We need to stop telling them, "Get a mentor and you will excel." 事实上不是“找个导师你就能变得优秀”，

　　Instead, we need to tell them, "Excel and you will get a mentor." 而是“脱颖而出，你才会得到一位好导师”。

　　Clara Shih is a superb example. 史宗玮就是个绝佳的例子。

　　I met Clara about five years ago at a conference and was immediately impressed by her ideas about social media. 我是5年前在一次会议上认识她的，她对社交媒体的看法给我留下了深刻印象。

　　She went on to write a thoughtful book on the subject and founded Hearsay Social, a software company that helps businesses manage their social media presence. 此后她就这个话题进行了深入思考，并撰写了一本书，之后又创立了传闻社交公司“Hearsay Social”，这是一家帮助企业管理其社交媒体形象的软件公司。

　　Every so often, Clara would contact me, always with an interesting point or a thoughtful question. 有时史宗玮会联系我，每次她都提出一些有趣的观点或是她正在思考的问题。

　　She never asked to get together to "catch up" She never asked a question that she could have found the answer to on her own. 她从没要求过一起“小聚”，自己已有答案的问题她也从来不问。

　　When I was leaving the Starbucks board of directors in 2012, I gave them a few names of social media experts who might join in my place and included Clara. 当我2012年离开星巴克董事会时，我给他们提供了可以接任我在董事会席位的社交媒体专家名单，其中就有史宗玮。

　　She was only twenty-nine years old at the time, but she was invited to join the board. 尽管她当时只有29岁，但仍接到了星巴克董事会的邀请。

　　While asking a stranger to be a mentor rarely, if ever, works, approaching a stranger with a pointed, well-thought-out inquiry can yield results. 要求一位陌生人做自己的导师，成功的概率并不大；但经过深思熟虑，明确直接地提出问题，这种交流方式是有帮助的。

　　Garrett Neiman stopped me after I gave a speech at Stanford to explain that he had founded College Spring, 有一次在斯坦福大学演讲结束后，加勒特·奈曼拦住我，说他创立了“学院之春”，

　　a nonprofit that provides SAT tutoring and college counseling to low-income students.  这是个旨在向低收入学生提供考前辅导和校园心理咨询服务的非营利性组织。