適合當(dāng)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的超級英雄！

The enhanced abilities of some superheroes and supervillains come straight from leadership handbooks.

一些超級英雄和超級反派的超能力簡直像是從領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力手冊中照搬的。

Inspirational Avenger Captain America is an expert military tactician, blessed with extraordinary agility, a quality much sought after in would-be corporate leaders. Evil robot Ultron boasts strength, speed and stamina to overcome the energy-sapping long-haul travel schedule that reportedly helped do in HSBC’s Mr Flint. (Ultron can also “make calculations with superhuman speed and accuracy”, according to one fan site, which might recommend him for chief financial officer if the top job is unavailable).

鼓舞人心的復(fù)仇者(Avenger)美國隊長(Captain America)是一名軍事戰(zhàn)術(shù)專家，擁有非凡的敏捷身手，這是想要成為企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人極為追捧的能力。邪惡的機器人奧創(chuàng)(Ultron)擁有力量、速度和耐力，可以克服耗費精力的長途旅行行程——據(jù)報道，這些能力也幫助匯豐的范寧做到了這一點。(據(jù)一家粉絲網(wǎng)站的信息顯示，奧創(chuàng)還能“以超人的速度和精準(zhǔn)度進行計算”，這一點會讓他被推舉擔(dān)任首席財務(wù)官，如果他當(dāng)不了首席執(zhí)行官的話。)

Chief executives are always receiving glib advice to spot patterns in weak signals, so Spider-Man or Black Panther’s powers of “precognition” would come in handy. Such traits would make it easier for a new HSBC chief executive to monitor a global company with nearly 250,000 staff.

首席執(zhí)行官總會收到華而不實的建議：從微小的訊號中發(fā)現(xiàn)模式。所以，蜘蛛俠(Spider-Man)或者黑豹(Black Panther)的“預(yù)知”能力也很有用處。這樣的能力會讓匯豐新任行政總裁更容易監(jiān)控一個有近25萬員工的國際企業(yè)。

Any chief executive would envy The Thing’s rocklike skin, an important defence against the rough and tumble of volatile markets, not to mention the brickbats of analysts and the media. Just occasionally, after a particularly poor quarter, they may even want to draw on the Invisible Woman’s signature superpower or the shape-shifting abilities of anti-hero Loki.

任何首席執(zhí)行官都會羨慕石頭人(The Thing)巖石一樣的皮膚，這是應(yīng)對動蕩市場的磕碰與顛簸的重要防御，更不用說分析師和媒體的口誅筆伐了。首席執(zhí)行官在偶爾經(jīng)歷了一個特別糟糕的季度之后，甚至可能很想運用隱形女俠(Invisible Woman)的標(biāo)志性超能力，或者是反英雄洛基(Loki)的變身能力。

Then there are the superfluous powers. Some superskills — I’m thinking of Ant Man’s ability to communicate telepathically with insects or even Spider-Man’s web-shooters — are of less use in the weekly strategy meeting.

還有些能力是多余的。有些超能力——我說的是蟻人(Ant Man)與昆蟲進行心靈感應(yīng)交流的能力，或者甚至是蜘蛛俠射出蛛絲的能力——在每周戰(zhàn)略會議當(dāng)中都沒什么用。

Others are positively counter-productive. There will be times when, as the boss, you might yearn for the retractable adamantium claws of Wolverine, if only to put a bit of force behind your often ignored commands. You may even wish to fix colleagues with the hellfire of a “penance stare” like Ghost Rider, who visits his wrath on the wicked like an overzealous compliance officer.

其他能力事實上是有負(fù)作用的。作為老板，有時候你會渴望擁有金剛狼(Wolverine)的可伸縮艾德曼合金(adamantium)爪，如果它能為你總被別人忽略的命令加一點強制力就好了。甚至你還可能希望能像惡靈騎士(Ghost Rider)那樣，用帶有地獄之火的“審判之眼”解決你的同事，他就像一個過分盡職的合規(guī)官一樣對惡人降下他的怒火。

A gentler style of management is generally preferred in the boardroom these days, though. Staff may whisper “you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry” about the ambitious and seemingly mild-mannered middle manager, but Hulk-style vengeance-seeking tends to disqualify candidates from the leadership fast track.

不過，現(xiàn)在的董事會普遍更喜歡溫和一些的管理方式。對于雄心勃勃又看似溫和的中層經(jīng)理，員工有可能會竊竊私語“他發(fā)起怒來你可就不會喜歡他了”，但是綠巨人浩克(Hulk)式的尋仇往往會讓候選人失去走上通向領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層的快速道的資格。

As for “genius-level intellect”, a quality shared by many Marvel characters, this is more of a handicap to achieving high corporate office. EQ is as important as IQ for the 21st century chief executive. John Cryan, the ill-fated former chief executive of Deutsche Bank, was noted for his “enormous brain” — an attribute shared with Avenger Iron Man — but he could not think the German lender out of its predicament. Mr Flint himself was “respected for his quiet intelligence”, according to a damning-with-faint-praise note by the Financial Times Lex column.

至于“天才級別的智力”——這是許多漫威角色都具備的——對于晉升高層職位更可能是個缺陷。對于21世紀(jì)的首席執(zhí)行官來說，情商與智商一樣重要。運氣不佳的德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)前首席執(zhí)行官約翰•克賴恩(John Cryan)就以他 “絕頂聰明的大腦”而聞名——復(fù)仇者鋼鐵俠(Iron Man)也有同樣的品質(zhì)——但是克賴恩并沒有想出讓這家德國銀行走出困境的方法。據(jù)英國《金融時報》Lex專欄的一篇明褒暗貶的文章稱，范寧本人也“因為其冷靜睿智而受到尊敬”。

Let’s face it, most corporate bosses fall into the category of more minor characters listed on Marvel’s official website, which include an Administrator and “the woman known as Appraiser”, whose less-than-thrilling role seems to have been to determine the value of mutants. A job at one of the Big Four audit firms awaits her.

面對現(xiàn)實吧，大部分企業(yè)老板在漫威官網(wǎng)上只能被列為一些更邊緣的角色，包括“行政長官”(Administrator)和“被叫做鑒定師的女人”(the woman known as Appraiser)，后者不怎么讓人激動的角色能力似乎是確定突變者的價值。四大審計師事務(wù)所之一肯定會為她留一個崗位的。

Similarly, everybody knows a long-serving chief executive who has “performed his duty for untold millennia” like the sorcerer called Aged Genghis, whose mind was “long ago consumed by mystic forces”. It is to protect against such superannuatedsuperheroes that the UK governance code suggests a nine-year limit on directors before they are deemed to be no longer independent.

類似地，每個人都知道一個任職多年、像巫師成吉思大耋(Aged Genghis)一樣“在數(shù)不清的千年中盡職盡責(zé)”的首席執(zhí)行官，其頭腦“早已被神秘力量占據(jù)”。為了避免出現(xiàn)這樣過時的超級英雄，英國的治理準(zhǔn)則建議為企業(yè)董事設(shè)置9年的工作時限，因為在此時限之后他們會被認(rèn)為不再具備獨立性了。

In truth, though, while the analyst’s comment was a throwaway line, it says more about the unmanageably broad scope of some modern multinationals than it does about the dearthof executives with the superhuman skills to lead them.

不過，事實上，雖然文首那位分析師的評價只是隨口一說，但與其說這句話說明了缺乏那種擁有超能力以領(lǐng)導(dǎo)現(xiàn)代跨國企業(yè)的高管，不如說這句話揭示了這些企業(yè)規(guī)模大到難以管理。

The collective strength and cohesion of the whole team at the top is the true organisational superpower. Irrespective of title or place in the nominal hierarchy, teams perform better when the chief executive defers to fellow executives best-equipped to tackle a particular challenge. Marvel’s fantasy world has a model and a motto for this, too: Avengers, assemble!

最高管理團隊的集體力量和團結(jié)才是一個組織真正的超能力。撇開企業(yè)層級中名義上的頭銜和職位，如果首席執(zhí)行官能聽從最有能力解決特定挑戰(zhàn)的其他執(zhí)行官的意見，團隊會運作得更好。漫威的幻想世界也有對應(yīng)的樣板和格言：復(fù)仇者，集結(jié)吧!