向奥巴马学习管理之道

 　　Obama became a master of compartmentalizing his time and focus over the course of his presidency¹.

　　在总统任职期间,奥巴马成为了一位合理划分个人时间与精力的大师.

　　Based on the photos of Obama kiteboarding off the coast of billionaire Richard Branson’s private island in the Caribbean, few of us will ever have the chance to vacation like our former president. But by examining the daily habits he developed over his eight years in one of the most intense working environments in the world, we can all learn how to work like Obama.

　　从奥巴马在亿万富翁理查德布兰森位于加勒比海上的私人岛屿岸边玩儿风筝冲浪的照片看来，普通人很少有机会可以像我们的前总统一样休个这样的假期。但通过验证其八年如一日的紧张总统生涯，我们仍旧能从奥巴马的日常习惯中学到很多工作之道。

　　向奥巴马<a href=http://www.hxen.com target=_blank class=infotextkey>学习</a>管理之道

　　This Presidents Day, whether you’re a creative professional, budding entrepreneur, or seasoned CEO, studying Obama’s modern approach to the pressures of presidential life will provide you insights into how you too can better manage the stress and responsibilities in your own day-to-day.

　　总统日的这一天，不论你是创意顾问，合伙创业人还是已经很老练的CEO，学习奥巴马管理任职总统高压的现代方法都能帮助你更好地应对日常工作中的责任与压力。

　　Put Your Body to Work: Obama started most days of his presidency with 45 minutes in the gym, alternating between lifting weights and cardio. It was a way to clear his mind and prime it for the day to come, especially since he steered² clear of caffeine. Obama told journalist Michael Lewis, “You have to exercise, or at some point you’ll just break down.”The Lesson: Although it doesn’t have to be as soon as you wake up, all of us need to incorporate exercise in our lives. Studies show that the simple task slows aging, and improves cognition, among a slew³ of other benefits.

　　唤醒身体更好地投入工作：任职总统期间，奥巴马总以45分钟的健身开启一天的工作，一般将有氧和无氧穿插进行。这样有助于理清大脑并为接下来的一天做好准备，特别是在奥巴马停止摄入咖啡因之后，这种方式成了很好的替代。奥巴马曾这样告诉记者米歇尔刘易斯：“人人都需要运动，否则身体随时会垮台。”这告诉了我们：虽然不用一起来就去运动，但是在生活中我们都应该安排时间给运动。研究表明，运动能带来很多益处，例如减缓衰老以及提高认知能力等等。

　　Preserve Decision Making: Look back at pictures of Obama over the course of the presidency and you may notice that he is usually wearing a blue or gray suit. Using the latest neuroscience findings, our former president attempted to extract all the little decisions one makes in a day (what to wear and eat, for example) so that he could avoid “decision fatigue,” and have more energy to decide on the life-or-death matters that come with leading a country. The Lesson: Form habits and routines that eliminate tiny and inconsequential decision from your day, so you can focus on the important stuff.

　　节省做不必要的决定的时间：回顾奥巴马任职期间的照片，我们会发现他一般以一身蓝色或灰色西装出现。据最新神经科学发现成果，前任总统的单一着装目的原来是尽量节省在不必要的事情上作决定的时间（穿什么、吃什么等），以避免“决定疲劳”，确保把更多的精力用于治国理政中要做的生死攸关的大决定上。从中我们可以学到的是：养成避免在不重要的小事决定上花功夫的习惯，这样便可更好地集中于重要问题的处理。

　　Understanding How You and Others Think: Obama recommended reading Daniel Kahneman’s book about decision-making, Thinking Fast, and Slow to better understand why and how people make decisions. In the book, Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, explains the pros⁵ and cons⁴ between going with your gut⁶ (called a System 1 thinker, like George W. Bush) and thinking things through (or System 2 thinker, like Obama). The Lesson: Knowing your biases⁷ and approach to decision making, allows you make better decisions and understand competitors, partners, and employees’ mindset.

　　读懂自己和他人的思维模式：奥巴马曾荐书《快慢思考》（丹尼尔卡恩曼），对于理解人们怎样做决定，以及为什么这样做决定能起到很大帮助。心理学家卡恩曼作为诺奖获得者，在书中揭示了感情用事（被称为一系统思考者，如乔治布什）和三思而行（二系统思考者，如奥巴马）各自的优缺点。我们可以学到的是：了解自己做决定的方式和缺陷，可以让你更好地做决定并且了解竞争者，合作人以及员工的心理。

　　Compartmentalize to Survive: Obama became a master of compartmentalizing his time and focus over the course of his presidency. There’s no better example of his skill than the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, where, just before Obama got up to poke⁸ fun at our current president for his insistence⁹ that was not a U.S. citizen, he had just ordered the raid to capture Osama Bin¹⁰ Laden¹¹. The Lesson: Have the discipline to compartmentalize the challenges and roles you need to play in your professional life.

　　分配精力以在职场中求得生存：在总统任职期间,奥巴马成为了一位合理划分个人时间与精力的大师.最好的例子是2011年白宫记者协会年度晚宴上，面对特朗普坚称其不是美国公民时，奥巴马以刚刚发出的追捕本拉登指令对此说法予以嘲笑。这揭示了一点：严格遵守职业要求和挑战间的划分对你的职业生涯十分关键。

　　Seek Advice: Obama is known for tapping experts from a wide range of disciplines, like Reid Hoffman, John Doerr, and Malcolm Gladwell for advice for his presidency and beyond. And although not all of us have the ability to set up meetings with famous writers and venture capitalists, we can consult our networks to get different perspectives and strategies. The Lesson: Broaden and nurture¹² your network.

　　寻求建议：人尽皆知奥巴马会吸取各领域之长，比如霍夫曼，约翰德尔和马尔科姆格拉德瓦都曾是他请教的对象。尽管我们可能没有和专家或著名作者交流的机会，但是我们仍能通过自己的社交圈寻求不同的见解和策略。学到的是：要尽量扩展和培育自己的社交圈。

　　Communicate Decisions Clearly: Obama utilized¹³ a memo¹⁴ system with his aides, so that majority of them would come with three options: agree, disagree, or discuss. Stating clearly and concisely¹⁵ about how he felt about each issue allowed the president to communicate his decisions to his staff more effectively. The Lesson: If you have people relying on your decision, make sure you are clear in both what your decision is and the way you communicate it.

　　简明的决定传达:奥巴马使用了一个他和助手们改良过的便条系统,通过使用该系统的受众下属只要同意,不同意和需要商议三个选项中做选择即可。清楚精确地陈述观点可以让奥巴马与下属的交流效率更高。可以学到的是：当你的决定对他人有重要作用时，不仅要保证决定内容明晰，传达工作一必须做好。

　　Be Prepared and Punctual: Unlike some other presidents (former and current), there was rarely a memo that passed by Obama’s desk that he didn’t read. Obama’s economic advisor¹⁶, Larry Summers, stated it was a certainty that if someone had a meeting with the former president and had sent him a memo, he would have read and understood it, and would be irritated if the author tried to explain it. Obama would start the meeting on time, and end the meeting on time. The Lesson: Time is your most precious resource. Don’t waste yours or others because of a lack of discipline and expectations.

　　准时地有备而来：与其前后总统不同的是，奥巴马几乎会亲自审阅所有递交给他的文件。拉里萨默斯作为奥巴马的经济咨询人，如果有人传信希望与他预约见面，奥巴马会仔细阅读其留言，但如果此人之后悔改约定，奥巴马会有所不悦。我们可以学到的是：时间是最宝贵的资源，不要因为纪律和信任的缺失而浪费自己或他人的时间。

　　Make Time for Family:  Nearly every night of his presidency, Obama would sit down with his family at 6:30 p.m. to have dinner, despite the constantly emerging crises around the world. Obama would reconnect with his daughters and the First Lady to find out about their day and decompress. The Lesson: If the president can make time for his family, so should the rest of us.

　　留时间给家庭：在职的每一天，若非有世界性紧急危机发生，奥巴马都会在6；30和家人一起用晚餐。晚餐时他会和妻子及女儿们交谈，倾听她们一天里的遭遇并为她们减压。我们可以从中学到的是：如果总统都能承诺每日陪伴家人的时间，那么我们也都能做到。

　　Focus on Others:  Good entrepreneurs know that the best way to evolve a company or product is to not only listen to your staff, but, most importantly, the end users themselves. Obama had his aides sort through his mail to choose ten letters that he would read each day. The Lesson: Know your customers and develop strategies to make sure you hear them no matter how high up you rise.

　　关注他人：优秀的创业者都知道了解公司和产品走向的最好方式不仅是聆听员工的观点，更重要的是知道终端用户的看法。奥巴马让他的助手们每日从他的邮箱中筛选十封来自人民的邮件给他读。从中可以学到：了解客户群体，并且制定战略保证不管多么成功都要坚持听他们的看法。

　　Find Some Me Time: Maybe it’s the early morning, or the late afternoon, when you can finally attend to all the built up items on your to-do list, but for Obama, the self-proclaimed“night guy,” it’s the wee hours — that distraction-free time when he could hide away in the White House’s Treaty Room. There, he could take his time fine-tuning speeches, watching ESPN, or playing Words With Friends. He also went out of his way to read fiction and history, which gave him perspective and an escape from the daily grind. The Lesson: Find time every day to get away from work, rejuvenate¹⁷, and put your mind in a different space.

　　给自我留空间：可能是在早晨，或者半下午，当你终于可以一一完成清单上列出的必做事项时，对于我们自称为“夜间工作者”的奥巴马来说，却是“轻松一刻”——可以无忧无虑地躲进国务部的条约厅。在那里，他尽可以完善自己的演讲词，看看ESPN上的体育节目或者玩玩填字游戏。他也会读科幻类或历史书籍，在让他产生见解的同时也能短暂地逃离一天里的高压。我们可以学到的是：每天都要拿出一部分时间从工作中脱身，恢复精神，让思想游走于不同的维度。

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 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

4 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

7 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

8 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

9 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

10 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

11 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

12 nurture   

n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持

参考例句：

• The tree grows well in his nurture.在他的培育下这棵树长得很好。
• The two sisters had received very different nurture.这俩个姊妹接受过极不同的教育。

13 utilized   

v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

15 concisely   

adv.简明地

参考例句：

• These equations are written more concisely as a single columnmatrix equation. 这些方程以单列矩阵方程表示会更简单。 来自辞典例句
• The fiber morphology can be concisely summarized. 可以对棉纤维的形态结构进行扼要地归纳。 来自辞典例句

16 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

17 rejuvenate   

v.(使)返老还童；(使)恢复活力

参考例句：

• The mountain air will rejuvenate you.山里的空气会使你恢复活力。
• Exercise is perhaps the most effective way to rejuvenate your skin.锻炼可能是使皮肤恢复活力的最好手段。