一點很重要。當然，它并不是決定性的條件。我的意思是，如果你擁有技術學位，你可以學得更快，幫助你理解事情之間的關聯。不過，最重要的是謹慎選擇公司和老板。剛走出校門的時候，要從自己的經歷中總結學習，所以，要選擇能夠給你帶來寶貴經歷的地方。要仔細考慮去哪里學習新技術，獲取出色的能力，與那些能夠真正成功的人共事。不要頭腦一熱就做出選擇，或是投身所謂的“熱門”行業，因為它不一定適合你。

????4. 你收到過的最好的建議是什么？

????“少即是多。”簡單很重要。所有真實的東西都很簡單。還有另外兩點。“相信自己的直覺”，因為作為工程師，我們總是希望獲得數據；有時候，你不得不相信自己的直覺，摸索著前進。另外一條建議來自我的母親。我認為這也堪稱金玉良言：“不要嫁給一個男人，然后想和怎么去改造他。”

????At an early age, change was normal for Barbara Nelson. The daughter of a West Point graduate, Nelson is an army brat who was born in Tokyo and spent much of her early life living in different places. In school, she discovered a love of mathematics, and eventually enrolled in Stanford University, where she received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, a field where few women ventured at the time.

????Her first job post-degree was at Intel, which was still small and, as Nelson puts it, "had so much to do, and so few people to do it." Over the course of her 13 years there, the company grew tremendously, and she rose to a general manager position. As the company's growth started to slow down, however, Nelson decided to move on to her next few adventures with positions atQuantum, NeoScale Systems, and Element Labs, among others.

????Nelson now leads mobile security for the storage and security company Imation. Within her purview: The IronKey portfolio, comprised of devices that look like heavy-duty USB sticks but are capable of holding the storage space and software of a mobile computer. Some even have a remote kill switch that destroys the device's data in case it is lost or stolen. Nelson, 59, spoke with us.

????1. Which companies do you admire? Why?

????People who have been able to dramatically shift business models over time and adjust their products. As an example, I would put Amazon on that list. They started out as an online book store; I don't think they even had their own distribution centers. They moved from that to e-books, then to the world's largest e-tailer of anything and now one of the largest providers of IT services because they had to build out their infrastructure and cleverly decided to commercialize it. So when Jeff Bezos says, "Someday we're going to have drones in here," he might! I think that's an example of a business that did a really good job of knowing its core competencies and leveraging them into different areas as they evolved.

????Another company worth mentioning is Apple. They developed three very different products -- the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone -- that have radically changed the way that people do things. Now, because of a smartphone, you can get a cell phone signal in the smallest village in India or in the middle of nowhere in Africa and run your life from there. I don't think we've yet seen the profound effect that this is going to have on people everywhere in the world.

????2. Which area of technology excites you most?

????The one I'm in, which is mobile. I think having things that people can carry with them in their pocket -- that allow them to do things that they never thought they would be able to do -- is a technology that's come of age.

????3. What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

????The first thing that comes to mind is I think it's really important to have a technical degree. You certainly don't have to have it, but you learn things faster and it helps you connect the dots. But the biggest thing is to pick your companies and your bosses well. When you come out of school you learn from your experiences, so pick places where those experiences are going to be valuable. Really think about where you're going to learn a lot about new technology, gain excellent skills, and work with people who are really going places. Don't just go for the first thing or the "hot" thing because it may not be for you.

????4. What is the best advice you ever received?

????"Less is more." Simplicity is important. Anything that's true is typically simple. I'd add two other things too. "Trust your gut" because as engineers we are always going to want data; sometimes you just have to trust your instincts and fly blind. Then, a personal one from my mother, which is also extremely good advice: "Don't marry a man thinking you're going to change him."