英国新闻听力 领导人物应具备何种品格（在线收听）

We're hearing a lot about leadership: what worked for Alex Ferguson; what didn't work for Stuart Lancaster, and what might work for the individuals aspiring to be the next UK Prime Minister or US President. But what are those elusive leadership qualities and what can we learn from the great leaders of the past? What about the Buddha, Gautama, who started a movement that eventually grew into a great religious and cultural civilisation?

Many texts, or Discourses, recount Gautama's conversations with religious seekers, merchants and kings. These were memorised and passed on orally after his death, probably around 400 BC, and written down a few centuries later. However much may have changed in transition, the Buddha of the texts is a vivid character and a remarkable leader.

His most striking quality, for me, is the deep confidence he displays in his understanding of life, and this enables him to teach in varied and flexible ways without departing from his essential vision. Sometimes, in private Gautama speaks passionately - the texts say 'he roars his lion's roar'. But in dialogue with others, including other religious teachers, he's always courteous and concerned to establish rapport. No hair-dryer treatment, then.

He listens to what someone believes in - security or virtue say - and teases out the underlying values. He tells a householder that real security means accepting insecurity, and tells priests that true virtue comes from inner qualities, not external rituals. In other words, the Buddha exemplifies an approach to communication that engages with another person's way of thinking without accepting their assumptions, and then opens up a wider perspective.

This is leadership as communication, not coercion, and Gautama was similarly open with his own followers, encouraging them to see him as a teacher with authority but no power. He urged the members of his monastic community to live harmoniously within clear collective structures, but refused to appoint a successor to lead the community after his death. Instead he told them to rely on the truth they found in his teachings, not on rites, dogmas or institutions.

The Buddha's example suggests that while great leaders display many skills, these aren't just techniques. When a leader's qualities express his or her being — who they really are and what they really know - they can be open and flexible without losing control. Perhaps the lesson is that offering really compelling leadership means truly learning to be ourselves.

我们经常听说与领导才能有关的话题：哪些对亚历克斯·弗格森有效，哪些对斯图尔特·兰开斯特无效，哪些有助于励志成为下任英国首相或美国总统的人。但是令人难以捉摸的领导品格到底是什么？从过去的领导人那里，我们可以学会什么？开创了伟大的宗教和文化文明的佛祖释迦牟尼呢？

许多文章或演讲都曾详细叙述释迦牟尼与宗教探求者，商人和国王的对话。在他公元前400年死后被记忆并流传，并在几个世纪后被用文字书写下来。虽然在传达的过程中会发生改变，然而文章中的佛祖都是栩栩如生的形象和卓越的领导人。

对我来说，他最突出的品质就是他对生活的理解表现出的深刻的信心，这使他能够不偏离根本观点以各种各样，灵活多变的方式教化众生。有时，释迦牟尼私下曾充满激情地讲话，文章称“他如狮子般咆哮”。但是与他人对话时，包括其他宗教导师，他总是非常礼貌，小心地建立融洽的关系。那时还没有“电吹风管理”这种说法。

他倾听他人的想法——安全或高尚的品德——套出潜在的价值观。他告诉一位一家之主，真正的安全意味着接受不安全，他告诉牧师，真正的高尚品德来自内在品质，而不是外在形式。换句话说，佛祖举例说明了一种交流方法，不需接受他人的假设来干预他人的想法，然后打开更宽阔的视角。

这是领导的沟通能力，而不是强制威压。释迦牟尼与他的追随者开诚布公，鼓励他们将他视为有权威而不是有权利的老师。他敦促他的修道院社区与其他集体结构和谐共处，但是拒绝委任继承者在他死后领导这一团体。他告诉他们依赖他的教化中学到的事实真相，而不是依赖习俗，教条或制度。

但是佛祖的例子表明，尽管伟大的领导人表现出了许多技能，然而不仅仅是技巧的问题。当一位领导的品质表现出他或她的本性时——他们的本真，他们真正知道什么——他们就能开诚布公，灵活多变，不会失控。或许我们学到的教训是，有说服力的领导意味着真正学会做自己。