[On Success] What It Means To Be A “Woman In Business”[关于成功] 如何定义一名商业上成功的女性

A few weeks ago, Anne Marie Slaughter ignited a fire under the relatively calm waters of career women, with her provocative essay “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.”  Her essay prompted me to write my own reflection on what it means to be a woman in business & what I have gained from being a member of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business on campus.
It was prefrosh weekend when I first decided I wanted to join Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business.  I remember attending the reception for interested prefrosh, and how it was a very intimate chat between the current HUWIB board and the 5-6 prefrosh in the room that night.  We were a small group with a big plate of sushi to share, and I thought then that any club that gives me this much sushi must be freaking awesome.
I don’t mention this sushi incident to trivialize my choice in joining HUWIB as a freshman, but rather to highlight the fact that I really had little if any concept about why being a “woman in business” could be any different than being a man in business.  Yes, I was very aware that there are fewer women in business and yes, obviously women bear children, and that tends to be a little obstacle, but I assumed that issues of workplace discrimination against women were largely a relic of the 1800s (I’m exaggerating of course).  Women like me would certainly have no problem blowing past every possible career challenge.  I wanted to join HUWIB mostly for the sushi and the cool speakers the club brought in.
Reflecting on my thoughts as a freshman now, I realize that I actually have matured and changed a lot since then.  For one thing, I realized that finally, after 20 years of life, I’ll have to start creating a path for myself and not just walk on a path that’s already been paved.  School is a relatively predefined path, where you go from freshman, to sophomore, to junior, to senior.  But after graduation, you have to figure out for yourself what your first job will be, what industry you want to be in, what kind of role you want to take on, or even if you want to work at all (provided you have the luxury to consider that option).  The second point I realized was that the main challenge women face in the workplace is not discrimination, but “work-life balance” challenges.  Until recently, I could barely understand why any woman, especially a Harvard graduate, would choose to be a stay-at-home mom.  Mainly through HUWIB though, I have had the privilege of meeting many women who are in the midst of their careers or who are looking back on already fantastic careers, and I have seen in every woman I have met, tradeoffs and challenges between career and family.
Considering these two points though — 1) figuring out your own path and 2) dealing with career and life tradeoffs — when you boil it down, it reduces to figuring out what makes you happy.  The real goal is figuring out what job will make us happy every day.  You have to 1) be excited about the job, and 2) have the kind of work-life balance you need to be happy.  The goal of HUWIB is to expose our associates to as many varieties of jobs, people, and paths as possible, in order to help each other figure out what will make us happiest.  At the same time, we try to create a network of women who can rely on each other to give each other advice, friendship, and a shoulder to lean on now, and in the future.  These are the things I have gained from HUWIB, and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to be on the board of HUWIB and take a part in sharing these opportunities with the wider community.  Every woman (and man) should be able to find her dream job, because finding your dream job is often inextricable from finding the life you want to live.  When you’re looking for a job, always remember that your #1 goal should be to figure out what kind of career will make you happy every day.  That is what it really means to be a woman in business.

几个星期前，安妮.玛丽.斯劳特以她挑衅性的文章《为什么妇女仍然不能拥有这一切》在职业女性相对平静的水面上激起了好一阵涟漪，她的文章促使我对我自己进行反思，反思在商业上女性存在的意义，以及我在哈佛商学院的本科经历给我带来了些什么。

在我高中即将毕业的大学参观周末中，我第一次产生了加入哈佛大学商学院女子部（HUWIB）的念头。我记得那晚5-6位和我一样的预备生和HUWIB的部门现成员进行了非常亲密无间的谈话。招待会上，我们人虽少，但是我们一起分了一个很大的寿司盘，寿司太棒了。当然了，我强调这盘寿司不是说我是受了它的诱惑而加入组织的，而是想强调，我当时对成为一位“商业女性”和商业男性有何区别毫无概念。确实，我承认商业界中女性很少，也承认女性对比男性要承担生育子女的责任，尽管这看起来只是一个小的障碍，但是我认为工作场所对妇女的歧视的问题在很大程度上是19世纪的遗物（我夸大了课程里的内容）。像我这样的女性肯定不会有问题去面对职业生涯的每一个可能的挑战。所以，我加入HUWIB的主要动机归根结底，还是因为那盘寿司，以及俱乐部里面帅气的音响设备。

现在，作为一名哈佛大学的新生，我开始反思，觉得我已经变得更加成熟，并且比当时变了很多。有一点，我意识到，经过了20多年的生活，我应该开始创建自己的生活路径，而不是走那些已经铺好的道路。学校是一个相对预先定义好的路径，你从大一，大二，大三直到大四顺顺利利。但大学毕业后，你要马上搞清楚自己你的第一份工作是什么，在什么行业，做什么样的角色，或者你甚至可以尝试全部的工作（前提是你有足够的条件考虑该选项）。第二点，我意识到妇女在工作场所面临的主要挑战是不歧视，而是“工作 – 生活平衡”的挑战。直到最近，我都几乎无法理解任何女人，尤其是哈佛毕业的，为什么会选择做一个留在家里的妈妈。通过HUWIB这个平台，我有特权遇到很多正在职业中间段，或者已经开始重视自己已然精彩的职业道路的女性。每一个我遇到的女性，都在家庭事业的挑战和取舍间做出了好的选择。

考虑到这两点：1）找到自己的出路 2）处理事业和生活的取舍—当你苦苦坚持的时候，你往往不能知道什么会使你快乐。真正的目标是找到使你每天快乐的工作，你要做到：1）对这份工作感到兴奋 2）做到能使你快乐的工作生活的平衡。 HUWIB的目标就是让我们的成员们能够尝试尽量多的工作，见识更多的人以及了解共多的职业 道路，好让每个人发现哪条道路使我们最快乐。与此同时，我们试着去建立一个女性间的社交网络，使彼此之间能够信任，给出建议，收获友谊，建立一段从现在直到未来都可以依靠的伙伴关系。这些都是我在HUWIB里的收获，我很高兴我能加入这个组织，并且分享这些机会给更多的圈内同胞。每一个女性（以及男性）找到他们心仪的工作其实和找到他们心仪的生活是一样的原理，每当你去寻找一份工作的时候，请记住你的第一个目标是发现什么样的工作能使你每天开心。我觉得，这才是成为一名商业女性的意义。