【原】【管理英文】领导者，你是否穿了“皇帝的新装”？

今天分享的是管理英文，主题是：领导者，你是否穿了“皇帝的新装”？英文作者是Doug Thorpe，中文为本公号创建人浦亮元翻译，觉得有用，请分享出去！加外语群/提供建议/简历汉译英/广告推广，请联系微信puliangyuan。

你是否穿了“皇帝的新装”？

01

故事：“皇帝的新装”

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a short story written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It is about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, untrained, or incompetent. In reality, the tailors make no new clothes at all. Instead, they make everyone believe the clothes are invisible to them. When the emperor parades naked before his subjects in his new “clothes”, no one dares to say that they do not see any suit of clothes on him. They fear that they will be seen as incompetent. Finally, a child cries out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!”

《皇帝的新装》，是丹麦作家汉斯·克里斯汀·安徒生所写的一篇短篇小说。写的是两个织布工（骗子）答应了给皇帝提供一套新衣服，不过不称职的人、未受过训练的人，以及无能的人是看不见的。实际上，裁缝根本就没有给皇帝新衣服。与之相反的是，他们让所有人都相信皇帝的新衣服是看不见的。在皇帝身着“新装”赤身裸体地在臣民面前游行时，没有人敢说皇帝的身上没有穿任何的衣服，因为他们担心自己会被视做无能。最后，还是一个孩子喊出来的：“他根本没有穿任何衣服。”

Leaders need to be cautious about getting too caught up in the excitement of something new. Moving ahead on excitement alone can leave you exposed, just like the Emperor in the fable. Pride, maybe even arrogance, can contribute to a mindset of denial. So too can fear. Fear of what is ahead can cause a manager to block out vital information.

领导的确需要谨慎，不要过于沉迷对新事物的兴奋之中。单单凭借兴奋前进，会让你暴露无疑，就像以上提及的寓言故事中的皇帝一样。骄傲，甚至可能是傲慢，都会导致否定的心态。恐惧也是一样，恰恰是对未来的恐惧，会让管理者将重要的信息拒之门外。

02

开启“皇帝的新装”模式的总经理

I once worked with an executive who lived in this “New Clothes” mode. This person wasn’t just occasionally vulnerable but lived a daily routine of walking about fully exposed and refusing to hear any news to the contrary. It will be impossible for me to divulge too many details of the situation without revealing the person, so I will explain in generic terms; terms that may apply to many leaders out there.

我曾经和一个生活 “皇帝的新装”模式下的总经理一起共过事。此人不单单是有时会饱受批评，在日常工作中，他的“皇帝的新装”模式得以充分暴露出来，他拒绝聆听任何反对的消息。我不太可能透露此人太多的细节，所以，我会用通用术语来进行解释，而这些术语可能适用于许多领导者。

Going to a staff meeting with this leader was a painful process for anyone who felt obligated to share “bad news”. The reaction was brutal and downright embarrassing at times. “How can that be?” “What are you doing? Clearly, you must be wrong.” These were the responses when an issue was raised. Eventually, the other executives stopped talking about the truth during the meeting, instead choosing to just go about the day dealing with and fixing the things that came up. We had our own meetings on the side to actually get things done. Obviously a very sad situation.

与这位总经理一起参加会议，会让所有觉得有义务分享“不好消息”的员工感觉相当痛苦。对于“不好消息”的响应，很多时间都让人很难忍受，也很尴尬。“怎么可能呢？”“你在干什么？很显然，你肯定错了。”这些都是员工在提出问题时从这位领导处得到的响应。最后，其他高管在会议期间不再谈论实际情况，而只是选择当前处理与解决的事情。我们私下里有自己的会议，去实实在在的做事情。毋庸置疑，这种情况确实让人很寒心。

New projects or new initiatives bring their own set of leadership challenges. Things never go perfectly as planned. There are shifts, changes, and surprises along the way. A good leader knows these things will happen before even starting down a new path. Effective leaders take input from the team to address these issues. Decisions get made about ways to resolve problems, mitigate risks, and maximize performance.

新项目或者新举措，带来了一系列的领导方面的挑战。事情从来没有像规划的那么完美。一路上，有更迭，有变化，也有尴尬。优秀的领导者知道即使在开辟新的道路之前，这些事情也会发生。高效的领导者会从团队中得到输入，以解决这些问题。决策，是通过解决问题、降低风险和最大程度提高绩效的方法来制定的。

I live by a creed in the workplace. “I can handle any news. Just don’t let me get surprised by bad news.” Said another way, feel free to tell me the truth about what is happening out there. There have been numerous colleagues who have told me how much they appreciate knowing that mindset is real.

在工作中，我有自己的信条。“我能处理任何消息。不要让我对”坏消息”感到出乎意料。换种方式说，请随时告诉我实际上发生了什么。有很多同事告诉我，他们能够领会这样的心态是切切实实的。

Poor leaders take a plan and hope for the best, never wanting to accept bad news about things not working out as hoped.

糟糕的领导，会制定计划，并希望得到最好的结果，不过，却永远不想接受事情没有达到预期的“坏消息”。

03

领导者为什么会“失明”？

There are many reasons a leader gets stuck in the “New Clothes” mode. Here are the top three I’ve seen happen.

领导者被困在“皇帝的新装”模式中有诸多的原因。以下是我所见过的前三大原因：

01

骄傲

Yes, pride gets in the way. When you are absolutely sold out to an idea or approach, you just don’t want to hear bad news. It’s closely akin to someone telling you your baby is ugly.

是的，骄傲造成了阻碍。当你完全被某种想法或者方法所折服时，你就不想听到“坏消息”。这类似于别人说你的孩子很丑。

Pride has to get checked at the door. Good leaders never come close to operating in a spirit of pride. Yes, you can have a strong opinion about how good an idea or a team may be, but letting pride overcome objective reasoning is a recipe for disaster.

骄傲，必须在当场进行检查。优秀的领导者，从不向骄傲的工作靠拢。是的，你可以对某个想法或者团队如何有着强烈的意见，但是，如果让骄傲战胜客观的推理的话，则是开出了灾难的处方。

When things happen that don’t meet expectations, it is your job to adjust. Review the details and make an informed decision about where, when or how to make a change.

在事情不符合预期时，你要做的工作就是调整。请回顾一下细节，并在何处、何时以及如何做出改变方面，做出明智的决定。

02

恐惧

Fear is a powerful emotion in any phase of life. As a leader, you have to overcome whatever fear you might have about the mission or the role.  Fear causes us to live in the fight or flight mode. How very unproductive that can be.

恐惧，是人生阶段中的强烈的情感。作为一个领导者，你得克服任何可能对任务或者角色的恐惧。恐惧，使我们生活在对抗或者逃跑的模式中。效果肯定是很差的！

If the leader is fearful, imagine what the team feels. Fear is an emotion that erodes credibility and confidence. Without either of those, your strength as a leader is undermined. Your foundation crumbles.

如果领导恐惧，请想象一下团队的感受。恐惧，是一种损害信誉和信心的情感。如果没有信誉和信心，你作为领导者的力量就被削弱了。你的基础就崩溃了！

03

把头埋在沙子里

The last principle is somewhat a catch-all. Sometimes a person just chooses to ignore the bad news.  It becomes more comfortable to stick your head in the sand like an ostrich. (OK this is an old saying, not a scientific fact.)

最后一个原则，有点笼统。有时，人们只会选择忽略“坏消息”。像鸵鸟一样把头埋在沙子里，会让人感觉更舒服。（好吧，这是一句老话，但却没有任何科学根据。）

The point is, you choose to ignore the details. Blinded by your own sense of reality, you let important details go by, never attempting to resolve the issues.

重点是，你选择忽略细节，蒙蔽自己的真实感觉，让重要的细节逝去，从不尝试去解决问题。

文章总结

小结

Don’t Fall for the Ruse.

不要堕入诡计当中。

The emperor’s new clothes was a ruse perpetrated by some bad people. Yet the ruler fell for it.

皇帝的新装是一些坏人使的诡计，然而，统治者却喜欢上了。

Don’t let any of these three choices impact your ability to be an effective leader. Be open to all the information; good or bad. Make informed choices about the changes around you. Remember, becoming an effective leader is less about writing the perfect plan, but more about solving imperfect problems.

千万不要让上面所列的任何一个原因影响到你成为有影响力的领导者的能力。无论是好是坏，请对所有的信息敞开心扉。针对周围的变化，要做出明智的选择。请记住：要想成为有影响力的领导者，更多不在于写出完美的计划，而在于解决不完美的问题。