防止CEO倦怠沒(méi)那么貴

There are few jobs with less appeal than being the chief executive of a big company. The work is intolerably stressful. It is lonely. You never see your children. You spend far too much time breathing stale air in a pressurised cabin 36,000 feet up. And it generally ends in big, humiliating failure.

很少有比在大公司當(dāng)首席執(zhí)行官更沒(méi)勁的工作了。壓力大得喘不過(guò)氣。還得強(qiáng)忍孤獨(dú)。見(jiàn)不著孩子?；ù罅繒r(shí)間在3.6萬(wàn)英尺高的加壓艙里呼吸污濁的空氣。到頭來(lái)還常常一敗涂地、顏面盡失。

Johnson & Johnson, whose Human Performance Institute has spent more than 30 years studying the behaviour of athletes and other fanatics, has come up with a way of making the job manageable: a $100,000 anti-burnout programme. The CEO is packed off to the Mayo clinic for a few days during which their insides are methodically prodded and X-rayed. Then three experts are called in — a dietitian, a physiologist and a coach — who over the next nine months interview the executives’ families, poke around in their fridges, then tell them what to eat, how much to exercise and how to change their characters. Or, as the company puts it on its website: “The Premier Coaching Team leverages holistic Physical, Mental, and Emotional Analyses to create highly personalised action plans.”

強(qiáng)生(Johnson & Johnson)的人類(lèi)績(jī)效研究所(Human Performance Institute)花了30多年時(shí)間研究運(yùn)動(dòng)員和其他狂熱分子的行為，提出了一個(gè)可以掌控工作的方案：一套價(jià)值10萬(wàn)美元的抗倦怠計(jì)劃。CEO們要在梅奧診所(Mayo clinic)待上幾天，這幾天里他們的五臟六腑會(huì)挨個(gè)接受刺激和X光檢查。接著會(huì)有三位專(zhuān)家——一名營(yíng)養(yǎng)師、一名生理學(xué)家和一名教練——介入，在接下來(lái)的9個(gè)月，這三位專(zhuān)業(yè)人士會(huì)到CEO們的府上做家訪、翻看他們的冰箱，然后告訴他們吃什么、做多少運(yùn)動(dòng)以及怎么改變性格?；蛘?，就像強(qiáng)生公司網(wǎng)站上說(shuō)的那樣：“基于對(duì)您身體、精神和情緒的全面分析，我們的高級(jí)教練團(tuán)隊(duì)會(huì)為您量身打造專(zhuān)屬于您的行動(dòng)方案。”

I have no doubt Premier Executive Leadership ™ will be in great demand. I once read that 40 per cent of CEOs quit or are fired in the first 18 months. Executive burnout is not only a downer for the person but for shareholders too. According to research by Strategy&, a CEO resignation at one of the world’s largest companies can knock its value by $1.8bn. Compared with that a $100,000 insurance policy seems like a cheap solution.

我深信強(qiáng)生的“高級(jí)行政領(lǐng)導(dǎo)”(Premier Executive Leadership ™)計(jì)劃會(huì)非常搶手。我以前讀到過(guò)，有4成CEO在上任后的18個(gè)月內(nèi)辭職或者被炒魷魚(yú)。高管們的工作倦怠不僅對(duì)個(gè)人來(lái)說(shuō)很糟糕，對(duì)企業(yè)的股東們也是一樣。思略特(Strategy&)的研究顯示，全球規(guī)模最大的一些公司的CEO辭職會(huì)使公司價(jià)值損失18億美元。這么看來(lái)，一份10萬(wàn)美元的保單似乎很劃算。

Premier Executive Leadership™ does not solve a thing. It merely adds to the problem. We put someone under inhuman pressure by placing impossible demands on them. They often crack. Then instead of wondering how to lessen the pressure, we tell them all will be fine if they eat every three hours, exercise more, behave differently and fill up their already full schedule with a trio of quacks.

可是“高級(jí)行政領(lǐng)導(dǎo)”計(jì)劃并不解決任何問(wèn)題，而只是加劇了問(wèn)題本身。我們對(duì)某些人提出不合理的要求，讓他們承受著非人的壓力。他們經(jīng)常因此崩潰。然后我們非但不想辦法幫他們減輕壓力，反而告訴他們一切都會(huì)好起來(lái)，只要他們少食多餐、多做運(yùn)動(dòng)、轉(zhuǎn)變行為方式，再?gòu)谋揪鸵呀?jīng)很緊張的日程中騰出時(shí)間應(yīng)付三個(gè)江湖郎中。

It is not just decadent, but also damaging. Our message to executives who crack up is that it is their fault for not having enough of something that has become the corporate world’s favourite and most fashionable virtue: resilience. At the same time, we are hoodwinking companies into thinking resilience can be bought. So long as the programme is “holistic” and “personalised”, a CEO can be turned from a frail human into a superhero.

這不僅很消極，還很有害。我們傳達(dá)給那些心力交瘁的高管們的，是這樣一種信息：沒(méi)有足夠的韌性是他們的錯(cuò)，而韌性正是企業(yè)界最欣賞、最流行的美德。同時(shí)，我們也在蒙騙企業(yè)，使他們認(rèn)為韌性是可以買(mǎi)來(lái)的。只要這個(gè)計(jì)劃是“全面的”、“量身打造的”，一名CEO就能從一個(gè)脆弱的人變成一位超級(jí)英雄。

There is a better, more obvious and cheaper way. Instead of attempting to shore up the incumbent, we should change the job spec. Being a CEO is awful for four reasons. First, people think that you are in control, but you are not. All organisations are dysfunctional and even if you have the right idea of what you want to do, doing it is practically impossible. Second, everything is always your fault, even when you have had nothing to do with it. Third, it is very lonely. No one tells you the truth and you cannot tell anyone else the truth either. Finally, you spend your life in two of the most depressing spaces on earth — meeting rooms and aeroplanes.

有一個(gè)更好的、效果更顯著也更實(shí)惠的辦法。與其試圖幫現(xiàn)任CEO硬撐，不如轉(zhuǎn)變一下工作分配。做CEO很煩的原因有四個(gè)。首先，人們覺(jué)得你大權(quán)在握，但其實(shí)不是。一切組織都存在運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)障礙，即便你明白自己想干什么，也沒(méi)法實(shí)際執(zhí)行。其次，一切問(wèn)題都得由你負(fù)責(zé)，即使跟你一點(diǎn)關(guān)系都沒(méi)有。還有，當(dāng)CEO真的很孤獨(dú)。沒(méi)人跟你說(shuō)真心話，你也不能對(duì)別人掏心掏肺。最后，你要在地球上最壓抑的兩個(gè)地方度日——會(huì)議室和飛機(jī)上。

The best way of lifting pressure is to spread the load. That means fussing over the other people at the top — the chairman, deputy and three or four important others. The next is to do less. Does the CEO really need to speak at a conference on the other side of the world? The answer is almost always no. Most meetings need not take place.

緩解壓力最好的辦法就是分散責(zé)任。意思就是讓其他高層一塊操心——董事長(zhǎng)、副手和其他三、四個(gè)重要人物。接著就是少干點(diǎn)活。CEO真得為了一個(gè)會(huì)議發(fā)言飛半個(gè)地球嗎?通常都不是。大部分會(huì)都沒(méi)必要開(kāi)。

But the most important thing — which no one company can do alone — is to change expectations of what a single person can achieve. Academics have debated for 70 years how much the CEO matters, and most studies conclude they do not matter much.

但最重要的事情——沒(méi)有哪家企業(yè)能單獨(dú)完成——就是改變對(duì)某一個(gè)人能力的預(yù)期。關(guān)于CEO有多重要，學(xué)者們已經(jīng)辯論了70年，而大多數(shù)研究的結(jié)論都說(shuō)他們并沒(méi)有多重要。

If expectations were lower, pressure would be less. Better still, the nice humble people who are supposed to be better at the job might be more interested in applying, instead of the narcissistic nutcases the system produces. A recent study showed the proportion of psychopaths in corner offices is the same as in prisons.

如果期望值低點(diǎn)兒，壓力也會(huì)少些。而且，那些理應(yīng)更勝任這一工作、友善又謙卑的人(而不是被體系逼成的自戀狂)也許會(huì)更有興趣應(yīng)聘這一職位。最近一項(xiàng)研究顯示老板辦公室出產(chǎn)的瘋子跟監(jiān)獄一樣多。

Under this job spec — shared power and scant chance of ever being on the cover of Time — two desirable things might occur, which hardly ever happen together in a free market. The standard of CEO applicants would rise. And pay would fall.

根據(jù)這種工作分配——分散職權(quán)，以及減少上《時(shí)代周刊》雜志(Time)封面的幾率——或許會(huì)出現(xiàn)兩個(gè)令人滿意的結(jié)果，而在自由市場(chǎng)中兩者從來(lái)難以同時(shí)實(shí)現(xiàn)。CEO應(yīng)聘者的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)將會(huì)提高。而付給他們的薪酬反而會(huì)降低。