2019年经济学人 巴托比职场专栏--企业可以从艺术中学到什么(1)

 

Business

来源于《商业》版块

Bartleby

巴托比职场专栏

Conduct yourself

表达自己

What businesses can learn from the arts

企业可以从艺术中学到什么

Picture a lecture session at a business school and you probably envisage¹ students gazing at screens filled with equations and acronyms². What you might not expect is choristers attempting to sing “O clap your Hands”, an eightpart anthem³ composed by Orlando Gibbons and first performed in 1622. But Bartleby was treated to this delight, and others facing MBA students, on a visit to Sa?d Business School in Oxford⁴ earlier this year.

想象一下商学院的一场讲座，你可能会想象学生们盯着满是方程式和首字母缩写的屏幕。你可能想不到的是，合唱团会尝试唱《拍手吧》，这是一首由奥兰多·吉本斯创作、于1622年首次演唱的由八部分组成的圣歌。但今年早些时候，在访问牛津大学赛德商学院时，巴托比和其他面对MBA学生的人都进行了这种有趣的活动。

There was a catch. Some of the students had to try conducting the choir⁵. The first to take the challenge was a rather self-confident young man from America. It didn’t take long for him to go wrong. His most obvious mistake was to start conducting without asking the singers how they would like to be directed, though they had the expertise⁶ and he was a complete tyro⁷.

这里有一个陷阱。一些学生不得不尝试指挥合唱团。第一个接受挑战的是一个相当自信的美国年轻人。没过多久他就出了差错。他最明显的错误是，在开始指挥时没有询问歌手他们希望如何被指挥，尽管他们有专业知识，而他是一个完全的新手。

The experience was doubtless chastening, but also instructive. The session, organised by Pegram Harrison, a senior fellow in entrepreneurship, cleverly allowed the students to absorb some important leadership lessons. For example, leaders should listen to their teams, especially when their colleagues have specialist knowledge. All they may need to do, as conductors, is set the pace and then step back and let the group govern itself.

这种经历无疑很有惩戒性，但也是有益的。该课程由创业学高级研究员佩格拉姆?哈里森组织，巧妙地让学生们吸收了一些重要的领导力课程。例如，领导者应该倾听他们的团队，特别是当他们的同事拥有专业知识的时候。作为指挥家，他们可能需要做的就是设定步调，然后退一步，让团队自行管理。

It was noticeable, too, that the choir managed fairly well even if the conductors were just waving their batons⁸ in an indeterminate fashion. The lesson there, Mr Harrison said, was that leaders can only do so much damage—provided they do not attempt to control every step of the process. The whole exercise illustrated⁹ it is possible for a lesson to be instructive and entertaining at once.

同样值得注意的是，尽管指挥们只是以一种不确定的方式挥舞着警棍，唱诗班还是做得相当好。哈里森先生说，这里的教训是，如果领导者们不试图控制整个过程的每一步，他们所能做的也就只有这么多了。整个练习说明，一堂课可能同时具有启发性和娱乐性。

Other business schools have also realised that their students can learn from the arts. At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Leanne Meyer has introduced a leadership-training programme that includes poetry, art installations and a book club. Involvement in such pursuits can help develop empathy in future leaders, she argues; for example, reading a novel helps students get into the mind of a character. She also believes that the programme benefits students in terms of how they promote themselves to recruiters.

其它商学院也意识到，学生可以从艺术中学习。在匹兹堡的卡内基梅隆大学，琳娜?迈耶推出了一项领导力培训计划，内容包括诗歌、艺术装置和一个读书俱乐部。她认为，参与这些追求可以帮助培养未来领导者的同理心；例如，阅读小说可以帮助学生进入角色的思想。她还认为，该项目有利于学生向招聘人员推销自己。

1 envisage   

v.想象，设想，展望，正视

参考例句：

• Nobody can envisage the consequences of total nuclear war.没有人能够想像全面核战争的后果。
• When do you envisage being able to pay me back?你看你什么时候能还我钱？

2 acronyms   

n.首字母缩略词( acronym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Scratch the subject of defence and acronyms, abbreviations, and buzzwords fly out. 话题触及国防，缩合字，缩写字和行话就满天飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some acronyms as scientific terminology are used as a lexical item. 一些科学术语缩写用作词汇项目。 来自互联网

3 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

6 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

7 tyro   

n.初学者；生手

参考例句：

• She is a tyro in the art of writing poetry.她是一名诗歌创作艺术的初学者。
• I am a veritable tyro at the game.我玩这个是新手。

8 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网

9 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。