Business
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Bartleby
巴托比专栏
Klopped out
克洛普能量耗尽
From football managers to CEOs energy is a superpower.
从足球经理到CEO,精力充沛是一种超能力。
Jurgen Klopp is a football manager.
尤尔根·克洛普是一名足球经理。
That means there is a limit to how much he can teach corporate bosses about how to do their jobs.
这意味着他能给公司老板提出的如何做好工作的指导是有限的。
Managers in firms tend not to be parent substitutes to their charges, envelop people in bear hugs after a successful meeting or use the gegenpressing technique against rivals.
公司的经理们一般不会成为下属的替身父母,不会在会议取得圆满成功后给人们来一个熊抱,也不会对竞争对手使用球场上的高位压迫战术。
But Mr Klopp has drawn back the veil on a crucial ingredient of success in almost every walk of life: energy.
但克洛普揭示了要想在各行各业取得成功的一个关键因素:精力。
To general surprise Mr Klopp announced on January 26th that he would be leaving his job as manager of Liverpool Football Club later this year.
克洛普在1月26日宣布了令人惊讶的消息,他将在今年晚些时候辞去利物浦足球俱乐部经理的职务。
His team is leading the English Premier League, the most-watched competition in the world’s most popular sport.
他的球队在英超联赛中处于领先地位,这是世界上最受欢迎的足球运动中最受关注的比赛。
His job is secure—his contract does not run out until 2026—and he claims still to love it.
他的工作很稳定(他的合同直到2026年才到期),他也声称自己仍然热爱这份工作。
But after eight years in the role, and more in management, he is running out of energy.
但在担任该职位八年,以及做了更长时间的管理工作后,他的精力正在耗尽。
His resources are finite, he said.
他说,他的资源是有限的。
“I can’t do it on three wheels, I don’t want to be a passenger.”
“我不能坐在三轮车上继续工作,我不想当乘客。”
Mr Klopp is not the first high-profile person to make this kind of decision.
克洛普并不是第一个做出这种决定的名人。
Jacinda Ardern resigned as prime minister of New Zealand in January 2023, saying that she no longer had enough in the tank to do the job.
杰辛达·阿德恩于2023年1月辞去新西兰总理一职,称自己已经没有足够的精力来完成这项工作。
Jeff Kindler cited the extreme demands of his role when he stopped being the boss of Pfizer, a drugmaker, in 2010, saying he was looking forward to recharging his batteries.
杰夫·金德勒在2010年不再担任制药公司辉瑞的老板时,说辞职原因在于这份工作的要求非常高,他说他很期待自己去充充电。
But admissions like this are nonetheless rare from someone leading an organisation.
但承认这些原因对于领导一个组织的人来说仍然很罕见。
For energy is one of those factors that reliably differentiates bosses from those below them.
因为精力是将老板与下属明显区分开来的因素之一。
Ability, ambition and luck all play a big part in climbing the greasy pole.
能力、抱负和运气都对往上爬发挥着重要作用。
But energy plays an outsize role.
但精力的作用尤为重要。
High-achievers have done their email and a full workout before the sun rises.
高成就者在太阳升起之前就已经处理完了电子邮件,做完了健身。
They don’t cancel breakfasts because they are feeling a bit tired; they certainly don’t admit to doing so.
他们不会因为感觉有点累而不吃早餐,当然即使这样做了他们也不会承认。
They are less likely to nod off in the middle of the afternoon.
他们不太可能在下午打瞌睡。
They get off the red-eye and work a normal day.
他们刚下夜间航班的飞机,就能正常工作一整天。
And that is just on the way up.
而这还只是在上升期的表现。
Talk to people who have made the leap to CEO and they will frequently comment on how intense the job is, and how hard it is to switch off.
与那些实现了职位跃升、成为CEO的人交谈时,他们经常会说CEO的工作压力多么大,以及自己想关机休息一下是多么困难。
Most organisations are pyramids.
大多数组织都是金字塔结构。
As decisions get tougher and more important, they land on an ever smaller number of individuals.
随着决策变得更加艰难和更加重要,做出决策的重担也落在越来越少的人身上。
And as these figures become more senior, the number of people who want to see them goes up.
随着这些人的职位变得越来越高,希望见到他们的人也越来越多。
The boss has to show their face to employees regularly, and it cannot be the face of someone who looks like they haven’t slept for two weeks.
老板必须定期在员工面前露露面,而老板的脸色不能看起来像是两周没睡过觉一样。
They have to glad-hand the board, meet investors, attend endless networking events and make time for actual work.
他们必须热情招呼董事会,与投资者见面,参加没完没了的社交活动,并腾出时间处理真正要做的工作。
It is exhausting to contemplate, let alone do.
这样想想就很累了,更别说去做这些事。
The sheer physical demands of big jobs mean that certain types of people have an advantage over others.
重要工作对体力的高要求意味着某些类型的人比其他人有优势。
Not having too many other calls on your time helps, which tends to be bad news for women, who shoulder more chores and caregiving duties at home than men.
在属于你的休息时间没有太多工作以外的电话干扰,这是一个优势,但这对女性来说是个坏消息,因为她们在家里比男性承担更多的家务和养育责任。
Extroversion offers an edge in terms of oomph.
外向的人在活力热情方面有优势。
A survey of CEO time-use from 2017, conducted by Oriana Bandiera of the London School of Economics and her co-authors, found that bosses spend 70% of their time interacting with colleagues, clients and the like.
伦敦政经学院的奥莉安娜·班迪埃拉及其合著者从2017年开始对CEO的时间使用进行了调查,发现老板们70%的时间都花在与同事、客户等人的交际上。
If you are the kind of person who derives energy from spending time with other people, this is like being a phone on charge all the time.
如果你是那种从与他人相处中获得能量的人,那么你去与人交际就像手机一直在充电。
If you are introverted and find other people draining, your battery will be close to 1% and it is only a matter of time before you shut down completely.
如果你是内向的人,感觉其他人在消耗你的精力,那么你与人交际后的电池电量就会接近1%,完全关机只是时间早晚问题。
Some lucky people naturally have more zip.
一些幸运的人天生就有更多的精力。
These are the mitochondrial CEOs who can get by on three hours’ sleep and do not know what it is like to grope for the snooze button.
这些是线粒体型CEO,他们只睡三个小时就行,根本不知道摸索着按下闹钟的“稍后提醒”是什么感觉。
But if you haven’t won the biological lottery, you can still work out what reinvigorates and what enervates.
如果你没有赢得生物彩票,你仍然可以找出什么让你恢复活力,什么让你失去活力。
That might mean exercise at dawn, power naps in the afternoon or just protecting your calendar; when he was running Amazon, Jeff Bezos would aim for eight hours’ shuteye a night and try not to schedule meetings before 10 a.m.
这可能意味着在黎明时锻炼,下午小睡片刻,或者保护好你的日历表,当杰夫·贝佐斯经营亚马逊时,他的目标是每晚睡8个小时,所以尽量不在上午10点之前安排会议。
It means prioritising rest rather than getting by on less of it.
这意味着优先保证休息好,而不是缩短休息时间勉强应付过去。
In their book “The Mind of a Leader”, Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter found that senior executives were likely to sleep more than non-executives.
在《领导的思维》一书中,拉斯姆斯·霍加德 和杰奎琳·卡特发现,高管们可能比非高管睡眠时间更长。
In admitting that his energy stores are now becoming depleted, Mr Klopp has offered an unusual reminder of how punishing leadership roles can be.
克洛普在承认自己的精力储备正在耗尽时,也给人们提供了一个不寻常的提醒,即领导角色可以是多么的艰难繁重。
His decision to hang up his Liverpool tracksuit brings to mind the aphorism of another great football manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
克洛普决定挂起利物浦运动服而离职,这让人想起另一位伟大的足球经理亚历克斯·弗格森爵士的格言。
Hard work is a talent, Sir Alex liked to say. But it is also just hard.
弗格森爵士喜欢说,刻苦工作是一种天赋,但刻苦工作也是很辛苦不易的。