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Listen to part of a discussion in a business management class.
聽一段商業(yè)管理課的討論。
Professor: Last week we were talking about innovation in business.
教授：上周我們講了商業(yè)中的創(chuàng)新。
Remember the graph I showed you?
還記得我給你們看的圖表嗎？
Student: The curve that looked sort of like the letter S?
學(xué)生：那條看起來有點像字母S的曲線？
Professor: Right. Cathy. Let's take another look.
教授：對的，凱蒂。我們再來看一看。
Do you recall? Cathy.
凱蒂。
How this S-curve represents the life cycle of innovation?
你還記得這條S曲線是怎么代表創(chuàng)新生命周期的嗎？
Student: Sure. Starting on the left, the new innovation, let's say it's a new product.
學(xué)生：當(dāng)然了。從左端開始，新型創(chuàng)新，就說這是個新產(chǎn)品吧。
Almost nobody's heard of it or at least nobody takes it seriously.
幾乎沒人聽說過，或至少沒人把它當(dāng)真。
Then its popularity increases, uh, slowly at first till sales really start accelerating quickly.
接著它變得更流行了，一開始不明顯，直到該產(chǎn)品的銷售額開始迅速上漲。
There where the line goes up steeply in the middle as more and more get excited about the product and they go out and buy it.
隨著越來越多的人對該產(chǎn)品感到興奮，人們走出家門購買產(chǎn)品，這也就是在中間曲線陡直往上的地方。
But eventually, moving over to the right side there, interest begins to fade and the growth and sales levels off.
但最終，移到右邊，利潤開始下降，增幅和銷售額開始趨于平穩(wěn)。
Professor: At which point the market has matured for that product.
教授：這一點就表示該產(chǎn)品的市場已經(jīng)成熟。
We can still sell it and even marginally improve it, but it's not new anymore.
我們?nèi)耘f可以銷售該產(chǎn)品，甚至稍微改良一下，但這已經(jīng)不是新產(chǎn)品了。
It no longer offers exciting growth opportunities.
它再也不能帶來刺激的增長機(jī)會。
So a business leader might face a choice: either stick with this old, safe, proven idea or move on to the next big idea, a fresh innovation.
所以，一個企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)可能會面臨一次抉擇：要么安守著這個過時的，安全的，已經(jīng)被證實了的想法，或繼續(xù)（開發(fā)）下一個構(gòu)想，一個新的創(chuàng)意。
But innovations are risky.
但創(chuàng)新有風(fēng)險。
They may succeed or they may not.
它們可能會成功，也可能不會。
OK. A case study.
案例研究。
George. I have heard your Thursday night program on the campus radio station.
喬治，我聽說了你在學(xué)校廣播站的周四晚間節(jié)目。
You like Jazz, right?
你喜歡爵士對吧？
Student: Huh? ! Uh... yeah... sure! But... what? !
學(xué)生：對，當(dāng)然！但……
Professor: OK. Stay with me here.
教授：好，留心聽我說這里。
On your program last week, I heard an old Miles Davis album.
上周你的節(jié)目里，我聽到了一張邁爾斯·戴維斯的舊唱片。
Tell us about that.
跟我們說說這個吧。
Student: Uh... Miles Davis. Trumpet.
學(xué)生：邁爾斯·戴維斯。小號。
I played a CD of a Jazz classic he recorded in the 1950s called Kind of Blue.
我播了一張爵士樂唱片，是他在20世紀(jì)50年代錄的，叫《Kind of Blue》。
It's my all-time favorite Jazz recording.
這是我一直最愛的爵士唱片。
Professor: Mine too.
教授：我也是。
Would you call that recording innovative for its time?
你認(rèn)為在那個時候來說，這個唱片是創(chuàng)新性的嗎？
Student: Absolutely! Nothing at all like what he had recorded up till then.
學(xué)生：絕對是！在那之前，沒有和他的唱片一樣的音樂。
I mean, before that Miles Davis played things so complex that... well... nobody could touch him.
我是說，在那之前，邁爾斯·戴維斯彈奏的曲子都太復(fù)雜了，沒人聽得懂。
But this was something totally new.
但這個（唱片）是全新的。
Suddenly his playing sounded so amazingly simple.
突然間，他演奏的音樂聽起來是如此驚人地簡單。
Professor: And how did people react to this new sound of Miles Davis?
教授：人們當(dāng)時對邁爾斯·戴維斯的新作有什么反應(yīng)？
Student: Well... some were disappointed, even angry that he'd abandon his old style.
學(xué)生：一些人很失望，甚至很生氣，因為他拋棄了過去了風(fēng)格。
But soon most of his fans came around and this new style appealed to a whole new group of jazz listeners.
但很快大多數(shù)粉絲改變了態(tài)度，這個新風(fēng)格還吸引了一大批新的爵士樂聽眾。
Professor: I guess so. Kind of Blue became the most commercially successful album in the history of jazz!
教授：我想也是。《Kind of Blue》變成了爵士樂史上最成功的專輯（從商業(yè)角度來說）。
So is there a lesson here anyone?
大家能學(xué)到些什么嗎？
Think of that S-curve I showed you.
想想我展示給你們看的S曲線。
