Rick Wagoner·Chairman of General Motors Corp.
Duke University，2007
Don‘t over plan your life.While planning for your future is great，the fact is，things change，and opportunities will arise for you.
不要过度规划你的生活。虽然规划未来很重要，但万事皆在变动，无法预料的各种机遇将不断出现在你面前。
Rick Wagoner
背景故事
当你踏入大学那一刻，一个你可能从来都不曾在意的词语——规划，突然间变得如影随形。大学规划，职业规划，人生规划。在这些规划面前，你也许会突然间手足无措，因为真的不了解自己。很多时候我们知道自己不想要什么，却很难发现自己想要的到底是什么，而排除法在生活中并不是那么好用。如果你对此感到困扰的话，为什么不倾听一下通用汽车CEO里克·瓦格纳的人生建议呢？
里克·瓦格纳在杜克大学2007年毕业典礼上演讲时提到，万事皆在变动，无法预料的各种机遇将不断地出现在你面前。变得灵活些，柔韧些，“全球化”些，对世界向你提供的一切怀着开放的心态。
名人简介
里克·瓦格纳（Rick Wagoner）美国通用汽车前CEO。1953年生，1975年从杜克大学毕业获得经济学学士学位，随后进入哈佛商学院进修，1977年刚毕业的瓦格纳加入了全球最大的汽车制造商——通用汽车公司，以一个普通财务人员的身份开始了他的汽车人生。2000年起担任美国通用汽车公司的CEO。
演讲赏析
Don’t Over Plan Your Life
Rick Wagoner·Chairman of General Motors Corp.
Duke University，2007
President Brodhead，members of the faculty and administration，honored guests，friends of Duke University，parents of today‘s graduates，and most especially，the Class of 2007.Let me start by saying，simply，thank you.As a son of Duke for my entire life，I can’t imagine a greater honor than giving the commencement address today.
Actually，whenever I speak publicly，I recall a conversation I had some years ago with one of our more famous fellow Duke grads，Grant Hill.Grant and I were preparing to speak at an event，me with several pages of notes，him with nothing.He said，“Hey，Rick，you know the five B‘s of a good speech？Be brief，brother，be brief.”And，so，I will be today，especially since it squares exactly with the advice of our esteemed President Brodhead.Dick，upon inviting me to give this speech，offered some content ideas and then said，（and I more or less quote）“And if you run over the allotted time，I’ll tackle you，myself.”And so，I‘d ask our graduating class，if it looks like President Brodhead is coming in for a sack，someone holler“Blitz！”and I’ll head for the sidelines.
Before going any further，let me acknowledge all the mothers and grandmothers in the audience，as today is Mother‘s Day，and I can’t imagine a greater gift on this important day than having a daughter or son graduating from Duke University.I know it was a big day for my mom 32years ago，when I sat where the Undergraduate Class of 2007now sits.
My mother has been a big influence in my life，as a huge supporter，and she continues that way.In fact，she‘s been checking up on me about this speech for a while now.When I talked to her a couple of Sundays ago，she said，“Rick，don’t you think it‘s time you get that speech prepared！”，which leads me to lesson number one for today：A mother’s advice continues for a lifetime-and you should listen and act upon that advice for a lifetime as well.Okay，mom，I read it just like you wrote it！Well，as I said，I‘ve been a son of Duke my entire life.My dad graduated in 1950.He and my mom were married at the time，so she probably qualifies as an honorary Dukie.I was attending football games right here，in this stadium，way back in the late 1950’s，and my ties with Duke have continued to grow since then.My wife，my sister，my brother-in-law，my sister-in-law，our oldest son（last year），our second son（next year，hopefully），all are，or will be，Duke grads.I even named our dog“Duke”.In fact，I tried to name our second dog“Coach K”，but my wife（and probably Coach K）thought that was too much.I thought it might be interesting for this year’s graduates，for me，to reflect back on what I was thinking about when I was sitting where you are 32years ago，and especially on what I may have been missing in my thinking back then，and what that might mean for you today.
I think the most important piece of advice that I can give you from my own experience is simply this，don‘t over plan your life.While planning for your future is great，the fact is，things change，and opportunities will arise for you that I suspect you，today，can’t even imagine.Do your best at whatever you‘re doing，but be open to opportunities as they come up.
Let me tell you what happened to me.When I was graduating from Duke，I was thinking about my next step，which was to go to Harvard Business School in the coming fall.Beyond that，I knew only one thing，I wanted to end up close to home.Remember，this was 32years ago，no internet，no cell phones，even international phone calls were a big deal back then.If I settled far away，or，heaven forbid，overseas，how would I keep up with my family and friends and Duke basketball？No way I could do that.So，when I finished business school in 1977，I joined General Motors，in our New York office，which was exotic enough for me！There，when I was asked which area I wanted to work in financial analysis，capital analysis，overseas analysis，etc.，I said anything but overseas analysis was okay with me.So，I got assigned to overseas analysis，and you know what？I actually liked it，a lot.
Then about four years later，I was asked if I wanted to become Treasurer of GM in Brazil-a great job，but with one obvious catch：I had to move to Brazil.So，I thought for sure we’d pass-my wife had a good job，we had just bought a house，and of course there was this Duke basketball thing.So，that night，I went home，asked my wife if she‘d like to move to Brazil，and to my surprise，she said most enthusiastically，“Yes！”Now，remember my first bit of advice about listening to your mom？Well，the same advice applies to your wife，too！（I’d say it applies to fathers and husbands，as well，but I‘m just not sure about that！）Well，from that point in our lives，Kathy and I spent virtually all of the next 11years living and working outside the United States-Brazil，Canada，Europe，Brazil again.And it turned out to be a great chance to grow as a business executive and-more importantly-as a person and as a family.It was undoubtedly，the best business and personal“learning experience”that I could have asked for.