Sometimes I observe a leader and I think, Wow, on what planet would that have been a good idea? I’m continually amazed at the extent to which people don’t connect the dots between what they’re doing and the impact it’s having on those around them and on their organizations: You tell people they’re idiots and they sabotage your results or quit. How is that surprising?
有的时候我会观察一位主管并心想：天啊，这种想法要放在什么星球上才能称得上是个好主意啊？有些人，既不清楚自己到底在做什么，也不明白自己这些行为会对身边同事及整个组织产生怎样的影响，而人们在这方面的无知程度一再让我错愕：你告诉员工说他们是白痴，他们妨害了你的工作，或是叫他们辞职。这多么令人错愕！
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t just complain about this; a lot of my time is spent working with leaders to help them connect those dots, and shift mindset and skills in order to get better results and create better relationships.
嘿，别误会我的意思。我并非只是单纯的抱怨；我把很多时间都花在与主管配合上，帮助他们认识行为间的联系，转变思维和技巧，从而获得更好的结果并创造更好的关系。
But sometimes, a girl’s gotta vent. So. Here are (drum roll) the top five ill-considered things you can do to make sure your company dies a lingering and painful death:
以下就是5种欠考虑的行为，这些行为可能导致贵司在一种持续而痛苦的过程中消亡：
5) Make things complicated. If one process step will do, create two. Or seven. Focus especially on making your customer-facing processes complex and counter-intuitive. In any situation where simplifying things would help the customer but make your life a little more difficult – opt for complexity. It’s also important to redesign processes over and over without making them any simpler, so people lose track of what’s supposed to be happening.
5）把事情复杂化 。一步操作能搞定的事，一定要分成两步来做，甚至是七步。尤其要致力于把贵司面向客户的流程复杂化和反直觉化。在任何情况下，如果将事情简单化有助于你的客户但会为你的生活增加少许难度——务必投“复杂化”一票。还有一点也很重要，那就是一遍又一遍地重新设计流程，并且绝不令其简单化，这样员工就会茫然不知接下来将会发生什么了。
4) Take all the credit, share all the blame. If something goes right, make it clear that you are solely responsible.
4）包揽所有功劳，分担所有责备。 如果某些事情做对了，要明确指出这完全是你一人的功劳。
If there’s a problem, immediately disavow any connection with or knowledge of the offending decision or object. And spread the blame around – be sure to let everyone know that everybody except you is lame and clueless. While you’re at it, you can also take credit retroactively; claim authorship of any idea that bears fruit. If anyone has the temerity to complain to you or about you – blame them for not being a team player.
如果出现了问题，立即否认你与这项错误的决定或目标有牵涉或者知情。被批评的时候也要拉上身边的人——确保让大家知道除你之外的每个人都是愚蠢和应该受责备的。这样做的同时，你还可以追溯以前的功劳，声称任何产生成果的主意都来自你的构想。如果有人轻率地向你抱怨或者投诉你，那就指责他们没有团队协作精神。
3) Make it dangerous to disagree. When anyone refuses to fall in line with your point of view, punish them. Public ridicule works well; character assassination is also effective. If they persist in having an independent point of view, fire them.
3）令提出异议成为一种危险的行为。 如果有人拒绝同意你的观点，那就惩罚他们。公开嘲笑的效果很好，人格诋毁也很有效。如果他们依然固执己见，解雇他们。
2) Dismiss as foolish anything you don’t understand. This includes new business models, technologies, ways of thinking about managing and leading, and areas of expertise with which you’re not familiar. You can just ignore them, but then others might miss your intent and embrace new approaches when you’re not looking. If you really want to kill your company, it’s much better to consistently and widely disparage and stifle all attempts to innovate or to explore new (to you) ways of operating.
2）将任何你不懂的东西批评为愚蠢。 包括新的商业模式、新技术、管理和领导上的新思想，以及那些你不熟悉的专业领域。你可以仅是无视它们，但是这样的话其他人可能领会不到你的意思，并在你没有盯着的时候接纳新方法。如果你非常希望毁掉自己的公司，更好的办法是持续和广泛地诋毁并扼杀所有试图创新或者探索新运营方式的努力。
1) Refuse to acknowledge reality. This is the quickest path to organizational death. Simply reject any bad news out of hand. Employees unhappy and leaving in droves? Tell everybody that it’s not a problem – people will be lining up in larger droves to replace them. Revenues down? Let everyone know that it’s just a business cycle, or that the people responsible have been let go, or that “it’s just a blip” (my personal favorite). Customers don’t like your products? Just tell yourself they lack sophistication and it’s simply a matter of finding better customers.
1）拒绝承认现实。 这是让企业迈向死亡的最快方式。否认任何不在你掌控之中的坏消息。员工们感到不高兴并且陆陆续续地离开？告诉所有人这不是问题——大把大把的求职者们都在排队等着取代他们呢。营收下滑？让大家知道这只是碰上了正常的业务周期罢了，或者宣布相关责任人已被炒鱿鱼，又或者声称“这只是一次失误”（这句是我的个人最爱）。客户不喜欢你的产品？告诉自己，是他们不够识货，而你只是还没有找到更好的客户而已。
Yes, my tongue is firmly in my cheek. But, unfortunately, all of these behaviors are way too widespread: maybe poking a little fun will encourage someone (you?) to think about whether they might be guilty of one or more of them…
是的，我是在胡扯。不过，不幸的是，所有这些行为都非常普遍：或许开个这样的小小玩笑，能促使某些人（你？）思考自己是否也曾做过其中一种乃至更多的类似行为……