【文章标题】：Saplings: Unstable Ground
【文章标题】：树苗：不稳定的地基
José Ferrera wanted his money. A week earlier, the farmhand had labored in the orchards of Luigi Giannini, picking fruit. Though he’d received some payment, he’d been stiffed by a dollar. Or, at least that was his story.
何塞·费雷拉想要他的钱。一周前，这个农场工人在路易吉·詹尼尼的果园里干活，采摘水果。虽然他收到了一些报酬，但被少给了一美元。或者，至少他是这么说的。
On August 14, 1876, he traveled back to the Giannini farm with a shotgun in hand. Perhaps Ferrera had only wanted to scare Luigi, but as their voices rose near the Giannini family home, he raised the barrel and killed the man.
1876年8月14日，他手持猎枪回到詹尼尼农场。也许费雷拉只是想吓唬路易吉，但当他们的声音在詹尼尼家附近越来越高时，他举起枪管，杀死了这个人。
A few paces away stood a six-year-old Amadeo Giannini. As Ferrera fled, the boy rushed to his father’s side. There was nothing he could do.
几步之外站着六岁的阿马迪奥·詹尼尼。当费雷拉逃跑时，男孩冲到父亲身边。他无能为力。
The evening of Luigi’s funeral, after the house had emptied, Amadeo’s mother, Virginia, held her son and explained that the world, and his place in it, had changed. “This is the last time I take you on my knees. From today, you are the man of the house.”
路易吉葬礼的那天晚上，家里人去楼空后，阿马迪奥的母亲弗吉尼亚抱着儿子，解释说，世界以及他在其中的位置已经改变了。“这是最后一次让你坐在我的膝上。从今天起，你就是这个家的男人。”
It was in such circumstances, freighted with responsibility, attuned to mortality, that Amadeo grew up, eventually becoming one of the most important entrepreneurs of his era. In 1904, he founded the institution that would become Bank of America.
正是在这种充满责任、与死亡相伴随的环境中，阿马迪奥长大了，最终成为他那个时代最重要的企业家之一。1904年，他创立了后来成为美国银行的机构。
Not all great entrepreneurs endure such tragedy in early life. But a large number of those studied were born or raised amidst real instability, real turmoil, whether that meant the death of a parent or sibling, sudden shifts in material fortune, or frayed familial dynamics. From a young age, these children learned that life could be fickle and cruel, that one’s hand could change suddenly, and, perhaps, that the remedy was to happen to life rather than allow it to happen to you. In Part II of Saplings, our study of the early lives of legendary founders, we focus on the home, and the inherited stresses that recur most frequently.
并非所有伟大的企业家都在早年经历过这样的悲剧。但在被研究的人中，有相当多的人是在真正的不稳定、真正的动荡中出生或长大的，无论是父母或兄弟姐妹的去世、物质财富的突然转变，还是家庭关系的破裂。这些孩子从小就懂得，生活可能反复无常、残酷无情，一个人的处境可能突然改变，而且，也许，补救的办法是主动去经历生活，而不是让生活发生在你身上。在《树苗》第二部分中，我们对传奇创始人的早年生活进行了研究，重点关注家庭，以及那些反复出现的、与生俱来的压力。
Early loss.
早年丧亲。
Many entrepreneurs become acquainted with death early, losing parents or siblings. This shortens their childhood, disrupts the family dynamic, and produces a deep sense of mortality.
许多企业家很早就与死亡相识，失去了父母或兄弟姐妹。这缩短了他们的童年，破坏了家庭动态，并产生了一种深刻的死亡意识。
Disappointing fathers, dynamic mothers.
令人失望的父亲，精明强干的母亲。
When entrepreneurs were raised with two parents, often one has a much greater influence. A relatively common pattern is for the father to disappoint, while the mother provides support and drive.
当企业家由父母双亲抚养长大时，往往其中一方的影响要大得多。一个相对常见的模式是父亲令人失望，而母亲提供支持和动力。
Earned love.
挣得的爱。
The withholding of approval from a parent is common. In some instances, a parent does not merely withhold affection, but actively doubts their child’s worth or ability. In either variation, this seems to produce a strong desire in the child to over-prove their ability or worth to compensate.
父母不给予认可是很常见的。在某些情况下，父母不仅不给予关爱，反而积极怀疑孩子的价值或能力。无论哪种情况，这似乎都会在孩子心中产生一种强烈的愿望，即过度证明自己的能力或价值以作补偿。
Status in motion.
变动中的身份。
Rather than entrepreneurs clustering in certain economic classes, the dominant pattern is change. Founders often lived through shifting fortunes, viscerally experiencing the mobility of status.
企业家的主导模式不是集中在某些经济阶层，而是变化。创始人往往经历过命运的起落，切身体验到地位的可变性。
Imposed mythologies.
强加的神话。
Often, entrepreneurs are burdened with a family’s expectations. They are tasked with redeeming past failures, restoring a lineage, or justifying the sacrifices of parents and siblings. From an early age, identity and destiny is thrust upon them.
企业家常常背负着家庭的期望。他们的任务是弥补过去的失败、重振家族，或证明父母和兄弟姐妹的牺牲是值得的。从小，身份和命运就被强加在他们身上。
Though noted in previous editions of this series, Saplings does not purport to explain everything about the individuals featured, or imagine that its observations are necessary to achieve entrepreneurial greatness. It does not attempt to make statistical observations or generalize across these populations. Rather, it is an accounting of the common patterns I find most meaningful, accompanied by my interpretation of them. Across the series, the goal is to study the formative years of extraordinary figures so as to better understand them, knowing that full understanding is not possible.
尽管在本系列的前几版中已经指出，《树苗》并不声称能解释所描述个体的所有事情，也不认为其观察是取得伟大企业家成就的必要条件。它不试图进行统计观察或对这些人群进行概括。相反，它是对我认为最有意义的共同模式的记录，并附有我对这些模式的解读。在整个系列中，目标是研究非凡人物的成长岁月，以便更好地理解他们，同时知道完全理解是不可能的。
You can find Part I: Outsiders here, and a discussion of our methodology here.
你可以在这里找到第一部分：局外人，以及我们方法论的讨论。
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Early loss.
早年丧亲。
Across the sample population, death visits with such regularity that you are forced to remind yourself: these were different times. Many of the founders studied were born before the 20th century or in less stable geographies. To lose a sibling in 1850s New York or a parent during China’s Great Famine was simply much more common than it would be in the San Francisco of the 1990s. It may not have made a child feel quite as different from their peers perhaps or quite as alone. But there is no reason to imagine it would have hurt less. Their home life was still changed irreparably, perhaps more so than in modern contexts.
在样本群体中，死亡的到来如此规律，以至于你不得不提醒自己：那是不同的时代。许多被研究的创始人出生于20世纪之前，或出生在不那么稳定的地区。在19世纪50年代的纽约失去一个兄弟姐妹，或在中国的三年困难时期失去父母，显然比在20世纪90年代的旧金山要常见得多。这也许不会让一个孩子感觉自己与同龄人有多么不同，或有多么孤独。但没有理由认为伤害会减轻。他们的家庭生活仍然被不可挽回地改变了，甚至可能比现代环境中的情况更甚。
Even adjusting for the different risks of other eras and locations, it is striking how many of these entrepreneurs lost a parent early. Stan Shih (Acer), Amadeo Giannini (Bank of America), Larry Hillblom (DHL), George Eastman (Kodak), Fred Smith (FedEx), Jerry Yang (Yahoo), Carlos Slim (América Móvil), Jorge Paulo Lemann (3G Capital), Aristotle Onassis (Olympic Maritime), Harland David Sanders (KFC), James Dyson, Lorenzo Zambrano (CEMEX), Jim Casey (UPS), Li Ka-Shing (CK Hutchison), Frank Lowy (Westfield), Alfred Krupp all lost parents in childhood or adolescence. Konosuke Matsushita (Panasonic), Howard Hughes, Wang Chuanfu (BYD), Coco Chanel, and Leonardo Del Vecchio (Luxottica) were literally or functionally orphaned. Many more lost a parent in early adulthood.
即使考虑到其他时代和地点的不同风险，这些企业家中早年丧亲的人数之多仍然令人震惊。施振荣（宏碁）、阿马迪奥·詹尼尼（美国银行）、拉里·希尔布洛姆（DHL）、乔治·伊士曼（柯达）、弗雷德·史密斯（联邦快递）、杨致远（雅虎）、卡洛斯·斯利姆（美洲电信）、豪尔赫·保罗·莱曼（3G资本）、亚里士多德·奥纳西斯（奥林匹克海事）、哈兰·大卫·桑德斯（肯德基）、詹姆斯·戴森、洛伦佐·赞布拉诺（CEMEX）、吉姆·凯西（UPS）、李嘉诚（长江和记）、弗兰克·洛伊（西田）、阿尔弗雷德·克虏伯都在童年或青少年时期失去了父母。松下幸之助（松下）、霍华德·休斯、王传福（比亚迪）、可可·香奈儿和莱昂纳多·德尔·维基奥（陆逊梯卡）实际上或功能上成为了孤儿。还有更多人在成年早期失去了父母。
This is to say nothing of the siblings lost. John Rockefeller, Enzo Ferrari, Milton Hershey, and others all lived through the death of a brother or sister.
更不用说失去的兄弟姐妹了。约翰·洛克菲勒、恩佐·法拉利、米尔顿·赫尔希等人都经历过兄弟姐妹的死亡。
Larry Ellison experienced a stranger kind of destabilization. Over dinner one night, when Ellison was around twelve years old, his parents shared a piece of trivia: he was adopted. “That was it. They didn’t give me any details,” Ellison reported later. “It was like ‘Tonight we’re having meat loaf, and, by the way, you’re adopted.’” Ellison did not contend with the death of a parent, but in an instant, the narrative of life that stood beneath his feet was ripped away.
拉里·埃里森经历了一种更奇怪的不稳定。在埃里森大约十二岁时的一个晚餐，他的父母分享了一条琐事：他是被收养的。“就这样。他们没有给我任何细节，”埃里森后来回忆道。“就像说‘今晚我们吃肉饼，顺便说一句，你是被收养的。’”埃里森没有遭遇父母去世，但一瞬间，支撑他生命底层的叙事被撕裂了。
As with Amadeo Giannini, for many founders, the death of a parent results in inheriting the deceased’s responsibilities. Jorge Paul Lemann was fourteen when his father was struck down by a streetcar. Immediately, he is described as becoming the “man of the house.”
与阿马迪奥·詹尼尼一样，对许多创始人来说，父母的去世意味着继承逝者的责任。豪尔赫·保罗·莱曼十四岁时，他的父亲被一辆有轨电车撞倒。据说，他立刻就成为了“家中的男人”。
Li Ka-Shing, founder of the conglomerate CK Hutchison, was given similar instructions. As his destitute father lay dying of tuberculosis, he told his fifteen-year-old son that “a man must have ambitions.” With tears running down his cheeks, Li made a promise: “Father, don’t worry. I will learn to do business and make lots of money.” Within three years, young Li had gone from sweeping factory floors to a star salesman, bringing in more money than his family needed.
李嘉诚是长江和记集团的创始人，也受到了类似的嘱托。当他穷困潦倒的父亲因肺结核濒临死亡时，他告诉十五岁的儿子，“男人必须有志气。”李嘉诚泪流满面，许下承诺：“父亲，别担心。我会学做生意，赚很多钱。”三年之内，年轻的李嘉诚从打扫工厂地板变成了明星推销员，挣到的钱超过了家里的需要。
In such instances, it’s evident that the parental death serves as the beginning of a quasi-adulthood, carrying with it greater expectations and ambition. It pushes the bereaved child to enter the wider world earlier and to rely on themselves.
在这些例子中，很明显，父母之死是准成年的开始，带来了更大的期望和雄心。它促使失去亲人的孩子更早进入更广阔的世界，并依靠自己。
It may also create a certain obsession with mortality. Ted Turner, founder of CNN, was tormented by his father in life (discussed in Part I) and death. When Ted was twenty-four years old, his father agreed to sell a chunk of his business, then committed suicide the next day. It was up to the younger Turner to undo the sale and right the ship.
这也可能造成对死亡的某种执念。CNN创始人泰德·特纳在生前和死后都受到父亲的折磨（在第一部分中讨论过）。泰德二十四岁时，他父亲同意出售自己的一大部分业务，第二天就自杀了。年轻的特纳必须撤销这笔交易，让船重回正轨。
Even as Ted Turner outstripped his father commercially, he remained fixated on his demise. “He talks about death incessantly,” a friend of Turner’s remarked. “Over the years, killing himself was a high-priority topic of conversation. Most of the time he was flippant about it. He would talk in this joking way about how, if things did not work out, he could always sell the business, how all he needed was a roof over his head and some food. Then he would say, ‘If things get really bad, I can always kill myself.’ He could not go several days without talking about suicide.”
即使在商业上超越了父亲之后，泰德·特纳仍然念念不忘父亲的死亡。“他不停地谈论死亡，”特纳的一位朋友评论道。“多年来，自杀一直是首要话题。大多数时候他对这件事轻描淡写。他会以开玩笑的方式说，如果事情不顺利，他总可以卖掉生意，他只需要一个遮风挡雨的屋顶和一些食物。然后他会说，‘如果情况真的变得很糟，我总可以自杀。’他几乎每隔几天就会谈到自杀。”
If there is an upside to an obsession with mortality, it may be that it creates internal urgency. If you understand, deeply understand, that life can end at any moment, you may be more predisposed to make the most of one’s own. To take greater risks, to drive a little harder, to push to leave something tangible behind.
如果对死亡的执念有什么好处的话，那就是它能产生内在的紧迫感。如果你理解，深刻地理解，生命随时可能结束，你可能会更倾向于充分利用自己的生命。去冒更大的风险，更努力地前行，推动自己留下一些有形的东西。
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