Even-keeled bosses deserve plaudits for their steadiness
微軟(Microsoft)首席執行官薩提亞•納德拉(Satya Nadella)的演講風格像是管理諮詢顧問和治療師的混合體：堅定、平靜、夾雜著大量新潮的行話。他出版了一本書，概述了同理心可以如何改變企業文化。他的默認態度——即使是對谷歌(Google)這樣的老對手——是先討論互惠互利，其次才是競爭。Satya Nadella, Microsoft chief executive, talks like a hybrid of a management consultant and a therapist: firmly, quietly and with a good helping of new-agey jargon. He has published a book outlining how empathy can change corporate culture. His default approach, even with old rivals such as Google, is to discuss mutual advantage first, competition second.
這與前任史蒂夫•鮑爾默(Steve Ballmer)（他難以運用做父母的人所稱的“內部聲音”）以及微軟創始人比爾•蓋茨(Bill Gates)的情況形成了鮮明對比。對於後二人而言，商業是一場“我們與他們”之間的殊死戰爭。This is a striking contrast to his predecessor Steve Ballmer (who had trouble using what a parent would call his “inside voice”) and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, for whom business was an us-versus-them fight to the death.
這種溫和的做法並沒有令微軟處於不利之地。該公司上週宣佈營收強勁增長，推動其股價創下歷史新高。面向企業的雲計算服務支撐了這一擴張——這證明納德拉足夠強硬，贏得了與微軟傳統的個人計算部門的守護人的內部角力。This soft approach has not put Microsoft on the back foot. The strong revenue growth the company announced last week pushed its shares to an all-time high. The expansion is backed by cloud computing services for businesses — evidence that Mr Nadella was tough enough to win internal battles with the guardians of Microsoft’s legacy personal computing units.
納德拉並不是最近新聞中唯一一個行事穩健的老闆。有關高盛(Goldman Sachs)首席執行官勞爾德•貝蘭克梵(Lloyd Blankfein)將很快退休的官方聲明，重啟了有關金融危機的辯論。但沒人質疑，在2008-09年金融風暴期間，貝蘭克梵以其穩健的專業精神脫穎而出。高盛一位曾與他密切合作的合夥人稱，“他從來沒有自己出風頭的意思。”當一位同事抱怨信貸緊縮壓力時，貝蘭克梵據報道回答稱：“你要做的只是從一輛奔馳車下車，去找紐約聯儲(New York Federal Reserve)，而不是從Higgins登陸艇上跳下來，衝上奧馬哈海灘（Omaha Beach，諾曼底戰役中盟軍四個主要登陸地點之一——譯者注）。”領導者的一部分職責就是保持全局視角。Mr Nadella is not the only even-keeled boss in the news recently. The official announcement that Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs chief executive, would soon retire reopened debates about the financial crisis. But no one questions that during the storm of 2008-9 Mr Blankfein distinguished himself by his steady professionalism. “He never made it about himself,” said a Goldman partner who worked closely with him. When a colleague complained about credit-crunch pressure, Mr Blankfein reportedly replied: “You’re getting out of a Mercedes to go to the New York Federal Reserve. You’re not getting out of a Higgins boat on Omaha Beach.” Part of a leader’s job is to keep things in perspective.
但並不是所有領導人都能做到。眼下的一個例子是特斯拉(Tesla)的埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)。他在向泰國洞穴營救隊提議一種微型潛水艇、但未被採納後的荒謬行為只是最新的事例。他在Twitter和業績發佈會上對所有質疑特斯拉的人的無禮和輕蔑的態度，表明了對於話語（而不是經營業績）可能產生的效果的根本誤解。缺失全局視角可能造成的傷害是實實在在的，正如特拉維斯•卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)在優步(Uber)所展示的那樣。這種問題並非僅出現在初創企業。蘇銘天(Martin Sorrell)把他創建的公司WPP視為自己的小天地，最終導致了他的出局。But not all leaders do. The current example of this is Tesla’s Elon Musk. His absurd behaviour after his offer of a mini-submarine to the cave rescuers in Thailand was declined was just the latest example. His disrespectful and dismissive treatment of anyone who questions Tesla, on Twitter and in earnings presentations, shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what talk, as opposed to operating results, can achieve. The damage that lost perspective can do is real, as Travis Kalanick demonstrated at Uber. The problem is not restricted to start-ups. Martin Sorrell’s identification of himself with the company he built, WPP, eventually led to his downfall.
在適當的情形下，以自我為中心、頑固、自我推銷以及強悍作風，是促成企業和經濟成功不可或缺的因素。這個世界需要像蓋茨、馬斯克和蘇銘天這樣的人。他們的不理性一面給了他們敢於挑戰既定秩序的勇氣，他們可能成為一流的銷售員。Egocentricity, bullheadedness, self-promotion and sharp elbows are, in the right context, indispensable contributors to business and to the economy. The world needs people like Messrs Gates, Musk and Sorrell. Their irrational side gives them the courage to take on the established order, and they can be tremendous salespeople.
但是，傲慢老闆們不受限制的充沛精力可能會變成破壞性的力量，而本性驅使他們不設置約束，比如強有力的董事會。他們對自己不朽執行能力的信念，可能會產生圍繞繼任的不確定性，從而破壞穩定。即使“偉人”（通常是男子）仍然在位，也可能會造成傷害。當最高職位成為私人領地時，具有才幹的高級管理人員往往會跳槽。But, unrestrained, the prodigious energies of brash bosses can turn destructive, while their very nature steers them away from setting up restraints, such as a strong board of directors. Their belief in their own executive immortality can create destabilising uncertainty about succession. Even while the “great man” (and it usually is a man) is still in place, harm can be done. When the top job is a personal fiefdom, talented senior executives often look for work elsewhere.
不過，當自我為中心的領導人處於其生產率巔峰時，沒人有干涉的動機。社交媒體使這個問題變得更糟，正如馬斯克的例子所表明的那樣。Yet when ego-first leaders are at their peak of productivity, no one has an incentive to interfere. Social media has made this problem worse, as Mr Musk’s case demonstrates.
那麼，讓我們給那些認識到他們管理的組織大於他們自己、那些知道自誇不能代替業績、那些傳遞全局視角和穩健而非打雞血的老闆，來一輪剋制的掌聲。他們也是必不可少的。A restrained round of applause, then, for the bosses who recognise that they are stewards of something bigger than themselves, who know that preening is no substitute for performance, and who communicate perspective and steadiness more than excitement. They are indispensable, too.
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