????從幼年開始，變化對(duì)芭芭拉?尼爾松來(lái)說(shuō)就已經(jīng)是家常便飯。尼克松是一位西點(diǎn)軍校（West Point）高材生的女兒，生在東京，是軍營(yíng)中長(zhǎng)大的孩子，童年大部分時(shí)間都在不同地方生活。上學(xué)期間，她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己熱愛(ài)數(shù)學(xué)，最終還進(jìn)入斯坦福大學(xué)（Stanford University），取得了電氣工程學(xué)學(xué)士學(xué)位。而在那個(gè)年代，很少有女性會(huì)選擇這個(gè)專業(yè)。

????她畢業(yè)后的第一份工作是在英特爾（Intel），當(dāng)時(shí)的英特爾規(guī)模很小，而且按照尼爾松的說(shuō)法，是“人少活多”。她在英特爾工作的13年里，公司實(shí)現(xiàn)了驚人的增長(zhǎng)，她也上升到總經(jīng)理的職位。然而，隨著公司增長(zhǎng)放緩，尼爾松決定進(jìn)行其他更多嘗試，曾分別就職于昆騰公司（Quantum）、數(shù)據(jù)存儲(chǔ)安全產(chǎn)品供應(yīng)商

????目前，尼爾松是存儲(chǔ)與安全公司怡敏信（Imation）的移動(dòng)安全部門負(fù)責(zé)人。她的職責(zé)范圍包括：IronKey系列產(chǎn)品，包括外形看上去像耐用的閃存盤、但實(shí)際上是擁有移動(dòng)計(jì)算機(jī)存儲(chǔ)空間和軟件的設(shè)備。部分產(chǎn)品甚至具有遠(yuǎn)程銷毀功能，在設(shè)備被盜或丟失的情況下，可以銷毀其中的數(shù)據(jù)?，F(xiàn)年59歲的尼爾松最近接受了我們的采訪。

????1. 你欣賞哪家公司？為什么？

????那些在發(fā)展過(guò)程中能夠大幅度轉(zhuǎn)變商業(yè)模式，對(duì)產(chǎn)品進(jìn)行調(diào)整的公司。例如，我非常贊賞亞馬遜（Amazon）。他們最初只是一家在線書店；我想他們當(dāng)初可能連自己的營(yíng)銷中心都沒(méi)有。之后，他們從在線書店轉(zhuǎn)向了電子書業(yè)務(wù)，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)成了全世界最大的網(wǎng)絡(luò)零售商，在那里幾乎可以買到任何東西。亞馬遜目前也是全世界最大的IT服務(wù)提供商，因?yàn)樗麄兘⒘俗约旱幕A(chǔ)設(shè)施，而且明確決定將這些設(shè)施商業(yè)化。所以，杰夫?貝佐斯說(shuō)：“未來(lái)，我們將推出無(wú)人機(jī)送貨?！边@很有可能！一家公司要了解自己的核心競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力，同時(shí)在發(fā)展過(guò)程中利用自己的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力打入不同領(lǐng)域，亞馬遜便是最好的例子。

????另外一家是蘋果公司（Apple）。他們開發(fā)出了三種不同的產(chǎn)品——Mac電腦、iPod和iPhone——它們顛覆了人們的工作方式?，F(xiàn)在，有了智能手機(jī)，即使身在印度最小的村莊或是非洲的偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)，人們也能收到手機(jī)信號(hào)，遠(yuǎn)程管理自己的生活。我認(rèn)為，這些產(chǎn)品對(duì)全天下的人們都會(huì)產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)的影響，而且我們已經(jīng)看到了這種影響。

????2. 最讓你振奮的科技行業(yè)是什么？

????我所在的與移動(dòng)有關(guān)的行業(yè)。我認(rèn)為實(shí)現(xiàn)物品的便攜性是一項(xiàng)日趨成熟的技術(shù)，讓人們可以做以前不敢想象的事情。

????3. 你對(duì)希望從事你這一行的人有什么建議？

????我首先想到的，是要有技術(shù)學(xué)位，我認(rèn)為這一點(diǎn)很重要。當(dāng)然，它并不是決定性的條件。我的意思是，如果你擁有技術(shù)學(xué)位，你可以學(xué)得更快，幫助你理解事情之間的關(guān)聯(lián)。不過(guò)，最重要的是謹(jǐn)慎選擇公司和老板。剛走出校門的時(shí)候，要從自己的經(jīng)歷中總結(jié)學(xué)習(xí)，所以，要選擇能夠給你帶來(lái)寶貴經(jīng)歷的地方。要仔細(xì)考慮去哪里學(xué)習(xí)新技術(shù)，獲取出色的能力，與那些能夠真正成功的人共事。不要頭腦一熱就做出選擇，或是投身所謂的“熱門”行業(yè)，因?yàn)樗灰欢ㄟm合你。

????4. 你收到過(guò)的最好的建議是什么？

????“少即是多?！焙?jiǎn)單很重要。所有真實(shí)的東西都很簡(jiǎn)單。還有另外兩點(diǎn)?！跋嘈抛约旱闹庇X(jué)”，因?yàn)樽鳛楣こ處?，我們總是希望獲得數(shù)據(jù)；有時(shí)候，你不得不相信自己的直覺(jué)，摸索著前進(jìn)。另外一條建議來(lái)自我的母親。我認(rèn)為這也堪稱金玉良言：“不要嫁給一個(gè)男人，然后想和怎么去改造他?！?/p>

????At an early age, change was normal for Barbara Nelson. The daughter of a West Point graduate, Nelson is an army brat who was born in Tokyo and spent much of her early life living in different places. In school, she discovered a love of mathematics, and eventually enrolled in Stanford University, where she received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, a field where few women ventured at the time.

????Her first job post-degree was at Intel, which was still small and, as Nelson puts it, "had so much to do, and so few people to do it." Over the course of her 13 years there, the company grew tremendously, and she rose to a general manager position. As the company's growth started to slow down, however, Nelson decided to move on to her next few adventures with positions atQuantum, NeoScale Systems, and Element Labs, among others.

????Nelson now leads mobile security for the storage and security company Imation. Within her purview: The IronKey portfolio, comprised of devices that look like heavy-duty USB sticks but are capable of holding the storage space and software of a mobile computer. Some even have a remote kill switch that destroys the device's data in case it is lost or stolen. Nelson, 59, spoke with us.

????1. Which companies do you admire? Why?

????People who have been able to dramatically shift business models over time and adjust their products. As an example, I would put Amazon on that list. They started out as an online book store; I don't think they even had their own distribution centers. They moved from that to e-books, then to the world's largest e-tailer of anything and now one of the largest providers of IT services because they had to build out their infrastructure and cleverly decided to commercialize it. So when Jeff Bezos says, "Someday we're going to have drones in here," he might! I think that's an example of a business that did a really good job of knowing its core competencies and leveraging them into different areas as they evolved.

????Another company worth mentioning is Apple. They developed three very different products -- the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone -- that have radically changed the way that people do things. Now, because of a smartphone, you can get a cell phone signal in the smallest village in India or in the middle of nowhere in Africa and run your life from there. I don't think we've yet seen the profound effect that this is going to have on people everywhere in the world.

????2. Which area of technology excites you most?

????The one I'm in, which is mobile. I think having things that people can carry with them in their pocket -- that allow them to do things that they never thought they would be able to do -- is a technology that's come of age.

????3. What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

????The first thing that comes to mind is I think it's really important to have a technical degree. You certainly don't have to have it, but you learn things faster and it helps you connect the dots. But the biggest thing is to pick your companies and your bosses well. When you come out of school you learn from your experiences, so pick places where those experiences are going to be valuable. Really think about where you're going to learn a lot about new technology, gain excellent skills, and work with people who are really going places. Don't just go for the first thing or the "hot" thing because it may not be for you.

????4. What is the best advice you ever received?

????"Less is more." Simplicity is important. Anything that's true is typically simple. I'd add two other things too. "Trust your gut" because as engineers we are always going to want data; sometimes you just have to trust your instincts and fly blind. Then, a personal one from my mother, which is also extremely good advice: "Don't marry a man thinking you're going to change him."