Do the right thing, wait to get fired

New Google employees (we call “Nooglers”) often ask me what makes me effective at what I do. I tell them only half-jokingly that it’s very simple: I do the Right Thing for Google and the world, and then I sit back and wait to get fired. If I don’t get fired, I’ve done the Right Thing for everyone. If I do get fired, this is the wrong employer to work for in the first place. So, either way, I win. That is my career strategy.

新谷歌员工（我们称之为"新新员工"）经常问我是什么让我在所做事情上如此有效。我半开玩笑地告诉他们这很简单：我为谷歌和世界做正确的事，然后坐下来等着被解雇。如果我没有被解雇，我就为所有人做了正确的事。如果我确实被解雇了，那本来就不是适合我的雇主。所以，无论哪种情况，我都赢了。这就是我的职业策略。

I discovered where I got this rebel streak from only very recently. I realized I inherited it from my dad, which was very strange to me because when I was growing up, I perceived my dad as an establishment figure, part of the very establishment I was rebelling against, so it was a severe cognitive dissonance for me to think of my dad as a rebel. But rebel he was.

我最近才意识到自己这种叛逆性格的来源。我意识到这是从我父亲那里继承来的，这让我觉得很奇怪，因为我小时候认为我父亲是一个体制内的人物，正是我反叛的对象之一，所以把我父亲看作一个反叛者让我产生了严重的认知失调。但事实就是如此，他确实是个反叛者。

My dad started his career as a child laborer (yes, one of those millions of faceless children in developing countries you read about occasionally on National Geographic), but by mid-career, he rose up the ranks to become one of the most senior military officers in all of Singapore. I recently learned that one reason he was so successful was because he was unafraid to speak the unpleasant truth to his superiors to their faces, including Defense Ministers and Prime Ministers. Near the end of his military career, one of his superiors asked him what made him so effective. My father replied, “It’s very simple. Everyday on my drive home, I would pass by HDB flats (public housing in Singapore) and I would always take an extra look at them. Why? Because after you fire me, that is where I’d live.”

我的父亲起初是一名童工（是的，就是那些你在《国家地理》杂志偶尔读到的、发展中国家里无数无名的孩子之一），但在职业生涯中期，他晋升为新加坡最高级的军官之一。我最近了解到，他如此成功的一个原因是他不害怕向上级当面说出令人不快的真相，包括国防部长和总理。在他军事生涯接近尾声时，一位上级问他是什么让他如此有效。我父亲回答说：“很简单。每天开车回家时，我都会经过组屋（新加坡的公共住房），我总是会多看它们一眼。为什么？因为在你解雇我之后，那就是我要住的地方。”

That was his way of saying he was not afraid to be fired for doing the right thing, because he had mentally prepared himself for that possibility. It freed him to do the right thing regardless of the consequences to his career.

这是他表达不害怕因为做正确的事而被解雇的方式，因为他已经在心理上为这种可能性做好了准备。这让他能够不顾对职业生涯的后果而做正确的事。

His fearlessness made him extremely valuable to Singapore, and that was a very important reason why he rose to the very top. That is the paradox of career success: the less you cling to your job, the more successful you are likely to become. It is the attachment to employment that makes you less employable, and the willingness to lose your job that makes you more valuable. The best way to take care of your future is to take care of your present. If you do the right thing now, the future will take care of itself.

他的无畏让他对新加坡来说极其宝贵，这也是他能够升到最高职位的一个非常重要的原因。这就是职业成功的悖论：你越不依恋你的工作，你就越有可能成功。对就业的依恋让你变得不那么受雇，而愿意失去工作的态度让你变得更有价值。照顾好未来的最好方法就是照顾好现在。如果你现在做正确的事，未来会自己照顾自己。

This simple philosophy guides every decision I make in my career. I do not optimize for my performance review, or my relationship with my boss, or my likelihood of promotion, or my job security. I optimize for what is right. The funny thing is, it has worked out well for my performance review, and my relationship with my boss, and my likelihood of promotion, and my job security. It seems that when your true intent is to do right by everyone (including your company), somehow it eventually comes back to benefit you too.

这个简单的哲学指导着我职业生涯中的每一个决定。我不为绩效考核、与老板的关系、晋升可能性或工作安全而优化。我为正确的事情而优化。有趣的是，这对我的绩效考核、与老板的关系、晋升可能性和工作安全都产生了积极影响。看起来当你的真正意图是为每个人（包括你的公司）做正确的事时，不知何故它最终也会让你受益。

That is my career strategy. Do the right thing, wait to get fired. If you don’t get fired, you win. If you get fired, you also win. Either way, you win.

这就是我的职业策略。做正确的事，等着被解雇。如果你没有被解雇，你就赢了。如果你被解雇了，你也赢了。无论哪种情况，你都赢了。