Fair Play

再论费厄泼赖

 

A new book argues that decency pays off in business as well as in life

一本新书认为，得体不仅在生活中有好报，在工作中也一样

 

Nice guys finish last. That pithy motto was coined by Leo Durocher, a baseball manager noted for exulting at injuring his opponents and for cheating his players at cards. In 1969 his Chicago Cubs had a big lead in the closing weeks of the season, but he so alienated his squad (and the umpires) that the team failed to make it to the World Series. In his case, nasty guys finished behind.

 

好人垫底。这句简练的格言来自利奥·迪罗谢（Leo Durocher），这位棒球队经理以伤害对手和在牌局上对自己的球员出千为乐，由此出名。1969年，他带领的芝加哥小熊队在赛季最后几周遥遥领先，但他和球队（还有裁判）的关系弄得太僵，导致球队最终还是没能进入世界大赛（World Series）。在他自己这个案例上，坏蛋掉到后头去了。

 

This is one of the tales told by David Bodanis, a writer best known for his science books, who has turned his attention to the issue of how leaders should exercise their authority. The core message in his book, “The Art of Fairness”, can be found in the subtitle: “The power of decency in a world turned mean”.

 

这是大卫·伯登尼斯（David Bodanis）笔下的故事之一。这位作者最出名的是科学著作，现在又将注意力转向了领导者应该如何行使他们的权威。他在《公正的艺术》（The Art of Fairness）的副标题里直陈这本书的核心思想：“在一个日益不友善的世界里保持体面的力量。”

 

The Empire State Building was constructed in just 13 months, and that included the dismantling of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel that sat on the site. Paul Starrett, the builder, treated his workers rather well by the standards of the time, paying much attention to safety and paying employees on days when it was too windy to work. Daily wages were more than double the usual rate and hot meals were provided on site.

 

帝国大厦仅13个月即告完工，这还包括了先拆除华尔道夫酒店。按照当时的标准，施工承包商保罗·斯塔雷特（Paul Starrett）给工人的待遇相当不错。他非常重视安全，在刮大风不能开工的日子也照常给工人发工资。他开出的日薪是一般水平的两倍多，还在工地上供应热腾腾的饭食。

 

The concept is known as “efficiency wages”. Companies that compensate workers well and treat them fairly can attract better, more motivated staff. Unlike most construction projects, the Empire State Building had low staff turnover, and workers suggested productivity improvements such as building a miniature railway line to bring bricks to the site. But Starrett was not naively generous; he hired accountants to patrol the works, checking that all materials were accounted for, and staff attendance was recorded four times a day.

 

这里头的理念叫做“效率工资”。薪酬良好并公正合理地对待工人的公司能够吸引更好、更有积极性的员工。与大多数建筑工程项目不同，帝国大厦项目的员工流动率很低，而工人也踊跃提出提高生产率的建议，例如修建一条向工地运送砖头的微型铁路。但斯塔雷特也不是天真幼稚的慷慨：他雇用会计来巡视工地，核查所有材料是否入账，并每日四次记录员工出勤。

 

The author contrasts Starrett’s story with the tale of Eastern Air Travel, an airline built by Eddie Rickenbacker, a pioneer aviator who had granted mechanics a 40-hour week, profit-related pay and a pension. But when Frank Lorenzo took over the company in the 1980s, he cut wages, alienated the staff and pursued a policy of asset-stripping the company. The workers went on strike in protest and Eastern went bankrupt.

 

作者将斯塔雷特的故事与埃迪·里肯巴克（Eddie Rickenbacker）创建的美国东方航空（Eastern Air Travel）的历程做对比。在这位飞行员先驱的管理下，机修工每周工作40小时，薪酬与利润挂钩，享受养老金。但当弗兰克·洛伦佐（Frank Lorenzo）在上世纪80年代接管公司后便开始削减工资、疏远员工，并且大肆倒卖公司资产。工人罢工抗议，公司终告破产。

 

Another contrast cited by the author is that between Steve Ballmer, the hard-charging chief executive of Microsoft notorious for his towering rages, and his more emollient successor, Satya Nadella. Mr Ballmer so disliked Apple that he seized an iPhone from a subordinate in full view of the humiliated employee and pretended to stomp on it. On his watch Microsoft missed out on several promising business opportunities. On the day Mr Ballmer announced his departure the share price jumped by 7.5%. Under Mr Nadella, Microsoft has successfully shifted its attention to cloud-based services and even briefly regained the title of the world’s most valuable listed company.

 

作者还比较了微软前CEO史蒂夫·鲍尔默（Steve Ballmer）与其继任者萨提亚·纳德拉（Satya Nadella），前者咄咄逼人，以雷霆之怒闻名，后者为人更温和。鲍尔默非常讨厌苹果公司，有一次当众从下属手中夺过iPhone，在这位难堪的员工面前作势要踩上几脚。在他任内微软多次错失良机。鲍尔默宣布离任的当天，公司股价上涨了7.5%。在纳德拉的领导下，微软成功地将重心转移到云服务，甚至一度夺回了全球最高市值上市公司的头衔。

 

Public projects also require management skills. When Danny Boyle, a film director, was asked to organise the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, he faced the tough task of keeping the details secret when the project required thousands of volunteers. The conventional approach would have been to make the volunteers sign a non-disclosure agreement. Instead, he asked them to keep the surprise – and trusted them to do so. They did, thanks to the grown-up way he treated them. He listened to their ideas for improving parts of the ceremony and ensured (by threatening to resign) that the volunteers did not have to pay for their costumes.

 

公共项目同样需要管理技巧。电影导演丹尼·博伊尔（Danny Boyle）受邀执导2012年伦敦奥运会开幕式，他面临一个大难题：在有成千上万名志愿者参与的情况下保密开幕式的细节。传统的做法是让志愿者签署保密协议。而他却恳请他们将惊喜留到最后，并信任他们一定能够做到。他们确实做到了，因为他以公正、尊重的成熟方式对待他们。他听取他们对开幕式某些内容的改进想法，并（不惜以辞职相威胁）确保志愿者不必自己负担演出服装费用。

 

Mr Boyle demonstrated one of the most important traits of good leadership, the author argues, which is a willingness to listen. This relates to a concept known as the “power distance”. If a relationship has a high power-distance score, it is assumed that junior staff should not question their superiors’ decisions; a lower score means that senior staff are willing to listen.

 

作者认为，博伊尔展现了优秀领导力最重要的特质之一，那就是愿意倾听。这涉及一个称为“权力距离”的概念。如果工作关系当中的权力距离分值较高，那么大家都认为下级员工不应质疑上级的决策；分值较低则意味着高层人员更愿意倾听。

 

Perceptions may differ sharply over whether listening takes place. A study by Johns Hopkins University found that 64% of the medical specialists interviewed felt that their operations had high levels of teamwork, whereas only 28% of their nurses agreed.

 

至于倾听是否真实发生，不同的人感受可能大相径庭。约翰·霍普金斯大学的一项研究发现，受访的专科医生当中有64%认为自己的工作中团队合作水平很高，但他们的护士只有28%认同这一点。

 

Individuals can become fixated on a particular approach to resolving a problem and ignore any advice that suggests a different tack, especially if it comes from a junior colleague. “When your underlings aren’t terrified of you, and you’re modest enough to know you’re fallible, you can set up the channels that will help you avoid fixation,” Mr Bodanis writes. It is a wise lesson. Ruling by fear may work for a while, but it is doomed to fail in the long run. Remember Durocher.

 

人们可能会偏执于某一种解决问题的方法，而不理会任何采取不同策略的建议，尤其是来自低年资同事的建议。伯登尼斯写道：“如果你的下属不惧怕你，而你又足够谦虚，知道自己可能犯错，你就可以建立渠道来帮助自己避免执迷不悟。”这是一条明智的经验。用恐惧来统治可能有一时之效，但长期必定会失败。别忘了迪罗谢的前车之鉴。

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