2018年经济学人 Bartleby专栏:管理者可以向三位国家领袖学习(2)

 

As he took over the presidency¹, in 1933, unemployment started to fall and GDP began to rise;

自1933年就任总统以来，失业率开始下降，GDP开始增长；

the latter rose by 9.5% a year in his first term of office.

在他就任的第一年，GDP就增长了9.5%。

Although there was plenty of doubt about the route that Roosevelt took, there was no question about his desired destination,

虽然对罗斯福采取的方法还存在很多疑虑，但是他想要结束大萧条，

whether ending the Depression or winning the second world war.

想要赢得二战的预定目标是毫无疑问的。

He communicated his message clearly and often—a lesson to modern bosses, even if they prefer Twitter to fireside chats on the wireless².

他经常清楚的传达出自己的信息—现代老板要学习这一点，尽管他们宁愿用推特进行在线炉边谈话。

That made him popular enough with voters to remain at the helm for 12 years,

这些足以让他获得选民的支持，让他继续掌舵12年之久，

until his death in 1945—twice as long as shareholders³ in America tolerate a typical chief executive today,

直到1945年去世为止—时间之久是现在美国股东们能忍受典型CEO时间的两倍，

and three times as long as they do in Britain. Although he was flexible on economic policy,

是英国这种情况下的三倍。虽然他在经济政策上颇具灵活性，

he was unimpressed by ideologies⁴ such as fascism and communism, and remained true to the core principles of the American enterprise.

但他没有被法西斯主义和共产主义等意识形态所打动，并始终忠于美国这个企业的核心原则。

Many executives would do well to emulate⁵ Roosevelt's confidence in his own judgment⁶ and his ability to convey it

很多管理者可以很好的模仿罗斯福的自信，他们对自己的判断和传达自信的能力非常有信心

(it helped that this confidence seldom proved unjustified).

（这种自信基本上是合情合理的）。

Like Roosevelt, Churchill was supremely⁷ confident.

和罗斯福一样，丘吉尔也非常自信。

His political career contained numerous mistakes and many episodes of poor judgment,

在他的政治生涯中，他犯过很多错误，有过很多糟糕的判断，

not least when it came to his attitude towards citizens of British colonies.

尤其是涉及他对英国殖民地市民的态度时。

He would not have lasted long as a modern chief executive, given his bad temper, excessive drinking and eccentric working hours.

由于他脾气不好、酗酒、工作时间古怪，像他这样的现代CEO也当不久。

He was never short of ideas but his subordinates learned to ignore most of them.

他主意很多，但是他的下属学会了忽略他的大部分想法。

Like Steve Jobs, a similarly mercurial⁸ figure, the first part of his career ended in failure.

比如史蒂夫·乔布斯，这位同样善变的人物，他职业的第一部分就是以失败告终的。

But as with Apple's founder⁹, Churchill's other qualities won out.

但和苹果创始人一样，丘吉尔的其他品质占上风。

His strategic insight was unrivalled, whether recognizing that Hitler was a threat to the world in the 1930s

他的战略洞察力是无懈可击的，不论是在上世纪30年代，意识到希特勒对世界是个威胁

or refusing a peace deal with Germany in the dark days of 1940.

还是在1940年的黑暗时期，拒绝和德国签署和平协议。

He was canny¹⁰ in using his charm to get aid from Roosevelt before America entered the war—

他非常精明，在美国加入二战前就利用自己的魅力从罗斯福那里获取到了援助—

and flexible when he accepted an alliance with Stalin's Russia, despite his lifelong anti-communism.

也非常灵活的接受了和斯大林所领导的俄罗斯结盟，虽然他终身都是反共主义者。

His bulldog attitude and powerful speeches inspired after a succession of mediocre¹¹ leaders.

在经历众多资质平庸的领导者后，他斗牛犬式的态度以及气场强大的演讲鼓舞了大家。

Clear strategic goals, flexibility¹² in tactics and an ability to inspire others.

清晰的战略目标、灵活的战略以及鼓舞他人的能力。

Those are three qualities that any executive or entrepreneur might usefully acquire. Bosses should read more history books.

这三点特质是任何管理者或企业家都可以学以致用的。老板们应该多读些史书。

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

3 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

4 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

5 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

6 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

7 supremely   

adv.无上地，崇高地

参考例句：

• They managed it all supremely well. 这件事他们干得极其出色。
• I consider a supremely beautiful gesture. 我觉得这是非常优雅的姿态。

8 mercurial   

adj.善变的，活泼的

参考例句：

• He was of a mercurial temperament and therefore unpredictable.他是个反复无常的人，因此对他的行为无法预言。
• Our desires and aversions are mercurial rulers.我们的欲望与嫌恶是变化无常的统治者。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 canny   

adj.谨慎的，节俭的

参考例句：

• He was far too canny to risk giving himself away.他非常谨慎，不会冒险暴露自己。
• But I'm trying to be a little canny about it.但是我想对此谨慎一些。

11 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

12 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。