爲什麼遠見卓識者往往不近人情 The Bad Behavior of Visionary Leaders
As I was reading Ashlee Vance’s “Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,” I was alternately awed and disheartened, almost exactly the same ambivalence I felt after reading Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” and Brad Stone’s “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.”
最近，我讀了阿什利·範斯(Ashlee Vance)的傳記作品《埃隆·馬斯克：特斯拉、Space X與探索美好未來》。在閱讀過程中，我時而感到驚訝，時而感到沮喪，這種矛盾心理和我之前閱讀沃爾特·艾薩克森(Walter Isaacson)的《喬布斯傳》(Steve Jobs)與布拉德·斯通(Brad Stone)的《萬貨商店:傑夫·貝索斯和亞馬遜時代》(The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon)的感覺幾乎一模一樣。
The three leaders are arguably the most extraordinary business visionaries of our times. Each of them has introduced unique products that changed – or in Mr. Musk’s case, have huge potential to change – the way we live.
這三位領導者都稱得上是當今商業領域最有遠見卓識的人。他們都推出了一些獨特的產品，改變了——或以馬斯克而言，有極大的潛力去改變——我們的生活方式。
I was awed by the innovative, courageous, persistent and creative ways all three built their businesses. I also love their products. I own a Mac Pro and an iPhone, and I have been a loyal customer of Apple for 20 years. I buy many books and other products on Amazon, lured by a blend of low prices, ease of purchase and reliably quick delivery. The Tesla X is hands down the best car I have ever driven, and it’s all electric, rechargeable in your garage.
他們在商業領域展現出的創新精神、勇氣、執着與創造性令我敬畏。我也十分喜愛他們的產品。我有一臺Mac Pro電腦和一臺iPhone，二十年來，我一直都是蘋果的忠實客戶。我在亞馬遜上買了許多圖書和其他產品，他們低廉的價格、輕鬆的購買方式和快捷可靠的運送服務深深吸引着我。而特斯拉的S型電動車無疑是我開過的最好的轎車，而且它是全電動的，可以在你的車庫中充電。
Plainly, I have bought in to what these guys are selling.
毫無疑問，我算得上是他們產品的忠實用戶。
What disheartens me is how little care and appreciation any of them give (or in Mr. Jobs’s case, gave) to hard-working and loyal employees, and how unnecessarily cruel and demeaning they could be to the people who helped make their dreams come true.
然而令我沮喪的是，對於那些努力工作、忠心耿耿、幫助他們實現了夢想的員工，他們卻吝於關愛和感激，表現出毫無必要的殘酷，這無疑有損於他們的人格。
In fairness, the leaders all have loyal defenders. At Apple, for example, Mr. Jobs’s successors – including Tim Cook, the chief executive, and Jonathan Ive, the chief design officer – have argued that Mr. Jobs matured significantly as a leader in his final years. Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos have senior leaders who have worked with them for many years. But even an admirer like Mr. Ive remained bewildered by the way Mr. Jobs treated people.
當然，這些領袖人物都有忠實的捍衛者。例如在蘋果公司，喬布斯的繼任者——包括首席執行官蒂姆·庫克(Tim Cook)和首席設計師喬納森·伊夫(Jonathan Ive)——都認爲他最後幾年已成爲一名相當成熟的領導者。馬斯克與貝索斯也都有許多共事多年的工作夥伴。但即便作爲喬布斯的崇拜者，伊夫對他爲人處世的方式也依然多有不解。
“He’s a very sensitive guy,” Mr. Ive told Mr. Isaacson shortly before Mr. Jobs died in 2011. “That’s one of the things that makes his antisocial behavior, his rudeness, so unconscionable. I can understand why people who are thick-skinned and unfeeling can be rude, but not sensitive people.”
“他是個非常敏感的人，”2011年喬布斯去世前不久，伊夫對艾薩克森說。“他的反社會行爲和粗魯態度部分是由此造成的。這實在是不合情理。我可以理解爲什麼厚顏無恥又麻木不仁的人會很粗魯，但不明白爲什麼敏感的人也是如此。”
Given the extraordinary success of these men, the obvious question is whether being relentlessly hard on people, and even cruel, may get them to perform better.
鑑於這些人取得的巨大成就，有這樣的疑問也是順理成章的——是否正因爲他們對人無情，甚至殘酷，所以才表現得更加出色。
Like their biographers, I think the answer is no. Our research at the Energy Project has shown that the more employees feel their needs are being met at work – above all, for respect and appreciation – the better they perform.
我和那些傳記作者一樣，都認爲並非如此。我們在“能量計劃領導力訓練”(Energy Project)中的研究證明，員工在工作中的需要——尤其是尊重與讚賞的需要——如果得到了更多的滿足，那麼他們的工作表現也就越好。
As Mr. Isaacson writes of Mr. Jobs: “Nasty was not necessary. It hindered him more than it helped him.”
正如艾薩克森在寫到喬布斯時所說：“大可不必去招人厭惡。這一點對他的阻礙遠大於對他的幫助。”
Similarly, a person who worked with Mr. Musk told Mr. Vance: “He can be so gentle and loyal, and then hard on people when it isn’t necessary.”
與此相似的是，一位曾與馬斯克共事的人對範斯說：“他可以那麼溫和忠誠，但在某些不必要的時候，卻又對人那麼嚴苛。”
At Amazon, Mr. Bezos’s angry outbursts came to be called “nutters.” “He was capable of hyperbole and cruelty in these moments,” Mr. Stone writes, “and over the years delivered some devastating rebukes to employees.”
而在亞馬遜，人們把貝索斯的怒氣爆發稱爲“癲狂發作”。“每當此時，他就變得非常誇張，而且冷酷無情，”斯通寫道。“而且這些年來，他對員工做出過一些相當令人難堪的指責。”
Why would otherwise brilliant men behave in such destructive ways?
爲什麼這些才華橫溢的人在另一方面卻如此不近人情呢？
The first answer is that they can. Genius covers a lot of sins. A great product is a great product, and you don’t have to do everything right to be successful. Most customers don’t care how the sausage gets made, as long as it tastes good.
答案顯而易見，他們有本錢這樣做。才華掩蓋了許許多多的罪惡。偉大的產品就是偉大的產品，而且你並不需要事事都做對才能取得成功。大多數客戶根本不在乎香腸是怎樣做出來的，只要吃起來美味就行了。
Employees, in turn, are willing to sacrifice a lot to work for a visionary. Much as Mr. Jobs was, Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos are passionate, inspiring and charismatic leaders.
另一方面，員工們也願意任勞任怨地爲有遠見的領導者工作。大多數這樣的領導者，比如喬布斯、馬斯克和貝索斯，都是一些有熱情、有想法、有魅力的領導人。
“Numerous people interviewed for this book decried the work hours, Musk’s blunt style and his sometimes ludicrous expectations,” Mr. Vance wrote. “Yet almost every person – even those who had been fired – still worshiped Musk and talked about him in terms usually reserved for superheroes or deities.
“書中許多接受了採訪的人都抱怨過工作時間、馬斯克的生硬作風和偶爾荒唐可笑的期望，”範斯寫道。“但幾乎每個人，甚至那些被炒魷魚的人，都依然崇拜馬斯克，而且談論起他來，就像在談英雄人物或神話傳說。”
Finally, a certain level of financial success and the resulting power effectively excuse those who achieve it from the ordinary rules of civility and even humanity.
最終，他們在經濟上所取得的成功以及由此而來的權力，讓他們可以堂而皇之地擺脫常人的行爲規範，甚至顯得不夠人道。
Mr. Jobs drove around without a license on his car, and he regularly parked in spaces reserved for the handicapped. As Mr. Ive said of his attitude, “I think he feels he has a liberty and a license to do that. The normal rules of social engagement, he feels, don’t apply to him.”
喬布斯生前經常開車不帶駕照，而且總是在殘障人士的專用車位上泊車。正如伊夫談到喬布斯的態度時說的那樣，“我想，他覺得自己有自由也被允許那樣做。他覺得普通的社會規則對他並不適用。”
Amazon employees collected examples of Mr. Bezos’s most eviscerating put-downs, including, “Are you lazy or just incompetent?” “Why are you wasting my life?” and “I’m sorry, did I take my stupid pills today?”
亞馬遜的員工們曾收集過貝索斯的一些最傷人的話，其中包括“你是懶惰還是沒有能力？”“你爲什麼要浪費我的生命？”以及“不好意思，我今天吃了腦殘片嗎？”
When Mr. Musk’s loyal executive assistant of 12 years asked for a significant raise, he told her to take a two-week vacation while he thought about it. When she returned, he told her the relationship wasn’t going to work anymore. According to Mr. Vance, they haven’t spoken since.
而爲馬斯克忠心耿耿工作了十二年的一名行政助理在謀求升職時，被告知可以先去度兩週的假，讓他好好想一想。但等她回來之後，馬斯克卻告訴她，他們之間已經沒法再合作下去了。據範斯寫，他倆從此後半句話都沒說過。
Abusive as all this sounds, I would argue that most of the bad behavior of these men is fear-based, impulsive and reactive rather than consciously hurtful. It grows not out of a sense of superiority but rather of insecurity.
儘管這些行爲聽起來匪夷所思，但我始終認爲，他們大多數的惡劣行徑都是出於害怕、衝動和應激反應，而不是有意傷人。這樣的行爲並非源自優越感，而是源自不安全感。
Some of my data, unfortunately, is my own experience. I spent most of my early adulthood relentlessly seeking to prove my worth and worrying that I would forever fall short. I have spent my recent years far more focused on trying to become a caring and encouraging leader. Even so, I know well the anxious feeling that can arise when a deal is coming undone, a project isn’t gelling or an employee seems to be falling short. I know how frightening it can be to feel out of control.
我之所以這樣說是因爲我很不幸深有體會。我早年的大部分時間一直在冷酷無情地謀求證明自我價值，在忐忑不安地害怕自己始終達不到要求。近年來，我已經花了很多時間來努力讓自己變成一位關心他人、鼓勵他人的領導者。但是我很清楚，一旦交易無法達成、項目不能融洽、或者員工達不到要求，我就會產生一種焦慮的感覺。我知道事情如果失控會有多麼可怕。
People like these three visionaries deeply crave control. Each of them was far more likely to act out suddenly and behave poorly when he wasn’t getting exactly what he wanted — when he felt that others were failing to live up to his standards.
和他們三人一樣眼光長遠的人都很想控制局面。如果事情的結果與他們想要的有出入，或者說，如果他們覺得其他人沒有達到他們的標準，那他們極有可能會忽然發作，或者表現相當惡劣。
All three invested endless hours and energy in building and running their businesses — and far less in anything else, including taking care of the people who worked for them or even understanding what doing so might look like. To a large extent, people were simply a means to an end.
這三位領導者投入了無數的時間與精力來打造和經營他們的事業，因而遠遠忽略了其他的事情，包括忽略了對員工的關心，他們甚至不明白這樣做會是什麼樣子。在很大程度上，那些人只不過是他們達到目標的一種手段。
I understand what it is like to have one’s self entirely tied up with external success. No amount is ever quite enough. To a large extent, for these men, employees are simply a means to an end.
我很理解一個人被外在的成功束縛會怎麼樣。做得再多都不夠。
The question their management style raises is not whether being tough, harsh and relentlessly demanding gets people to work better. Of course it doesn’t, and certainly not sustainably. Can anyone truly doubt that people are more productive in workplaces that help them to be healthier and happier?
由於他們的管理風格而引起的這個問題並不是在問，那種強硬、粗魯且冷酷無情的態度是否會讓人把工作做得更好。肯定不會，而且肯定無法良性循環。有誰會不相信員工在更加健康而快樂的工作環境中會更有生產力呢？
The more apt question is how much more these men could have enhanced thousands of people’s lives – and perhaps made them even more successful — if they had invested as much in taking care of them as they did in conceiving great products.
所以，人們應該問的是，如果這些領導者對員工所投入的關懷，和他們在構思偉大產品時所投入的精力一樣多，那他們是否會讓無數人生活得更好，也許還會讓他們更成功。
“Try not to become a man of success,” Albert Einstein once said, “but rather a man of value.”
“還是不要當成功的人吧，”阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦曾經說，“不如做個有價值的人。”
