????婚姻給職業發展帶來的好處，一直廣受贊揚。在整個職業生涯中，已婚人士往往能夠獲取更高的收入。結婚還可以帶來經濟和社交方面的額外好處。高管通常更欣賞已婚人士具有的穩定性，這一優勢可以給已婚者帶來升職機遇。而且，有人認為已婚者的壽命更長。

????華盛頓大學教授約書亞?杰克森最近發布的一項研究甚至暗示，如果你的配偶“盡職盡責”，可靠、有條理并且擅長處理家務和財務，你就更有可能以最快的速度平步青云。

????但這樣一來，那些還沒有找到“另一半”的人該怎么辦？在許多方面，單身其實能夠給職業發展帶來意想不到的好處。它可以讓你更靈活——在辦公室工作很長時間，也不會有愧疚感。

????事實上，在公司發展的某些階段，由單身人士擔任最高領導職務，或許是更好的選擇。這是因為，根據最近一項研究，單身者更愿意抓住機遇，在研發或并購方面進行大膽投資。這些方面的努力可以將一家苦苦掙扎的小公司打造成一家集萬般寵愛于一身的上市公司。事實上，許多快速增長的公司CEO都未正式成家。

????繁榮與蕭條并存的創業界確實存在這種情況。下面四家公司便得益于其單身CEO的專注、奉獻和投入。至少在大多數時間里，單身CEO給公司帶來的是好處。這四位高管已經找到了摯愛；只不過他們的“另一半”并不一定是一位有血有肉的配偶。

????The professional benefits of marriage have long been extolled. Married couples tend to make more money over their professional lifetimes. And tying the knot can come with a number of perks—financially and socially. Senior executives often prefer the stability associated with the coupled, which can lead to promotions. Married people are said to live longer as well.

????Recently published research by Washington University’s Joshua Jackson even suggests that you are more likely to rise the ranks fastest with a “conscientious” spouse; one who is reliable, organized, and good at managing chores and finances.

????But where does that leave those Americans who simply haven’t found “the one” yet? In many ways, staying single can do wonders for your career. It gives you more flexibility—you are less likely to feel guilty about spending long hours in the office.

????In fact, at certain points in a company’s life, it may be better for the top spot to be filled by a lonesome dove. That’s because the unhitched are more willing to take chances on investment in research and development or mergers, according to recent research. Such efforts can turn a small struggling business into a publicly traded gem. In fact, a number of CEOs without a marriage certificate are at the helm of fast-growing companies.

????This is certainly the case in the boom and bust world of startups. These four companies have been aided by the attention, dedication, and attentiveness of their unmarried CEOs. At least most of the time. These four executives have found love; it just doesn’t necessarily include a living, breathing partner.

????謝家華， Zappos.com

????41歲的謝家華充分證明，單身人士很清楚如何尋找樂趣。他將自己的在線鞋業零售公司，變成了《財富》最適宜工作的公司榜單上的常客。2009年，亞馬遜以12億美元收購了該公司，但在Zappos的運營方面，謝家華仍有很大的自主權，他可以按照自己認為合適的方式經營公司，比如舉辦各種酒會、派對和周五蘇格蘭裙聚會（Kilt Fridays）等。這種辦公環境讓許多Zappos員工喜結連理。

????但謝家華并不是其中之一，單身狀態讓他有大量時間專注于自己創建的公司。他非常忙碌。據報道，他通常從早上8點開會一直到晚上10點才結束。在2010年，他在兩周內就撰寫了一本登上《紐約時報》暢銷書榜的圖書——《傳遞幸福》（Delivering Happiness），并在2012年承接了拉斯維加斯的經濟發展項目。通過向新商店和餐廳注資3.5億美元，該項目希望推動Zappos公司總部所在的市區實現復興。

????但不要以為他很快就會安定下來。最近，《花花公子》雜志大談一夫一妻制的各種好處，謝家華這樣回應一個相關問題：

????從純進化論的角度來說，一夫一妻制的人，其基因在下一代中被復制的次數更少。我認為很難找到一位伴侶，結束單身。借用一位朋友的說法，為什么不找個朋友一起生活？答案在于，因為你與不同的朋友會有不同的聯系，不同的交流和不同的體驗。我想說，約會也是如此。

????Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com

????Hsieh, 41, serves as testament that single people just know how to have more fun. He has turned his online shoe retail operation into a perennial favorite on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list. Amazon bought the company in 2009 for $1.2 billion, but Hsieh still has a lot of room to run Zappos how he sees fit, which includes plenty of booze, parties, and Kilt Fridays. The office environment has produced a number of Zappos marriages.

????But not for Hsieh, whose singlehood has left him with plenty of time to focus on the company he built. His days are long. He reportedly holds meetings often from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. In 2010, he wrote a New York Times bestselling business book, Delivering Happiness, in two weeks, and undertook a Las Vegas economic development project in 2012. The project seeks to revitalize the area of the city in which Zappos is headquartered by funneling $350 million into new shops and restaurants.

????Don’t expect him to settle down soon, though. Hsieh recently responded to a question from Playboy about the virtues of monogamy:

????From a purely evolutionary point of view, the guy who’s monogamous will have fewer copies of his genes in the next generation than a guy who’s not. I think it’s pretty hard to find one partner and call it a day. Using the analogy of friends, why not find just one friend and call it a day? The answer is because you get a different type of connection, different conversations, different experiences with different friends. I would say the same thing is true on the dating side.