老总没那么神
来源：FT中文网
2010-02-09 01:56
Society thinks of companies like movies: we want them to have a plot and a cast. But do a bold narrative and celebrity players make as much difference as we think? Or is the story in the executive suite a case of "a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing" in the despairing words of Macbeth?
社会往往把企业看作电影：我们希望它们有情节，有演员表。但富有想象力的故事情节和明星阵容起到的作用，真如我们所预期的那样大吗？也许，高管办公室里的故事就像麦克白绝望的独白那样，“是一个愚人所讲的故事，充满着喧哗和骚动，却找不到一点意义”？
One day I would love to conduct an experiment by replacing the entire board of directors of a major corporation with shop dummies and see how well things go. I'm confident most organisations would carry on regardless - and quite a few would unquestionably perform better. Out would go mad strategic initiatives, doomed takeovers, suicidal rebranding exercises and so forth. Responsible leaders on the ground would be able to get on with the job without distractions.
我很想哪天做一个实验，用橱窗里的假人模特把一家大公司的整个董事会都替换掉，看看情况会怎样。我敢说，多数企业会照常运作，还有相当一部分肯定表现更加出色。再不会有疯狂的战略计划、注定失败的收购、以及自杀式重塑品牌等举动。身担重任的一线领导者将得以不受干扰，专心做好本职工作。
A retailer with which I'm involved appears to be testing this hypothesis by default. Over the recent holidays it shut its headquarters from December 23 to January 4 - almost two weeks. Meanwhile the stores had to open every single day except Christmas day. While the shops must open more days than ever, the centre feels able to take ever more time off. I think this policy must be driven to its ultimate conclusion, and the HQ shut down. An entrepreneur I know did that last year: forced to cut costs drastically, he simply closed the head office and ran the business from his car. And, guess what, he's still going strong.
一家和我有交道的零售商似乎阴差阳错地检验了这条假说。在不久前的假日，该公司将总部关闭了差不多两周——从12月23日至1月4日。期间，除了圣诞日，各家店面要天天营业。尽管店面开业的天数比以往任何时候都多，但总部仍觉得可以休假更长时间。我猜，这种做法必然会导致以下结局：关掉总部。我认识的一名企业家去年就这么做了：由于不得不大幅削减成本，他关掉了总部办公室，转而在车内办公。你猜怎么着，他依然运作顺利。
After all, it is the operators in the field who actually sell to customers and deliver the goods. Too often, troops on active duty hate corporate HQ - they believe it is full of overpaid bureaucrats who spend their time on displacement activity. Unfortunately, these paper-shufflers represent the face of the corporation to many stakeholders. It is impossible to tell how much value they add and if their administrative and strategic functions are as vital as we are always told.
毕竟，正是第一线的运营者在切切实实地向顾客销售并送货。太多时候，工作在第一线的员工憎恨企业总部——在他们看来，那里充斥着薪水过高的官僚，成天在做无用功。不幸的是，在许多利益相关者面前，正是这帮混日子的人代表着企业的形象。人们无从知道他们增添了多少价值，也不知道他们的管理和战略职能是否像我们向来听到的那样关键。
As emotional human beings, we feel a compulsion to personalise most aspects of life. So the media and outsiders view the success of a business through the prism of a boss, a masterful figure who runs everything, comes up with all the good ideas and deserves all the credit.
作为情感丰富的人类，我们不自觉地要使生活的方方面面人性化。于是，媒体和局外人透过老板这面透镜来观赏企业的成功，仿佛都是这位大师级的人物在日理万机，想出所有的好点子，也理应得到所有的功劳。
社会往往把企业看作电影：我们希望它们有情节，有演员表。但富有想象力的故事情节和明星阵容起到的作用，真如我们所预期的那样大吗？也许，高管办公室里的故事就像麦克白绝望的独白那样，“是一个愚人所讲的故事，充满着喧哗和骚动，却找不到一点意义”？
One day I would love to conduct an experiment by replacing the entire board of directors of a major corporation with shop dummies and see how well things go. I'm confident most organisations would carry on regardless - and quite a few would unquestionably perform better. Out would go mad strategic initiatives, doomed takeovers, suicidal rebranding exercises and so forth. Responsible leaders on the ground would be able to get on with the job without distractions.
我很想哪天做一个实验，用橱窗里的假人模特把一家大公司的整个董事会都替换掉，看看情况会怎样。我敢说，多数企业会照常运作，还有相当一部分肯定表现更加出色。再不会有疯狂的战略计划、注定失败的收购、以及自杀式重塑品牌等举动。身担重任的一线领导者将得以不受干扰，专心做好本职工作。
A retailer with which I'm involved appears to be testing this hypothesis by default. Over the recent holidays it shut its headquarters from December 23 to January 4 - almost two weeks. Meanwhile the stores had to open every single day except Christmas day. While the shops must open more days than ever, the centre feels able to take ever more time off. I think this policy must be driven to its ultimate conclusion, and the HQ shut down. An entrepreneur I know did that last year: forced to cut costs drastically, he simply closed the head office and ran the business from his car. And, guess what, he's still going strong.
一家和我有交道的零售商似乎阴差阳错地检验了这条假说。在不久前的假日，该公司将总部关闭了差不多两周——从12月23日至1月4日。期间，除了圣诞日，各家店面要天天营业。尽管店面开业的天数比以往任何时候都多，但总部仍觉得可以休假更长时间。我猜，这种做法必然会导致以下结局：关掉总部。我认识的一名企业家去年就这么做了：由于不得不大幅削减成本，他关掉了总部办公室，转而在车内办公。你猜怎么着，他依然运作顺利。
After all, it is the operators in the field who actually sell to customers and deliver the goods. Too often, troops on active duty hate corporate HQ - they believe it is full of overpaid bureaucrats who spend their time on displacement activity. Unfortunately, these paper-shufflers represent the face of the corporation to many stakeholders. It is impossible to tell how much value they add and if their administrative and strategic functions are as vital as we are always told.
毕竟，正是第一线的运营者在切切实实地向顾客销售并送货。太多时候，工作在第一线的员工憎恨企业总部——在他们看来，那里充斥着薪水过高的官僚，成天在做无用功。不幸的是，在许多利益相关者面前，正是这帮混日子的人代表着企业的形象。人们无从知道他们增添了多少价值，也不知道他们的管理和战略职能是否像我们向来听到的那样关键。
As emotional human beings, we feel a compulsion to personalise most aspects of life. So the media and outsiders view the success of a business through the prism of a boss, a masterful figure who runs everything, comes up with all the good ideas and deserves all the credit.
作为情感丰富的人类，我们不自觉地要使生活的方方面面人性化。于是，媒体和局外人透过老板这面透镜来观赏企业的成功，仿佛都是这位大师级的人物在日理万机，想出所有的好点子，也理应得到所有的功劳。
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