????本月早些時(shí)候，我在喬治城大學(xué)拜訪一位友人的女兒時(shí)，被一場由15位本科生組成的小組討論所吸引。整場討論很有意思，富于啟發(fā)。這些聰明的年輕女性志向各異，從清理全球環(huán)境到實(shí)現(xiàn)世界和平，再到打造《財(cái)富》美國500強(qiáng)公司不一。

????這里沒有一個(gè)羞怯的女生。

????組織這些學(xué)生每周小組討論的是The Judgment Group的首席執(zhí)行官、《財(cái)富》(Fortune) 2009年最具影響力的商界女性之一蘇珊?威爾森。威爾森在閑暇時(shí)間為幫助其他女性企業(yè)家做了大量工作。最近，她進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)極不科學(xué)的實(shí)驗(yàn)可能會(huì)引發(fā)你深層的思考——女孩們害怕金錢嗎？如果是這樣，這對于前途無量的下一代的未來意味著什么？——Patricia Sellers

????我現(xiàn)在在母校喬治城大學(xué)為15位女性本科生提供小組輔導(dǎo)。由于我的兩個(gè)兒子已分別到了14歲和13歲的年齡，幾周前我?guī)麄円黄鹑チ四感＃Ｍ麄凅w驗(yàn)一下一屋子聰明能干的年輕女性所散發(fā)出的獨(dú)特魅力。

????在開始之前，我在教室里隨機(jī)選擇了幾張課桌——參照教室半滿時(shí)人們通常選擇的位置——在上面放上了一共5張20美元鈔票。我可以看到兩個(gè)兒子都盯著這些錢。感到他們可能很快采取行動(dòng)，我把他們請到了教室后排的座位上。

????13歲的兒子有些郁悶地問，“用什么阻止這些女孩拿這些錢呢，媽媽？”

????我笑了。“沒什么，”我告訴他，“你們能就坐在這兒看著嗎？”

????這似乎違背了他們的天性，但他們同意了。

????接下來十分鐘，女孩們陸續(xù)到了。兒子們和我注意看著。有女孩像我兒子擔(dān)心的那樣，拿走了全部100美元嗎？沒有。

????女孩們有爭搶這些20美元嗎？沒有。

????實(shí)際情況比這更糟糕——我兩個(gè)兒子到現(xiàn)在還莫名不已。

????一句話都沒說，女孩們似乎就達(dá)成了一種默契：應(yīng)該忽視這些錢。她們不僅沒有拿這些20美元的鈔票，而且還選擇了離20美元鈔票較遠(yuǎn)的座位！

????經(jīng)過一番勸解，最終我成功地讓幾個(gè)女孩拿起了鈔票。但她們立刻宣布要捐出去。為什么？因?yàn)闆]人想“成為一個(gè)貪婪的人”，她們說。

????我沒有太過震驚，但決定在下周的小組討論上再談?wù)勥@個(gè)問題。我舉起了一張20美元鈔票，問誰想要它。沒有一個(gè)人動(dòng)。整整30秒后，一個(gè)女孩舉起了手，說，“我們應(yīng)該制定一條規(guī)則，決定由誰獲得。”

????另一個(gè)女孩舉起了手，說“應(yīng)該歸第一個(gè)到的女孩。”

????所有人都環(huán)顧四周，點(diǎn)頭表示同意。

????接下來一個(gè)小時(shí)，我們討論了女孩如何看待金錢和做決定。即便是在規(guī)則沒有必要的時(shí)候，這些女孩也拒絕行動(dòng)，將精力集中于制定規(guī)則，以決定由誰獲得。

????顯然，如果有男性在這間教室里，女性不會(huì)有任何機(jī)會(huì)。

????我問，“為什么？”小組推崇規(guī)則，是因?yàn)橐?guī)則能建立一套標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。“然后，”一個(gè)機(jī)敏的女孩笑了，“我們可以在規(guī)則框架內(nèi)，利用規(guī)則達(dá)到我們的目的。”

????我的直覺反應(yīng)是，“而且仍被視為好女孩？”

????毫不遲疑地，整個(gè)小組都點(diǎn)頭表示同意。

????這讓你意外嗎？我已經(jīng)從各個(gè)角度對此進(jìn)行思考，令我尷尬的是在發(fā)現(xiàn)不僅是我對金錢有這樣的感受后，我的內(nèi)心略感輕松。即便是這些聰明的年輕女性——沒有成年人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)、責(zé)任、妥協(xié)和失敗等包袱——面對金錢心理也感到有些障礙。

????這讓我從另外一個(gè)角度感到自責(zé)。但這帶來一個(gè)問題，女性如何才能在商界有出色表現(xiàn)？我能做些什么來幫助這些女孩——和我自己？

????While visiting a friend's daughter at Georgetown University earlier this month, I got lured into meeting with a group of 15 undergrads. The session was great fun and illuminating. These were bright young women whose ambitions ranged, they told me, from cleaning up the global environmental to achieving world peace to building Fortune 500 companies.

????Not one shrinking violets here.

????The weekly convener of these students is Susan Wilson, CEO of The Judgment Group and one of Fortune's 2009 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs. In her spare moments, Wilson does lots of stuff to help other women entrepreneurs. As part of her effort, she recently conducted an experiment that is profoundly unscientific and will make you wonder, profoundly: Are girls afraid of money? And if so, what does it mean for the future of the most promising next gen? -- Patricia Sellers

????I'm mentoring a group of 15 female undergrads at Georgetown, my alma mater. Given that my sons are now 14 and 13, I brought them with me a few weeks ago so they could experience the inimitable beauty of a room full of smart, empowered young women.

????Before the session began, I placed five $20 bills on random desks throughout the classroom--based on where people typically sit when a room is half-filled. I could see my boys eyeballing the money. Sensing an imminent attack, I scooped up my boys and escorted them to their NEW seats in the back of the room.

????Far from thrilled, my 13-year-old son asked, "What's to stop one of the girls from just taking the money, Mom?"

????I laughed, "Absolutely nothing," I told him. " Can you JUST sit here and watch?"

????It was as if they were going against nature, but they complied.

????Over the next ten minutes, the girls trickled in. My sons and I watched. Did one girl scoop up the entire $100, as my son feared? Nope.

????Did the girls fight over the twenties? Not exactly.

????What happened was even worse--and my sons are still dumbfounded.

????Without saying a word, the girls somehow agreed that they should ignore the money. Not only did they NOT take the $20 bills. They sat anywhere but NEAR the money!

????It took some convincing, but I did manage to get a few of the girls to pick up the bills--finally. But they immediately declared they were donating the money. Why? Because no one wanted "to be greedy," they told me.

????I wasn't shocked, but I decided to revisit the issue when I met with the girls a week later. I held up a $20 bill and asked who wanted it. No one moved. A good 30 seconds later, one of the girls raised her hand and said, "We should make a rule about who gets it."

????Another girl raised her hand and declared, "It should go to the girl that got here first."

????Everyone looked around, and they all nodded in agreement.

????We spent the next hour discussing how girls think about money and make decisions. Even when rules weren't necessary, the girls refused to act and instead focused their energy on creating rules about who got the money.

????Clearly, if men had been in the room, the women wouldn't have stood a chance.

????I asked, "Why?" The group preferred rules because rules establish a system of norms. "Then," one astute girl laughed, "we can play within established parameters and still manipulate the rules to get our way."

????Instinctively, I responded, "And still be considered good girls?"

????Without missing a beat, the group nodded in agreement.

????Does any of this surprise you? I've thought about it from every angle and I'm embarrassed that a part of me feels slightly relieved that it's not just me who feels this way about money. Even these bright young women--without the grown-up baggage of experience, responsibility, compromise and failure--have a dysfunctional relationship with money.

????Which makes me feel guilty in a whole other way…argh! But this begs the question: How are women ever going to excel in business? And what can I do to help these girls--and myself?