【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

The grinch that sold charisma

魅力扫地

节选自【经济学人】 April, 2019

翻译练习：青澄青果

（注：本文仅用于英语翻译练习和单词学习目的）

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

Leadership is a quality that is hard to define, but as a Supreme Court justice said of obscenity, you know it when you see it. Everyone can think of inspiring leaders from history but managers who think they can base their style on Nelson Mandela or Elizabeth I are suffering from delusions of grandeur.

说到领导力所具有的品质实在难以定义, 不过正如一位最高法院法官谈到“淫秽”的定义时所说的当你看到自然知道。每个人可能都会由此联想到历史上激励人心的领导人。不过如果管理者效仿纳尔逊曼德拉或者伊丽莎白一世来打造领导风格，那就未免太妄自尊大了。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

The biggest mistake is to equate leadership entirely with charisma. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, as an organisational psychologist, points out in his book "Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?" that people tend to assume that confident individuals are competent, when there is no actual relationship between the two qualities. Those confident people are then promoted. Overconfidence afflicts both sexes, but men more so; one study found that they overestimated their abilities by 30% and women by 15% on average.

最大的问题是将个人魅力等同于领导力。托马斯是一位组织心理学家，在他的新书【无能者如何上位】中指出人们倾向于误以为自信的人会更有能力，而二者毫无关联。那些自信的人就此得到提拔。过度自信的问题男女均有，而男性尤甚。研究表明男性高估其能力达到了30%而女性仅15%。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

A related trait is narcissism. Research suggests that the rate of clinical narcissism is 40% higher in men than in women. Around 5% of chief executives are deemed to be narcissistic, compared with just 1% of the general population. Neither narcissism nor charisma is purely a male phenomenon. Elizabeth Holmes，the founder of Theranos, the failed blood-testing group, convinced shrewd investors and powerful men with her messianic vision of supplying affordable health care. But the Theranos technology did not work. Charisma plus egomania minus competence is a dangerous formula.

另外一个相关因素是自恋。研究表明临床自恋症中男性比女性症状多出40%。首席执行官中多达5%的人有自恋倾向，而在正常人群这个比例是1%。无论自恋还是魅力都不是男性的专利。伊丽莎白赫尔墨斯是Theranos（一家已经破产的血液检测产品研发公司）的创始人，声称可以提供廉价的医疗保健服务，并以其悬壶济世的狂热感染了精明的投资人和权贵。不过最终Theranos的产品和技术都不奏效。个人魅力加自大狂但是减去能力，是一个危险的方程式。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

Competence is more important than charisma. Managers need enough presence to persuade their teams to follow the business plan, but they should think in terms of coaching rather than inspiration. Gallup surveys have found that employees are more likely to be engaged with their work if they get frequent feedback from their bosses, and if they are involved in setting their own goals. Team leadership requires having sufficient empathy to understand the concerns of others. When things go wrong, as they inevitably will, a good leader also needs the flexibility to adjust their strategy. Stubborn introverts lack the required flexibility; narcissists lack the necessary empathy. Finally a large part of leadership success stems from the ability to set a good example. Subordinates notice what behavior gets rewarded and which standards are set by the person at the top.

能力比个人魅力更为重要。经理人需要具有说服团队成员遵循计划履职的能力，当然他们需要以培训指导的方式完成此项任务而非激励的方式。盖洛普调查表明员工在确定工作目标时如果参考了员工的意见并且不时得到经理人的反馈，他们会更专注于工作。团队领导者需要和成员产生共鸣，理解团队成员的关切和顾虑之所在。如果工作不可避免地遭遇瓶颈，领导者应该具备足够的灵活度调整工作策略。固执内向的领导者缺乏灵活度，而自恋狂缺乏共情。最后强调的是以身作则才是呈现领导力的最佳方式。下属更注重的是上级所确立的榜样和那些获得回报的行为。

【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 魅力扫地

*obscenity- an extremely offensive word or expression. -the man scowled and muttered obscenities. -a stream of invective and obscenity. - a book was banned for obscenity. existing laws on obscenity are to be tightened. this massacre is one of the towering obscenities of our time. she screamed a string of obscenities at the judge.

*grandeur- high rank or social importance, splendour and impressiveness, especially of appearance or style, - the majestic grandeur and simplicity of Roman architecture- his facade of grandeur-the delicate grandeur, his wealth gave him grandeur, the grandeur of the mountains, delusions of grandeur- the belief that you are much more important or powerful than you really are.

*narcissism- the habit of admiring yourself too much, especially your appearance, excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance, self-centredness arising from failure to distinguish the self from external objects, either in very young babies or as a feature of mental disorder. -his poetry shows evidence of narcissism, there is a strong narcissistic element in your work.

*messianic-attempting to make big changes in society in an extremely determined and enthusiastic way- the reforms were carried out with an almost messianic zeal.

*egomania-obsessive egotism or self-centredness,-he was eaten up with conceit, violent egomania.