When I ask the classes I teach， “How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald’s？” almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask. “So if most of you can cook a better hamburger， how can McDonald’s make more money than you？” The answer is obvious： McDonald’s is excellent at business systems. The reason so many talented people are poor is because they focus on building a better hamburger and know little or nothing about business systems. The world is filled with talented poor people. All too often， they’re poor or struggle financially or earn less than they are capable of， not because of what they know but because of what they do not know. They focus on perfecting their skills at building a better hamburger rather than the skills of selling and delivering the hamburger.
世上到处都是聪明灵巧、颇具才干、学富五车或极具天赋的人，我们每天都会遇到他们。几天前，我的汽车出了一点毛病。我把它开到汽车修理厂，一个年轻的机械工只用了几分钟就把它修好了。他只是听了听发动机的声音就知道毛病出在哪里，这让我感到很吃惊。但可悲的是，只有非凡的才华是远远不够的。
我时常感到震惊，为何拥有才华的人的收入都少得可怜。一天，我听说仅有不到5％的美国人年收入超过10万美元。一个对药品贸易相当熟悉的商务顾问曾这样告诉我：很多医生、牙医和按摩师还在为生计而奔波。在这之前，我一直认为只要他们从校园走出来，就会有大把大把的钞票流入他们的口袋。“他们距离发大财还少一项技能。”这是这个商务顾问告诉我的一句话。它的意思是，大多数人只有通过学习并多掌握一项技能，他们的收入才可能呈指数倍增长。之前我曾经说过，财商是综合了会计、投资、市场营销和法律方面的能力。把这四种专业技能综合在一起，以钱生钱就会变得容易一些。一提到钱，大多数人知道的唯一技巧，就是努力工作。