English Original
He was the president of a major advertising firm and I was a very young management consultant. I had been recommended to him by one of his employees who had seen my work and thought I had something to offer. I was nervous. At that stage in my career, it wasn't very often that I got to talk to the president of a company.
The appointment was at 10:00 a.m., for one hour. I arrived early. Promptly at 10, I was ushered into a large and airy room, with furniture upholstered in bright yellow.
He had his shirtsleeves rolled up and a mean look on his face.
"You've only got 20 minutes," he barked.
I sat there, not saying a word.
"I said, you've only got 20 minutes."
Again, not a word.
"Your time's ticking away. Why aren't you saying anything?"
"They're my 20 minutes," I replied. "I can do whatever I want with them."
He burst into laughter.
We then spoke for an hour and a half. I got the job.
中文翻译
他是一家大型广告公司的总裁，而我则是一名非常年轻的管理顾问。他的一位员工看过我的工作成果，认为我能提供一些价值，于是向他推荐了我。我很紧张。在我职业生涯的那个阶段，能直接与公司总裁交谈的机会并不多。
预约时间是上午10点，时长一小时。我提前到了。10点整，我被引进了一个宽敞明亮的房间，里面的家具都套着亮黄色的软垫。
他卷着衬衫袖子，脸上带着一副不悦的神情。
“你只有20分钟，”他厉声说道。
我坐在那里，一言不发。
“我说了，你只有20分钟。”
我依然沉默。
“你的时间正在流逝。你为什么什么都不说？”
“那是我的20分钟，”我回答道。“我想怎么用就怎么用。”
他大笑起来。
随后，我们交谈了一个半小时。我得到了那份工作。