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教科書之作
“Scaling People” is not like every other management book -- thank God.
《如何讓人規模化成長》和任何其他的管理學書籍都不同，真是謝天謝地。
Too many management books rest on a vague idea that has been stretched to breaking point.
太多的管理學書籍依賴于一個模糊的概念，而這個概念已經被擴充到了接近崩潰的地步。
You can tell from the depth of the margins just how hard an author has had to work to draw the thesis out.
你可以從大片的頁邊空白看出，作者為了填充論述的篇幅而付出了多大的努力。
Their covers are bright and zingy.
這些書的封面明亮活潑。
Their titles either contain action-packed words like “strive” and “ignite” or give birth to some ghastly new portmanteau like “stressilience” or “charismility”.
書的標題要么包含像“奮力”和“點燃”這樣動感十足的詞語，要么生造出一些可怕的新復合詞，比如“抗壓韌性”或“謙遜魅力”。
They are determined to take lessons for bosses from anywhere but an actual business: termites, hunter-gatherers, Novak Djokovic, salad dressing.
它們決心從實際企業之外的任何地方讓老板學到東西：白蟻、狩獵采集者、諾瓦克·德約科維奇、沙拉調料。
The unspoken rule of most management titles, it seems, is to avoid the actual practice of management.
大多數管理書籍的標題似乎都有一個潛規則，就是避免提及真正的管理實踐。
What a relief, then, to read a book that breaks the mould.
因此，能讀到一本打破這一模式的書是多么令人欣慰。
It lands with an intimidating thud.
它的出現有一種威嚴的派頭。
It looks and feels like a textbook.
它看起來和感覺上都像一本教科書。
It is full of exercises and templates.
里面充滿了練習題和模板。
And it is unapologetically practical in its focus.
而且它的關注點也是堅持實用性。
“Scaling People” is written by Claire Hughes Johnson, a tech-industry veteran who spent more than a decade at Google before joining Stripe, a digital-payments unicorn, as its chief operating officer in 2014.
《如何讓人規模化成長》的作者是科技行業資深從業者克萊爾·休斯·約翰遜，她曾在谷歌工作了十多年，然后在2014年加入數字支付獨角獸公司Stripe，擔任首席運營官。
By the time she left that role in 2021, the firm had gone from 160 employees to over 7,000.
到2021年她離開這一職位時，公司的員工人數已經從160人增加到7000多人。
In a world of coders, creators and visionaries, her work was to make things work.
在一個由程序員、創造者和愿景提出者組成的世界里，她的工作就是讓事情運轉起來。
Much of the book is a manual for creating what Ms Hughes Johnson calls an operating system—the set of documents, metrics and processes that produces a consistent framework for making decisions and improving performance.
這本書的大部分內容是關于如何創建休斯·約翰遜所說的運營系統--為決策和提高績效而打造的前后連貫的框架，這一框架由整套文件、指標和流程構成。
There is a section on planning, with advice on setting good goals and deciding on the cadence of meetings and reviews that sets the right drumbeat for a company.
書中有一節是關于規劃的，并提出了一些建議，即如何設定好的目標以及如何確定會議和述評節奏，從而為公司定下合適的行進鼓點。
There is another on hiring people, from building a recruitment pipeline to the interview process and the task of bringing new employees on board.
還有一節是關于招聘的，從建立招聘渠道到面試流程，再到讓新員工加入公司。
There are chapters on improving team performance and on giving feedback.
還有幾章是關于提高團隊績效和提供反饋的內容。
“Scaling People” is a product of Silicon Valley.
《如何讓人規模化成長》是硅谷的產物。
It grapples with the problems of very fast growth; its context is one of founders, developers and product teams.
它努力應對的問題是快速增長，語境是由創始人、開發人員和產品團隊組成的。
For incumbents in highly regulated industries or employees in public-sector bureaucracies, the problems of scaling up may seem very remote.
對于現處于受到嚴格監管的行業的人，或公共部門、官僚體制的員工來說，擴大規模的問題似乎非常遙遠。
Stripe’s early decision to run a programming competition called “Capture the Flag”, for instance, helped build its reputation as a place for talented developers to go to.
例如，Stripe之前決定舉辦一場名為“奪旗”的編程競賽，就幫助它樹立了一種聲譽，即這是有才華的開發人員應該去的公司。
Established firms need to work less hard to create awareness among potential candidates but may have a tougher time building a name for innovation.
老牌公司不需要花這么多力氣在潛在職位候選人中打造知名度，但可能在打造創新型形象方面會有更多困難。
But the insights on which such practices are founded—in this instance, getting candidates to do actual work as part of an application process and filling a hiring pipeline rather than waiting for jobs to open up—are transferable.
但這些做法所依據的深刻見解--在這個例子中，就是讓候選人在申請過程中做些實際工作，以及要填充招聘渠道，而不是等到出現職位空缺再開始招聘--是可以遷移的。
And most of the book is devoted to problems that bedevil all industries and companies.
這本書的大部分內容都關注那些困擾所有行業和公司的問題。
Among other things, Ms Hughes Johnson gives tips on how to run an effective meeting; these include having a round of “check-ins” at the start (getting everyone to say what they want from the meeting, for instance) so that people are focused and so that the quietest members of the group participate early.
除了其他方面，休斯·約翰遜還就如何舉辦有效的會議提出了建議，其中包括在會議開始時進行一輪“簽到”(例如，讓每個人都說出他們想從會議中得到什么)，這樣人們就能集中注意力，小組中最安靜的成員也能早早參與進來。
She offers advice on how to do performance reviews, which decisions you can and should delegate to other people, and how to save high-performing employees from burnout.
她還提供了一些建議，包括如何進行績效評估、哪些決策你可以而且應該下放給其他人，以及如何讓能力強的員工避免工作倦怠。
It is all refreshingly pragmatic.
這些都務實得讓人耳目一新。
Behind the tactics lies a clear philosophy, which is to make the implicit explicit.
所有這些策略的背后是一種清晰的哲學，那就是讓隱含的東西顯化。
That means being clear about how specific decisions are going to get taken: is this a consensual process or an autocratic one?
這意味著明確地描述具體的決定將怎樣被做出來：是雙方都同意還是一個人說了算？
It means writing things down: by articulating Stripe’s culture, the startup can be clear to prospective joiners what the company’s norms are.
這意味著要把事情寫下來：通過清晰地闡述Stripe的文化，這家初創公司可以讓有望加入的人清楚地知道公司的規范是什么。
It means saying things that other people are not saying, especially if those things are causing dysfunction.
這意味著把其他人沒有說的事情給說出來，特別是當這些事情會導致運行故障的時候。
It also means being aware of your own behaviour and preferences.
這還意味著要意識到自己的行為和偏好。
Ms Hughes Johnson has long kept a “Working with Claire” document that spells out to new members of her team what they can expect: how she likes to take decisions, how quickly she will respond to messages, what she wants from them in a one-to-one meeting.
長期以來，休斯·約翰遜一直保存著一份“與克萊爾一起工作”的文件，這份文件向她的團隊新成員闡明了和她工作是什么樣的：她喜歡如何做出決定，她多久之后會回復信息，她在一對一談話中希望從他們那里得到什么。
Her advice will not suit everyone.
她的建議并非適合每個人。
There will be too much emphasis on process for some corporate cultures.
對于一些企業文化而言，她的做法過于強調流程。
But there is something thought-provoking for every boss.
但對于每一位老板來說，其中都有一些很有啟發的東西。
Your bedside table may groan with books on what Mr Djokovic can teach you about leadership or the lessons to be learned from mayonnaise.
你的床頭柜上可能堆滿了德約科維奇能教給你什么領導力，或者從蛋黃醬中能學到什么教訓的書籍。
This book is trying to do something far more original and useful: turn you into a better manager.
但這本書想做一些更獨特、更有用的事情：那就是把你變成一位更好的經理。
