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Listen to part of a discussion in a business management class.
听一段商业管理课的讨论。
Professor: Last week we were talking about innovation in business.
教授：上周我们讲了商业中的创新。
Remember the graph I showed you?
还记得我给你们看的图表吗？
Student: The curve that looked sort of like the letter S?
学生：那条看起来有点像字母S的曲线？
Professor: Right. Cathy. Let's take another look.
教授：对的，凯蒂。我们再来看一看。
Do you recall? Cathy.
凯蒂。
How this S-curve represents the life cycle of innovation?
你还记得这条S曲线是怎么代表创新生命周期的吗？
Student: Sure. Starting on the left, the new innovation, let's say it's a new product.
学生：当然了。从左端开始，新型创新，就说这是个新产品吧。
Almost nobody's heard of it or at least nobody takes it seriously.
几乎没人听说过，或至少没人把它当真。
Then its popularity increases, uh, slowly at first till sales really start accelerating quickly.
接着它变得更流行了，一开始不明显，直到该产品的销售额开始迅速上涨。
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.
随着越来越多的人对该产品感到兴奋，人们走出家门购买产品，这也就是在中间曲线陡直往上的地方。
But eventually, moving over to the right side there, interest begins to fade and the growth and sales levels off.
但最终，移到右边，利润开始下降，增幅和销售额开始趋于平稳。
Professor: At which point the market has matured for that product.
教授：这一点就表示该产品的市场已经成熟。
We can still sell it and even marginally improve it, but it's not new anymore.
我们仍旧可以销售该产品，甚至稍微改良一下，但这已经不是新产品了。
It no longer offers exciting growth opportunities.
它再也不能带来刺激的增长机会。
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，一个企业领导可能会面临一次抉择：要么安守着这个过时的，安全的，已经被证实了的想法，或继续（开发）下一个构想，一个新的创意。
But innovations are risky.
但创新有风险。
They may succeed or they may not.
它们可能会成功，也可能不会。
OK. A case study.
案例研究。
George. I have heard your Thursday night program on the campus radio station.
乔治，我听说了你在学校广播站的周四晚间节目。
You like Jazz, right?
你喜欢爵士对吧？
Student: Huh? ! Uh... yeah... sure! But... what? !
学生：对，当然！但……
Professor: OK. Stay with me here.
教授：好，留心听我说这里。
On your program last week, I heard an old Miles Davis album.
上周你的节目里，我听到了一张迈尔斯·戴维斯的旧唱片。
Tell us about that.
跟我们说说这个吧。
Student: Uh... Miles Davis. Trumpet.
学生：迈尔斯·戴维斯。小号。
I played a CD of a Jazz classic he recorded in the 1950s called Kind of Blue.
我播了一张爵士乐唱片，是他在20世纪50年代录的，叫《Kind of Blue》。
It's my all-time favorite Jazz recording.
这是我一直最爱的爵士唱片。
Professor: Mine too.
教授：我也是。
Would you call that recording innovative for its time?
你认为在那个时候来说，这个唱片是创新性的吗？
Student: Absolutely! Nothing at all like what he had recorded up till then.
学生：绝对是！在那之前，没有和他的唱片一样的音乐。
I mean, before that Miles Davis played things so complex that... well... nobody could touch him.
我是说，在那之前，迈尔斯·戴维斯弹奏的曲子都太复杂了，没人听得懂。
But this was something totally new.
但这个（唱片）是全新的。
Suddenly his playing sounded so amazingly simple.
突然间，他演奏的音乐听起来是如此惊人地简单。
Professor: And how did people react to this new sound of Miles Davis?
教授：人们当时对迈尔斯·戴维斯的新作有什么反应？
Student: Well... some were disappointed, even angry that he'd abandon his old style.
学生：一些人很失望，甚至很生气，因为他抛弃了过去了风格。
But soon most of his fans came around and this new style appealed to a whole new group of jazz listeners.
但很快大多数粉丝改变了态度，这个新风格还吸引了一大批新的爵士乐听众。
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》变成了爵士乐史上最成功的专辑（从商业角度来说）。
So is there a lesson here anyone?
大家能学到些什么吗？
Think of that S-curve I showed you.
想想我展示给你们看的S曲线。
