“透視領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力”是《財(cái)富》雜志的一個(gè)在線(xiàn)互動(dòng)社區(qū)，美國(guó)最睿智、最有影響力的一些商界人物會(huì)在這里及時(shí)回答與職業(yè)和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力有關(guān)的問(wèn)題。今天的問(wèn)題是：“你從職業(yè)生涯中學(xué)到的最重要的一課是什么？”回答問(wèn)題的是WashClub和WashClubTrak的財(cái)務(wù)總監(jiān)Henri Alexaline。

當(dāng)我20多歲剛剛從事財(cái)務(wù)工作的時(shí)候，我以為“技能+決心”就是成功所需要的一切。但面對(duì)商業(yè)世界的勾心斗角，我的幻想破滅了，我意識(shí)到，要想在職業(yè)的階梯上爬得更高，需要的不僅僅是技能。關(guān)系網(wǎng)的價(jià)值絲毫不亞于技能——這一課是我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記的。

實(shí)際上，我從給人打工到自主創(chuàng)業(yè)，這也是從一段關(guān)系開(kāi)始的。我參與創(chuàng)辦的這家按需清洗和干洗服務(wù)公司W(wǎng)ashClub，是我與搭檔里克?羅馬共同創(chuàng)辦的，而我們又是通過(guò)一名共同的朋友認(rèn)識(shí)的。正是這樣一段關(guān)系，最后演變成了商業(yè)上的創(chuàng)業(yè)伙伴關(guān)系。

雖然我此前對(duì)清潔行業(yè)幾乎毫無(wú)經(jīng)驗(yàn)，更不用說(shuō)自己運(yùn)營(yíng)一家公司了，但我卻成功地將15年的財(cái)務(wù)工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)轉(zhuǎn)換成了新的技能，并且很快獲得了市場(chǎng)和運(yùn)營(yíng)方面的技能。為了贏得員工的尊重，把握日常運(yùn)營(yíng)的脈搏，我親自卷起袖子學(xué)習(xí)每一件事情。

現(xiàn)在我已經(jīng)明白，技能和關(guān)系應(yīng)該是互補(bǔ)的，同時(shí)是互相促進(jìn)的。不管你是渴望從小隔間換到大辦公室的白領(lǐng)，還是夢(mèng)想將企業(yè)做大做強(qiáng)的創(chuàng)業(yè)者，要想在職業(yè)道路上大步前進(jìn)，你需要的是技能和關(guān)系的正確組合。

那么，什么才是技能和關(guān)系的正確組合？作為一名多年的打工族，如今的創(chuàng)業(yè)人，我有以下幾點(diǎn)經(jīng)驗(yàn)：

你需要關(guān)系來(lái)帶你進(jìn)門(mén)

當(dāng)你剛剛開(kāi)始創(chuàng)業(yè)的時(shí)候，必須有人扶持——這個(gè)“貴人”往往是你已有的關(guān)系。關(guān)系是必要的，你應(yīng)該一直努力擴(kuò)展你的人脈圈子。關(guān)系可以幫你籌集資金、介紹新客戶(hù)、改善你的業(yè)務(wù)模式或客戶(hù)預(yù)期。

在WashClub，我們將重點(diǎn)放在加深與顧客的關(guān)系上，因此我們的反饋圈幾乎是即時(shí)的。比如，我們根據(jù)顧客的反饋調(diào)整了送貨的時(shí)間表，而這反過(guò)來(lái)又給我們創(chuàng)造了新的收益機(jī)會(huì)。

沒(méi)有技能，關(guān)系不會(huì)持久

技能是讓你保持競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的關(guān)鍵。如果我沒(méi)能學(xué)到新的技能，我就不會(huì)有今天的成就。同樣，如果WashClub沒(méi)有足夠的技能和資源提供按需式的服務(wù)，我們也不可能在過(guò)去一年內(nèi)拓展到12個(gè)州的15座城市。了解大趨勢(shì)和行業(yè)發(fā)展動(dòng)態(tài)是非常重要的。我們一直著眼行業(yè)的最前沿，因此，我們的顧客也就不需要尋找其他的選項(xiàng)。

作為一名企業(yè)家，你必須要時(shí)刻著眼科技發(fā)展的前沿。也正因?yàn)槿绱耍覀冊(cè)谕顿Y軟件和設(shè)備時(shí)沒(méi)有絲毫猶豫，因?yàn)樗鼈兛梢愿纳朴脩?hù)的體驗(yàn)，提高員工隊(duì)伍的靈活性，簡(jiǎn)化我們的物流環(huán)節(jié)。

一旦有了技能，就要提高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)容忍度

我們的座右銘是：要賺錢(qián)，先花錢(qián)。對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)，做大做強(qiáng)的最好方法，就是將我們的輻射范圍擴(kuò)展出紐約，將我們的技術(shù)能力與其他運(yùn)營(yíng)商分享。很快地，我們的按需服務(wù)平臺(tái)就構(gòu)建起來(lái)了，我們發(fā)布了一個(gè)“交鑰匙”式的軟件解決方案WashClubTrak，使其他清洗和干洗店也能提供按需式服務(wù)。

這一步是有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的，而且與一些投資人給我們的建議相左。但是，我們的技能和關(guān)系給了我們前行的決心。

如今，我們的混合模式不僅成了一個(gè)重大的差異化因素，而且也成為令我們成功和持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)的關(guān)鍵因素。同時(shí)，作為一個(gè)運(yùn)營(yíng)商和一個(gè)軟件供應(yīng)商，使我們能夠?qū)浖M(jìn)行正確的投資，并且提供附加值產(chǎn)品。如果沒(méi)有嘗試，才是最大的失敗。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?” is by Henri Alexaline, CFO at WashClub and WashClubTrak.

When I started my career in finance in my twenties, I thought skills combined with grit were all I needed to get ahead. But as I grew disillusioned with politics in the corporate world, I learned that it took more than just skills to climb the ladder. But connections were equally if not more important — a lesson that I would never forget. My transition to entrepreneurship, in fact, began with a connection. I co-founded WashClub, an on-demand laundry and dry cleaning service provider, with my partner Rick Rome, who I had met through a mutual friend. What started as a connection morphed into a business relationship.

Although I had little prior experience in the laundry industry let alone running a company, I was able to transfer my skills from a 15-year career in finance and quickly acquire new competence in marketing and operations. I rolled up my sleeves to learn everything I could about my new industry in order to earn the respect from my employees and keep a pulse on our day-to-day activities. In hindsight, I now understand skills and connections should complement and nurture each other. You need the right mix of both to get ahead — whether you’re a professional yearning for that big office or an entrepreneur dreaming to scale a business. So what is the right mix of skills and connections? Having been in the corporate world and now as an entrepreneur running an on-demand start-up, here’s what I’ve learned:

You need connections to get your foot in the door

When you’re starting out, someone has to give you a break — and that someone is more often than not a connection. Connections are a must, and you should constantly look to grow and maximize your circle of influence. Connections can help you raise capital, refer new customers, enhance your business model,or refine customer expectations. At WashClub, we emphasize on deepening our connections with customers, so that our feedback loop becomes almost instantaneous. For instance, we fine-tuned our delivery schedule based on customer feedback, which has in turn opened up new revenue opportunities.

But without skills, your connections won’t last

Skills are what allow you to remain competitive. If I hadn’t acquired new skills, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Likewise, if WashClub didn’t have the skills or the resources to deliver our services on demand, we wouldn’t have grown our presence in 15 cities across 12 states in the past year. Staying attuned to trends or industry developments is critical. We’re always looking ahead so our customers don’t explore other options. As an entrepreneur, you must remain at the forefront of technological development in order to stay relevant. As a result, we don’t waver when investing in our software or equipment, all of which can advance our user experience, improve staffing flexibility or streamline our logistics.

Once you have your skills in place, raise your risk tolerance

Our motto is: You have to spend money to make money. The best way for us to quickly scale up was to expand our reach beyond New York and share our technological know-how with other operators. Soon after we got our on-demand services up and running, we launched WashClubTrak, a turnkey software solution that enables laundry and dry cleaning operators to offer on-demand services. This move was risky and contrary to some advice we were getting from investors. But our skills and connections, gave us the conviction to go forward. Today, our hybrid model is not only a major differentiating factor but also the key to our success and continued growth. Wearing both hats as an operator and a software provider allowed us to make the right investments in our software and offer a value-added product. The biggest failure would have been not to try at all.