Airbnb CEO：我的师傅是奥巴马，他会给我布置作业，还会教我怎么处关系
• Airbnb公司CEO布莱恩·切斯基近日透露，在他的公司上市前的那些日子，他曾经“返校进修”过，但不是为了拿学位，而是偷偷跟美国前总统奥巴马学屠龙术。而且每周奥巴马还会给他布置“作业”，这段经历让他的领导能力有了脱胎换骨的变化。
为了把Airbnb打造成一家成功的公司，切斯基有时每周要工作100个小时，工作强度非常大。即使是这样，他也会定期抽出时间，向奥巴马请教经验。
切斯基最近透露道：“在2018年的一段时间里，我们基本上每周都会固定进行一小时的电话交流。我白天工作，晚上跟这位前总统‘上夜校’，而且他还会给我布置一些作业，不过这段经历改变了我的人生。”
最近，切斯基在米歇尔·奥马的播客栏目IMO中露面时表示：“我当时真的是毫无顾忌地主动联系他，寻求建议和指导，而他也愿意与我见面，并给我一些建议。”
他说，奥巴马曾对他讲，不要成为那种像“无人驾驶汽车”一样缺乏主观能动性的领导，而是要立足长远想问题，认识到关系的重要性，而且要积极实现自己想达到的影响。
《财富》已联系切斯基和奥巴马并请其发表评论。
当总统的徒弟是一种什么样的体验
将Airbnb打造成了一个家喻户晓的品牌后，切斯基却仍不感到满足，甚至也称不上快乐。
切斯基说：“虽然我在科技领域非常成功，也赚了很多钱，但是之前没有人告诉我，成功会让人变得多么孤独。我开始意识到，我的有些老朋友只是中产，但是当时他们中的很多人都比我更快乐。”
正是奥巴马帮他认识到，他的感受是完全正常的。“你越成功，就越孤独。”
切斯基说：“人们都梦想成功，但他们没有意识到，成功往往意味着你在远离你的过去、你的朋友，甚至是远离你自己。过去几年里，我一直在努力做的一件事，就是重新与他人建立联系，而不是接着过一种孤独的生活。”
奥巴马给切斯基的建议很简单——他需要更积极地经营人际关系。也就是说，你不能每年只是逢年过节的时候给朋友打个电话或者发个短信，而是要经常保持联系。切斯基说，他已经把这个建议转化到了自己的工作中。
切斯基还说：“他有一个建议，是我永远也不会忘记的。他说，你应该把自己的意图制度化，这样当你的公司上市之后，你也能确保不会让你的理想妥协。我认为，他的意思是说，你应该认真思考你在做的事情是什么，你为什么要做这件事，还有他能给别人带来哪些影响。”
切斯基说，奥巴马的建议给Airbnb“带来了非常大的改变”。虽然前总统给一个CEO布置作业这件事听起来很奇怪，但这对奥巴马来说只是常规操作。在从政之前，奥巴马就在芝加哥大学当过十多年的宪法学老师。
获得成功的诀窍：联系一位老友
从切斯基和奥巴马的例子上，我们可以总结两个成功经验——一是要找一个好师傅，二是要在网下找朋友。
切斯基表示：“对于年轻人来说，他们要学的第一件事，就是如何去学习。而学习的最好方式之一，就是向他人学习，在真实世界中学习。”
另外，让老友谊焕发新的青春，也是切斯基看来能让生活变幸福的简单诀窍。
“我认为对绝大多数人来说，如果他们愿意主动联系别人，就总会有人愿意帮助他们。如果你找一位老朋友帮忙，这个老朋友可能以后也会找你帮忙，这样你们的联系就重新建立起来了。这也是构筑人际关系的一种途径，甚至是寻找人生目标的一种途径。”（财富中文网）
译者：朴成奎
The billionaire founder admits that a once weekly mentorship call with former President Obama came with assignments like being more intentional with his friendships.
Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images for Airbnb
• Billionaire Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky went back to school prior to the company going public—but it wasn’t to obtain a degree, it was to seek the guidance of a former president. Chesky reveals that during weekly chats with Barack Obama, he would receive “assignments” that revolutionized his leadership.
To build Airbnb into a billion-dollar business, Brian Chesky sometimes worked gruesome 100-hour weeks. However, on top of that, he would regularly carve out time to pick the brains of one of the most important people in the world: former President Barack Obama.
“At one point in 2018, we had a standing one-hour call every week, and I basically had my day job during the day, and then I had my night school with the former president, where I would get these assignments, but it changed my life,” Chesky has just revealed.
Speaking on the latest episode of Michelle Obama’s podcast IMO, he added: “I just was really shameless about reaching out to him, asking for advice, asking for mentorship, and he would meet with me, and he’d give me advice.”
He recalled that the 44th president of the United States advised him to avoid becoming like other leaders who are effectively “self-driving cars” without intention. Instead, he should always be thinking long and hard about relationships—with his friends, his success, and his company—and be more active with the impact he wants to make.
Fortune reached out to Chesky and former President Obama for comment.
Finding a mentor in a president
After building Airbnb into a household name, Chesky faced a problem: He still wasn’t satisfied—nor necessarily happy.
“The thing about being very successful in tech and making a lot of money and all this is no one ever told me how lonely it would become,” Chesky said to Michelle and Robinson. “And I started realizing, well, it’s weird, I had old friends that were middle-class, and I’ll be honest, a lot of them seemed happier than me at that point in my life.”
And he credits former President Obama with helping him realize that how he was feeling was completely normal: that “the more success you get, the more isolated you get.”
“People dream of success, but what they don’t realize is a lot of with success comes disconnection to your past, to yourself, to your friends, and I think a lot of what I’ve tried to do the last handful of years is to reconnect, to not live a life of isolation,” Chesky said.
Obama’s wisdom to Chesky was simple: He needed to be more hands-on with his relationships. That means instead of texting or calling a close friend once a year, stay constantly connected with them. Chesky said it’s a lesson he translated into his work as the leader of Airbnb.
“He told me something that I’ll never forget,” Chesky said. “He said you should institutionalize your intentions, so that even when you’re a public company, you can make sure not to compromise your vision. And what he meant by that, I think, was that you should be more thoughtful about what you’re making, why you’re making it, and the impact of what you’re making is on people.”
Chesky admitted Obama’s advice has made a “really, really big difference” at Airbnb. And while it may sound odd for a former President to effectively give a CEO homework, it’s something nothing new for Obama, who spent over a decade in the classroom teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago before his jump into the political arena.
The “life hack” to find success: Reach out to an old friend
The lessons learned from Chesky and President Obama’s relationship on finding success can be summarized into two simple steps: Seek out mentors and have friends outside of social media.
“For young people, the number one thing they need to learn how to do is how to learn,” Chesky said. “And some of the best ways to learn are from other people, and some of the best ways to learn from people are, again, in the real world.”
Moreover, rekindling old relationships is among what Chesky calls a “simple life hack” to make life happy.
“I think the vast majority of people, if they reach out to someone, someone will want to help them,” he added. “They reach out to an old friend, the old friend will want to reach back out to them, and that is the path for reconnection. It’s a path for relationships, and it’s a path for purpose.”