2012年07月13日 06:22 AM
现代“游牧民族”
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It is the end of June and Kevin Roberts is in the air again. Having just left London, he’s en route to Mexico City, then Phoenix, Arizona, on to Lancaster, England and then Paris in the space of just a few days. | 六月末，凯文?罗伯茨(Kevin Roberts)再次搭上飞机。他刚刚离开伦敦，在未来几天内先要前往墨西哥城，然后是亚利桑那州的菲尼克斯，再去英国的兰开斯特，接下来去巴黎。 |
As chief executive worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, the advertising agency, Mr Roberts spends his entire year on the road in a touring schedule so rigorous it would get most rock bands reaching for the Red Bull. “My office is my briefcase,” he says. | 罗伯茨是上奇广告(Saatchi & Saatchi)的全球首席执行官。他全年都是在旅途中度过的，他的旅行安排非常密集，这样的奔波足以让多数摇滚乐队求助于红牛(Red Bull)饮料了。他说：“我的办公室就是我的行李箱。” |
Mr Roberts is part of a growing tribe of executives and entrepreneurs proving that in business today, you can work from anywhere. This work-anywhere group includes nomadic executives, remote-workers, city-hopping location-independent workers and entrepreneurs who are relocating to cities a long way from home. A smartphone, Skype account, broadband connection and wide public access to WiFi have liberated them from the shackles of the office to work wherever they feel most productive. | 有一个日渐庞大的高管和企业家人群，他们在证明，在今天的商业世界中，你可以在任何地方工作， 罗伯茨就是其中的一员。这个“随地工作”的人群包括“游牧式”的高管、远程工作者、不受地点约束在城市之间切换的工作者和搬到离家很远的城市的企业家。智 能手机、Skype账号、宽带连接和广大公众能接入的WiFi把他们从办公室的枷锁中解放出来，允许他们在任何感觉工作效率最高的地方工作。 |
For Mr Roberts, however, technology cannot replace face-to-face. As the head of an organisation of 6,000 employees based in close to 85 countries, he believes that the best way to inspire them is to be on the ground “in their habitat”. And with offices inside his New York, New Zealand and London agencies, and homes in New York, Auckland, the English Lake District and St Tropez, Mr Roberts spends 270 nights a year in hotels. | 不过，对于罗伯茨而言，科技无法取代面对面的交流。作为一家拥有6000名员工、分布在近85 个国家的组织的负责人，他认为激励员工的最佳办法是亲临“员工所在地”。罗伯茨在纽约、新西兰和伦敦分部都有办公室，在纽约、奥克兰、英国湖区和圣特罗佩 都有家，但他每年有270个夜晚住在宾馆。 |
“Technology for me is a liberator – not an excuse not to travel,” he explains. “Nothing beats relationships that are forged by being up close and personal. Being on the road constantly keeps me close to the dynamics that change almost daily?.?.?.?Talking and listening to the younger part of the company keeps me brutally in touch.” | 他说：“科技解放了我，但这不是拒绝旅行的借口。任何东西都无法取代面对面、亲自建立起来的关系。不停地旅行可以让我接触到各种动态，它们几乎每天都在发生变化……和公司里的年轻人谈话，倾听他们，能让我和他们时刻保持联系。” |
Meanwhile, at the Chicago offices of software company 37signals the average co-worker is not at the next desk but in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas as well as Canada, Ireland and the UK. But the company is not a technology giant with offices around the globe; it is a 30-person business that encourages its employees to work from anywhere. | 同时，在软件公司37signals的芝加哥办公室里，一般而言，同事们不是坐在旁边的座位 上，而是位于科罗拉多州、爱达荷州、伊利诺斯州、密歇根州、北卡罗来纳州和得克萨斯州以及加拿大、爱尔兰和英国。但该公司并非那种办公室遍布全球的科技巨 擘；它是一家30个人的企业，鼓励员工在任何地方工作。 |
Company partner David Heinemeier Hansson was based in Denmark for the first three years of the company’s life before moving to Chicago, and says it has never been easier to work like this. His company use their own software Basecamp and Campfire to run the business together with instant messaging, Skype and email. “You couldn’t work like this before the internet and tools like Basecamp, but now it’s trivially easy,” he says. | 公司成立头三年，该公司合伙人戴维?海涅迈尔?汉松(David Heinemeier Hansson)一直在丹麦，然后搬到了芝加哥。他说，这样的工作方式前所未有地轻松。除了使用即时通讯、Skype和电子邮件以外，他的公司还使用自有 软件Basecamp和Campfire来开展业务。他说：“在没有互联网和Basecamp等工具之前，你没法这样工作，但是现在简单之极。” |
Mr Heinemeier Hansson believes that more organisations can embrace remote working if they change their mindset. “It’s hard if you grew up thinking that ‘people in the office’ meant things were getting done,” he explains. “You have to change your view from people in seats, to stuff getting done. Once you make that transition it’s not hard at all.” | 汉松认为，如果人们能够改变心态，就会有更多的组织开始采取远程办公。他说：“如果你成长过程 中一直认为‘人们只有待在办公室’才能完成任务，远程办公就很难开展。你得改变观点，从‘让人们坐在那里’转变为‘只要完成任务就行’。一旦你转换了观 念，事情就一点也不困难了。” |
He acknowledges, however, that face-to-face meetings are still valuable; the company meets as a whole three times a year. | 不过，他承认，面对面的会议依然有价值。该公司每年召开三次全体会议。 |
Lea Woodward is the co-founder with her husband of Startup Training School and of a site devoted to location-independent working that has turned itself into an online community. She has seen a rise in executives going on the road as they pursue unconventional career paths and agrees with Mr Heinemeier Hansson that today’s tools have enabled this flexibility. “Organisations and entrepreneurs are waking up to the fact that technology tools make it much simpler, more cost effective and in some cases more productive to collaborate and co-ordinate without being face-to-face,” she says. | 利?伍德沃德(Lea Woodward)和她的丈夫一起创办了Startup Training School和一家致力于不受地点约束工作的网站，现在该网站已经发展成了一个在线社区。她看到，随着越来越多的高管追求不同于传统的职业生涯，身在旅途 的人数也越来越多。她认同汉松的观点：有了现代工具才有这种灵活性。她表示：“组织和企业家都意识到，科技工具使人们不必面对面就可以展开协作，并且使这 种协作变得更加简单、成本效率更高、在某些情况下生产率也更高。” |
She and her husband’s own experience are part of the story. Since 2007, they have lived in Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Dubai, Edinburgh, Grenada, Phuket, Toronto and Turkey running an online school and a digital publishing business. Since they do not employ other people, it is not a problem missing face time with employees. | 他们夫妻二人的经历本身就是这一转变中的一部分。自2007年以来，他们相继居住在布宜诺斯艾利斯、开普敦、迪拜、爱丁堡、格林纳达、普吉、多伦多和土耳其，经营着一家在线学校和一家数字出版企业。由于他们没有雇佣任何人手，因此不和员工见面也没什么问题。 |
John Bardos is a Canadian citizen and former owner of an English school in Japan, who has embarked on a nomadic work life running his online businesses most recently from Hungary, Thailand and Turkey. With business activities including revenue-generating websites, a job site for English teachers and working as a marketing consultant, he acknowledges that the biggest headache is the logistics of moving. “Excessive traveling gets tiring very quickly. Planning and booking transportation, finding a new apartment, navigating an unknown city and finding local amenities take up so much time,” he says. | 约翰?巴多斯(John Bardos)是一位加拿大公民，以前曾在日本开过一家英语学校，最近开始了游牧式的工作人生，在匈牙利、泰国和土耳其经营在线生意。他的业务活动包括商 业性网站、英语教师求职网、市场营销咨询。他承认，最头疼的问题是旅行时的后勤问题。他说：“频繁旅行非常容易疲惫。计划和预定交通工具、寻找新公寓、在 陌生的城市辨别方向以及在当地寻找生活设施都非常消耗时间。” |
Of course, Mr Bardos says these drawbacks are offset by the benefits – going to a new destination is inspiring when success today depends on coming up with new ideas. | 当然，巴多斯表示，这些缺点都被好处抵消了——前往一个新的目的地令人激动，因为今天的成功取决于有没有新点子。 |
Yet some entrepreneurs decide to settle in a new country altogether, taking their business with them. | 但有些企业家决定在新的国家定居，把事业一并转移过去。 |
Mark Hillary relocated from London to S?o Paulo 18 months ago. He runs a technology industry advisory business that he realised could be run from anywhere near a major international airport. He has even developed unexpected new lines of business. Not only has he won contracts with local enterprises, he now also helps US and UK companies wanting to enter Latin America’s biggest market. “I never planned it this way, but I developed the knowledge by setting up a company in Brazil,” he says. | 18个月前，马可?希拉里(Mark Hillary)从伦敦来到巴西圣保罗。他开了一家科技行业咨询公司。他意识到，他可以在任何毗邻大型国际机场的地方经营公司。这甚至还让他出乎意料地开 拓了新的业务。他不仅获得了当地企业的合同，还在帮助希望进入拉美最大市场的美国和英国企业。他说：“我从来没有做过这样的规划，但我在巴西开了一家公 司，就获得了相关的知识。” |
Even maintaining long-distance relationships with European clients required little disruption. In fact, when Mr Hillary was based in London, he either saw UK clients at international conferences or only visited their offices once a year – an arrangement he maintains from Brazil with regular overseas trips. | 即使和远在欧洲的客户保持关系，也不会对他的日程形成很大打扰。其实，希拉里在伦敦时，要么只在国际会议上见到英国客户，要么一年内只拜访一次客户的办公室，而他在巴西通过定期海外旅行，也照样可以维持这样的安排。 |
The only headache for Mr Hillary is time zone difference and the inevitable 5am phone calls from clients who occasionally forget that he is based in S?o Paulo. | 希拉里唯一头疼的问题是时差，于是不可避免地，客户偶尔忘记了他住在圣保罗，就会在凌晨五点钟打来电话。 |
With the challenges that come with integrating into new business communities and dealing with the logistics of excessive travel, the reality of a working life on the road is a long way from the old-fashioned perception of the glamour of sun-drenched destinations, first-class flights and top hotels. | 要融入新的商业社区和应对频繁旅行的后勤问题，你会面临诸多挑战，因此现实中，旅途上的工作人生远远不像传统想象中的阳光目的地、头等舱航班和高级酒店那样光鲜。 |
So if you are going to try working from anywhere, you will also need to love living the nomadic life. As Mr Roberts puts it: “The core to living like a gypsy in this way is to enjoy it. And I do.” | 所以，如果你想开始在任何地方都能工作的人生，你也必须喜爱游牧式的生活。正如罗伯茨所言：“像吉普赛人一样生活，其核心是你享受这样的生活方式。我确实很享受。” |
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