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Business
商業(yè)版塊
Bartleby
巴托比專欄
Mighty and high
高高在上
Power does odd things to people, but not all of them are bad.
權力會對人們產生奇怪的影響，但并非所有都是壞影響。
Power is a fact of corporate life.
權力是企業(yè)生活中的一個事實。
It also affects behaviour.
它還會影響人們的行為。
Research suggests power makes people less likely to take the advice of others, even if those others are experts in their fields.
研究表明，權力使人們不太可能接受別人的建議，即使這些人是他們所在領域的專家。
It makes them more likely to gratify their physical needs.
權力使人們更有可能滿足自己的生理需求。
In a test conducted by Ana Guinote of University College London, powerful people were likelier than less powerful folk to choose tempting food, like chocolate, and ignore worthier snacks like radishes.
倫敦大學學院的安娜·吉諾特曾進行了一項測試，在測試中，有權力的人比不那么有權力的人更有可能選擇誘人的食物，如巧克力，而忽略更有價值的食物，如蘿卜。
In conversations, the powerful are bewitched by themselves: they rate their own stories as more inspiring than interlocutors’.
在對話中，有權力的人會被自己迷住：他們認為自己的故事比對話者的故事更鼓舞人心。
They struggle to see things from the perspective of others.
他們很難從別人的角度看問題。
In one famous experiment, some people were asked to recall a time they held power over someone else and others a time when another person was in a more powerful position than them; both groups were then asked to draw a capital “E” on their own foreheads.
在一個著名的實驗中，一些人被要求回憶他們擁有掌管他人的權力的時候，其他人被要求回憶他人比他們自己更有權力的時候，然后兩組人都被要求在自己的額頭上畫一個大寫的E。
Subjects primed to think of themselves as powerful were three times more likely to draw the “E” as though they were looking at it themselves, making it appear backwards to anyone else.
那些因回憶而認為自己有權力的受試者有三倍的可能性會畫出他們自己眼中的E，從而讓E在其他人眼中是左右相反的。
Power even makes people think they are taller.
權力甚至會讓人們認為自己個子更高。
In another experiment, those coaxed to think of themselves as powerful were more likely to overestimate their own height relative to a pole, and to pick a loftier avatar to represent them in a game, than less potent counterparts.
在另一項實驗中，那些被勸說后認為自己有權力的人比起較弱勢的人，更有可能高估自己相對于一根桿子的身高，并會選擇一個更崇高的頭像在游戲中代表他們。
Cause and effect are hard to unravel here: the dominant types who snaffle the chocolate and leave the radishes may also be more likely to climb the ladder.
這里的因果關系很難闡明：那些搶走巧克力、留下蘿卜的主導型人格也更有可能爬上權力階梯。
But possessing power seems itself to put a thumb on the scales, towards more entitled and self-serving behaviour.
但擁有權力似乎本身就會影響人的行為，讓人們認為自己享有更多特權，做出更多利己行為。
Power also affects those lower down the pecking order.
權力也會影響那些地位較低的人。
In a study published in 2016, Christopher Oveis of the University of California, San Diego, and his co-authors looked at how status affects laughter.
在2016年發(fā)表的一項研究中，加州大學圣地亞哥分校的克里斯托弗·奧維斯和他的合著者研究了地位如何影響笑聲。
The researchers recorded members of a fraternity house in an American university, some new joiners and some old hands, teasing each other.
研究人員記錄了美國一所大學兄弟會的成員的情況，一些新人和一些老成員互相取笑。
Higher-status participants laughed more loudly and with less inhibition than lower-status ones—primates, not mates.
地位較高的參與者比地位較低的參與者笑得更大聲、更少收斂自己--這是靈長類動物，而非好兄弟的表現。
Power is out of sync with the times.
權力已與時代脫節(jié)。
High-performing teams depend on collaboration and candour, not cringing and compliance.
高績效團隊依賴于協(xié)作和坦率，而不是畏縮和服從。
Humility is increasingly prized as an attribute of senior executives.
謙遜作為高管的一種品質越來越受到重視。
In hiring processes some interviewers will look for use of the word “I” rather than “we” as a small marker of how egocentric people really are.
在招聘過程中，一些面試官會留意應聘人員使用“我”而不是“我們”的情況，以此作為衡量應聘人員有多么以自我為中心的小小標記。
Entire industries are feted for the way they try to counteract the effects of power.
有一些行業(yè)因為努力抵消權力的影響而受到稱贊。
The aviation industry is celebrated for a training technique called “crew resource management” that is designed to encourage a less hierarchical set of interactions in the cockpit.
航空業(yè)因一種名為“機組人員資源管理”的培訓技術而得到贊譽，該技術旨在鼓勵駕駛艙內不那么等級森嚴的互動。
Similar kinds of thinking are visible in other workplaces that have especially clear chains of command, from the army to hospitals.
從軍隊到醫(yī)院，其他指揮鏈特別清晰的工作場所也有類似的理念。
Still, power can also get a bad press.
盡管如此，權力也可能會受到負面報道。
Hierarchies emerge organically, and with good reason: precious little gets done when everyone is in charge.
等級制度是順應自然而出現的，而且有很好的理由：當每個人都負責的時候，只能完成很少的事。
Research published this year by Ozgecan Kocak of Emory University and her colleagues found that flatter organisations are likelier to spend too much time exploring options than ones where someone is clearly in charge.
埃默里大學的奧茲克簡·科賈克和她的同事今年發(fā)表的一項研究發(fā)現，與那些明顯由某人負責的組織相比，扁平化的組織更有可能花太多時間探索各種選擇。
It doesn’t particularly matter if the boss knows what they are talking about; the mere fact that authority is being wielded means a team converges more quickly on a decision.
老板知不知道自己在說什么并不是特別重要，權力在被行使的這一事實就意味著團隊能更快地向一個決策匯集。
Power is an instrument for achieving noble ends as well as selfish ones: it is no use having brilliant ideas without the means to put them into practice.
權力既是實現自私目的的工具，也是實現高尚目的的工具：只有絕妙的想法，沒有辦法將其付諸實踐，這也無濟于事。
One of the most popular classes at Stanford Graduate School of Business is a refreshingly functional one called “Paths to Power”.
斯坦福大學商學研究生院最受歡迎的課程之一是一門令人耳目一新的實用課程，名為“通往權力之路”。
It is taught by Jeffrey Pfeffer, a charming man who preaches the value of rule-breaking, displays of anger, “strategic misrepresentation” (ie, lying) and many other countercultural qualities in order to get to the top.
這門課由杰弗里·普費弗教授，普費弗是一個充滿魅力的人，他宣揚打破規(guī)則、表現憤怒、“戰(zhàn)略性歪曲”(即撒謊)和其他許多反文化品質的價值，以此登上權力頂峰。
You don’t have to believe that to appreciate the importance of power.
即使你不相信這些，你也能意識到權力的重要性。
Companies like the idea of humility and teamwork but they are also feudal structures that depend on ambition, impatience and gallons of unwarranted self-confidence.
公司喜歡謙遜和團隊合作的理念，但公司也是封建結構，依賴于野心、不耐煩和大量的毫無根據的自信。
The best managers are well aware of how their own power sends ripples across the organisation.
最好的管理者很清楚自己的權力如何在整個組織中激起漣漪。
They take care not to signal their opinions too early in meetings; they admit when they don’t know the answer to something.
他們注意不在會議上過早地表明自己的觀點，當他們不知道某件事的答案時，他們會如實承認。
But they also know when to stop consulting and start commanding.
但他們也知道何時應該停止咨詢，開始發(fā)號施令。
Up to a certain point, saying “I don’t know” sends a signal of low-ego inclusivity; beyond it, it is just a signal of not knowing.
在某種程度上，說“我不知道”是在發(fā)出低自我的包容信號，在這種程度之外，說這句話只是表明你不知道而已。
