CarIy S. Fiorina， Chief Executive of HP
Tsinghua University， March 12th， 2004
Our biggest weakness is not the body can"t see our own fl aws， but can"t see our potential.
我们最大的弱点并不是看不到我们自己身上的缺陷，而是看不到我们的潜能。
CarIy S. Fiorina
背景故事
2004年3月12日，卡莉·菲奥瑞纳来到历史悠久的名校——清华大学，在这里这位女强人做出了一次激动人心的演讲。本文即选在该演讲，这位自称来自金星的女士，分享了自己的人生经历，把自己所解读的人生赤裸裸地展示在莘莘学子面前。卡莉展示出其超乎常人的激情、自信、勇气与忍耐力，为了达成目标，可以忍受难以想像的巨大压力和挑战，即使身陷困境，仍然自强不息、永不言败的精神，振奋人心。“第一步就是要开始啊！即使你心存恐惧也要开始。”这就是她的信条。
名人简介
卡莉·菲奥瑞纳1954出生，毕业于斯坦福大学，原来是修读中世纪历史和哲学，1980年进入AT&；T。卡莉·菲奥瑞纳之前在马里兰大学获得MBA学位。后开始从事秘书工作到执教鞭，然后投身AT&；T的销售电话服务。1995年，菲奥瑞纳参与AT&；T分拆朗迅科技，1998年升为朗迅科技的全球服务供应业务部行政总监，管理一个占公司总收入达6成的部门。1999年7月底，出任惠普公司首席执行官，成为道琼斯工业指数成分股企业中唯一的女性总裁，2001年9月4日，惠普与康柏公司达成一项总值高达250亿美元的并购交易，出任新惠普公司首席执行官。2005年初，卡莉结束了在惠普6年的职业生涯，卸下惠普主席兼首席执行官的职务。菲奥瑞纳是思科系统董事会成员，之前还曾是Kellogg Company公司和Merck&；Company公司的董事会成员之一。
演讲赏析
Everything Is Possible
CarIy S. Fiorina， Chief Executive of HP
Tsinghua University， March 12th， 2004
Xie， xie. Xia wu hao. Those are the only two words of Chinese I know. That"s not true， I know a third-Ni hao. I want to thank all of you for taking time out of your， what I know， that is a very busy study schedule to be here today. I know this is valuable time for you that you could be using to work， or study， or maybe to play Sword on line. Thank you for having me here today.
Coming from a company that has"invent"as part of our brand， as part of our signature， I sometimes begin speeches by saying that invention and innovation have been part the DNA of HP"s for more than sixty years. Our scientists and engineers today generate more than 11 patents every day. We spend more than 4 billion dollars a year on R&；D. So invention is part of our future as well as part of our past.
That all sounds pretty impressive until you think about China"s history， and you realize that"invent"has been part of China"s DNA for more than 5，000 years. Every schoolchild in America learns about China"s many gifts to this world-from the invention of paper， to gunpowder， the wheelbarrow， the compass， acupuncture-right up to the fi rst blast furnace and the fi rst use of iron casting， back in the sixth century.
As a company， we actually at HP are especially indebted to a man named Bi Sheng， who had the vision in A. D.1045 to invent the world"s fi rst movable type， which led to its fi rst printer-a full 300 years before Gutenberg"s invention of movable type that changed the Western world. So today， I want to issue a belated thank you to Bi Sheng for having the foresight to set in motion a process that would eventually lead to a 20 billion business for HP.
That great tradition of invention and innovation has certainly been carried on here at Tsinghua， where some of the finest instructors in the world today are working to train some of the finest scientists and engineers. It"s a bit ironic that this school was originally established nearly 100 years ago as a place where young Chinese could go to America and other western nations to learn from us. Today， the rest of the world， I think， has much to learn from China.
It"s always struck me that the process of invention is a little bit like the process of being a college student. After all， as an inventor， you go into a lab and you have a strong but perhaps vague idea of what you want to achieve. By working hard， experimenting， learning along the way， and using as a guide the work of those who went before you-you advance down the road towards discovery. You may not end up where you started-or even where you expected， but if you are successful， then begins another diffi cult process of trying to make your invention work in the world around you.
Like inventors， many of you have traveled the same road over the last four years here in university. The person you are today-the goals you have today， the dreams you have today-may be different from the ones you had when you fi rst came here. And now， you are becoming prepared to take all that you"ve learned here and make it work in the world around you.
I believe that young people are graduating today into a world fi lled with more hope and more promise than in any other time in our history. I know sometimes that might sound strange， because we think always of the dangers and challenges in the world around us. But I have studied history in my life. I do believe this is an era of great promise and great opportunity.
For those of you who have seen our ads， you know that they end with the phrase， "everything is possible."A cynic might say that just a marketing slogan-but I actually believe that. I don"t think every thing is easy， I don"t think things happens right away. But I do think that everything is possible.
For all the remarkable advancements we have seen in recent years， nothing has matched the power of information technology to change our world for the better. And in the next decade， it will take us to places we can only imagine today.
China is the world"s fastest-growing economy；the world"s leader in direct foreign investment；one of the world"s largest trading nations-a leader on both the production and consumption of information technology. China is poised to play a huge part in that future-and the students who graduate from Tsinghua University are poised to shape the future of technology like never before. Now like any university students， I know for you the road ahead has much uncertainty. But if there is one thing I have learned in the past 20 years in this industry， it is that the principle that you have learned inside the walls of Tsinghua， the principle is more true outside the university than inside. The principle I am speaking of is this：that great leaders-like great organizations， great companies， and great nations-great leaders are defi ned not simply by their capabilities， but by their character. Not just by the company they are， but by the company they keep. Not by success alone-but as Tsinghua teaches， with self-discipline and social concern in equal balance.
