Even-keeled bosses deserve plaudits for their steadiness
微软(Microsoft)首席执行官萨提亚•纳德拉(Satya Nadella)的演讲风格像是管理咨询顾问和治疗师的混合体：坚定、平静、夹杂着大量新潮的行话。他出版了一本书，概述了同理心可以如何改变企业文化。他的默认态度——即使是对谷歌(Google)这样的老对手——是先讨论互惠互利，其次才是竞争。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.
这与前任史蒂夫•鲍尔默(Steve Ballmer)（他难以运用做父母的人所称的“内部声音”）以及微软创始人比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)的情况形成了鲜明对比。对于后二人而言，商业是一场“我们与他们”之间的殊死战争。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.
这种温和的做法并没有令微软处于不利之地。该公司上周宣布营收强劲增长，推动其股价创下历史新高。面向企业的云计算服务支撑了这一扩张——这证明纳德拉足够强硬，赢得了与微软传统的个人计算部门的守护人的内部角力。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.
纳德拉并不是最近新闻中唯一一个行事稳健的老板。有关高盛(Goldman Sachs)首席执行官劳尔德•贝兰克梵(Lloyd Blankfein)将很快退休的官方声明，重启了有关金融危机的辩论。但没人质疑，在2008-09年金融风暴期间，贝兰克梵以其稳健的专业精神脱颖而出。高盛一位曾与他密切合作的合伙人称，“他从来没有自己出风头的意思。”当一位同事抱怨信贷紧缩压力时，贝兰克梵据报道回答称：“你要做的只是从一辆奔驰车下车，去找纽约联储(New York Federal Reserve)，而不是从Higgins登陆艇上跳下来，冲上奥马哈海滩（Omaha Beach，诺曼底战役中盟军四个主要登陆地点之一——译者注）。”领导者的一部分职责就是保持全局视角。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.
但并不是所有领导人都能做到。眼下的一个例子是特斯拉(Tesla)的埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)。他在向泰国洞穴营救队提议一种微型潜水艇、但未被采纳后的荒谬行为只是最新的事例。他在Twitter和业绩发布会上对所有质疑特斯拉的人的无礼和轻蔑的态度，表明了对于话语（而不是经营业绩）可能产生的效果的根本误解。缺失全局视角可能造成的伤害是实实在在的，正如特拉维斯•卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)在优步(Uber)所展示的那样。这种问题并非仅出现在初创企业。苏铭天(Martin Sorrell)把他创建的公司WPP视为自己的小天地，最终导致了他的出局。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.
在适当的情形下，以自我为中心、顽固、自我推销以及强悍作风，是促成企业和经济成功不可或缺的因素。这个世界需要像盖茨、马斯克和苏铭天这样的人。他们的不理性一面给了他们敢于挑战既定秩序的勇气，他们可能成为一流的销售员。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，傲慢老板们不受限制的充沛精力可能会变成破坏性的力量，而本性驱使他们不设置约束，比如强有力的董事会。他们对自己不朽执行能力的信念，可能会产生围绕继任的不确定性，从而破坏稳定。即使“伟人”（通常是男子）仍然在位，也可能会造成伤害。当最高职位成为私人领地时，具有才干的高级管理人员往往会跳槽。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.
不过，当自我为中心的领导人处于其生产率巅峰时，没人有干涉的动机。社交媒体使这个问题变得更糟，正如马斯克的例子所表明的那样。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.
那么，让我们给那些认识到他们管理的组织大于他们自己、那些知道自夸不能代替业绩、那些传递全局视角和稳健而非打鸡血的老板，来一轮克制的掌声。他们也是必不可少的。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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