评论
打印
Here's a popular myth: Managers who butt heads with the boss fail to get ahead. But often, the opposite is true.
这是一个以讹传讹的说法：顶撞上司的管理者很难获得晋升。但事实常常与之相反。
Knowing how to disagree agreeably with higher-ups increases your chances for advancement, career coaches, management consultants and recruiters say.
职业教练、管理顾问和招聘者一致表示，了解如何恰当地与上司争论会增加你的晋升机会。
'It takes courage and emotional intelligence to stand up to your boss,' observes Kenton R. Hill, an executive coach in Portland, Ore., who wrote 'Smart Isn't Enough,' a 2010 book. 'You're more likely to land a bigger role if you help your boss be successful,' he adds.
2010年出版的《仅仅聪明是不够的》（Smart Isn't Enough）一书的作者、俄勒冈州波特兰的高管教练肯顿•R•希尔（Kenton R. Hill）说，“与上司对抗需要勇气和情商。如果你帮助你的老板取得成功，你获得重用的可能性会大大增加。”
Executive recruiters 'question your integrity' if you're a candidate who claims that you've never clashed with your supervisor, writes Russell S. Reynolds, Jr., founder of an eponymous big search firm, in his new memoir, 'Heads.' Tales of seamless harmony suggest 'you lack the power of your own convictions,'' he says in an interview.
罗盛•S•雷诺兹二世(Russell S. Reynolds, Jr.）是大型猎头公司罗盛咨询公司（Russell Reynolds Associates Inc.）的创始人，他在其最新回忆录《Heads》中写道，如果你在求职时声称从未与上司起过冲突，猎头就会“质疑你的诚实度”。他在一次访谈中说，无懈可击的和谐相处经历使人觉得“你缺乏坚持自身信念的能力”。
John Stroup, CEO of Belden Inc., a maker of electrical cables, says he's more apt to promote managers who are savvy about challenging him.
电缆制造企业百通公司（Belden Inc.）CEO约翰•斯特鲁普（John Stroup）说，他更倾向于提拔那些擅长挑战他的经理。
However, he cautions that it's not a good move right off the bat. At his previous employer, Danaher Corp.,he saw some newly recruited senior managers wash out because they urged him to adopt approaches used by their old company without first establishing their credibility, he recalls.
但是，他告诫说，从一开始就反对上司并不好。他回忆起在他之前所在的丹纳赫公司（Danaher Corp.），一些新招募的高级经理终被淘汰，就是因为他们在首先还未建立自身信誉的时候就力劝斯特鲁普采用他们的老东家惯用的方法。
Mr. Stroup prevailed in a disagreement with his Danaher supervisor about a risky strategic shift because they had developed a strong rapport. That man, an executive vice president, 'recognized my strengths,' Mr. Stroup recollects. 'I felt comfortable enough to push my point of view.'
斯特鲁普在丹纳赫时与他的上司就一个冒险的战略转变进行过争论并且赢得了那次争论，因为他们的关系已经非常融洽了。斯特鲁普回忆说，那位执行副总裁“认可我的能力，我感到有足够的把握劝他接受我的观点。”
The skeptical boss let him offer certain customers complete solutions for their specific needs-a departure from standard operating procedure. The idea was a success, and Mr. Stroup, a division president, was appointed a group executive not long after.
这位心存疑惑的上司同意让斯特鲁普为一部分客户提供全面的方案以满足他们的特定需求──这是偏离标准流程的做法。这个主意成功了，不久以后时任部门总裁的斯特鲁普就被任命为了集团高管。
Even recently hired executives can benefit from locking horns with the boss, provided they choose battles wisely, keep their cool and build a compelling case that boosts their superior's reputation, leadership experts say.
领导力专家说，即使是刚入职不久的主管也可从与老板的争执中获益，只要他们明智地选择时机，保持冷静并且做出引人注目的足以提高上司声誉的业绩。
'Disagreement is great as long as it's fact-based,' says one senior executive, who was hired to run a key unit for a big retailer in 2009. (He asked to remain anonymous so as not to embarrass his onetime employer.)
一位在2009年受聘运营一家大型零售商核心部门的高管说，“有不同意见很好，只要它是基于事实之上的。”（他要求保持匿名，以免使其从前的雇主遭遇尴尬。）
The executive, who reported to the CEO, did not agree with his boss, who long believed that small-business owners patronizing his business unit were shopping to supply their firms. Rather than airing his disagreement, he first spent 90 days analyzing purchase data and found that those customers mainly bought goods for their families.
这位向CEO汇报的高管不同意他老板的观点，后者一直认为光顾他的业务部门的小企业主是在为他们的企业采购。但他没有立即与老板争论，而是首先花了90天时间分析采购数据，并且发现这些客户主要是为其家庭采购物品。
When he presented the data to the CEO, the executive cast his research as fresh insights-and not the boss's bad call.
把这些数据展示给CEO时，他把自己的研究称为新的见解──而不是老板的错误判断。
'How come we didn't figure this out before?' the surprised chief asked, and later endorsed the lieutenant's plan for revamping the company's marketing appeals to small-business owners. In early 2012, the executive landed a more powerful post at a major packaged-goods concern.
“我们之前怎么没弄清楚这一点？”老板惊讶地问他，并很快批准了他的方案，内容是改进公司针对小企业主的营销诉求。
Tyco International Ltd. assesses managers' leadership behaviors twice annually, including whether they feel comfortable 'saying the emperor has no clothes' during meetings, says Laurie Siegel, its senior vice president of human resources. 'The only real career-ending move here is to not bring bad news forward.'
2012年年初，这位高管在一家大型包装商品公司获得了一个更有权力的职位。
That said, smart Tyco managers also know when and where to air those disagreements.
泰科国际有限公司（Tyco International Ltd.）主管人力资源的高级副总裁劳里•西格尔（Laurie Siegel）说，公司每年会对管理人员的领导行为进行两次评估，包括他们对在会议上“指出皇帝其实没穿衣服”是否感到自在，“这里唯一真正会终结职业生涯的举动是，不把坏消息说出来。”
Ms. Siegel says she and CEO Edward Breen often disagree on an employee's advancement potential. But she voices her objections to him one-on-one before alerting the full board. 'He's comfortable that I will challenge him' in front of fellow directors, so long as there are no surprises, she says. Mr. Breen couldn't be reached for comment.
不过，聪明的泰科经理们同样知道何时何地可以同上司争论。
Bosses and boards both prefer leaders with the gumption to articulate strong views, provided that dissenters are 'genuinely trying to advance the enterprise' rather than themselves during clashes with their supervisor, notes Douglas R. Conant, a retired chief executive of Campbell Soup Co. and a director of Avon Products Inc.
西格尔说她和CEO爱德华•布林恩（Edward Breen）时常会就某位雇员的晋升潜力产生分歧。但她会在董事会议之前先单独向CEO提出她的异议。她说，“只要不令他感到意外，他很乐于我在其他董事面前发表不同于他的意见。”笔者未能联系到布林恩对此发表评论。
Several years ago, an executive vice president of a cell-phone refurbishment firm rejected a department manager's request for an executive post because he doubted her claim that the promotion would benefit the business. 'She equated the proposed title with being able to tell people what to do,' recalls Susan Heathfield, a human-resources consultant in Williamston, Mich., who coached the EVP.
金宝汤公司（Campbell Soup Co.）退休CEO及雅芳公司（Avon Products Inc.）董事道格拉斯•R•科南特（Douglas R. Conant）说，老板和董事会都偏爱有勇气发表强硬观点的领导人，只要这些与上司争论的反对者是“真诚地试图促进企业发展”，而不是为了个人晋升。
The middle manager's authoritarian style 'was seriously at odds with a company that was striving to empower people,' and made her employees feel she only cared about herself, Ms. Heathfield adds. The woman repeated her request for weeks. Unpromoted, she quit months later.
几年前，一家手机翻修企业的执行副总裁拒绝了一个部门经理升任高管岗位的要求，因为他对她声称这次提拔会对生意有好处的说法表示怀疑。为该副总裁提供咨询服务的密歇根州威廉斯顿（Williamston）的人力资源顾问苏珊•希斯菲尔德（Susan Heathfield）回忆说，“这位部门经理把这个晋升机会等同于让她有权力告诉人们该做什么。”
At other times, patient persistence is key for winning an argument with the boss as Barrett Stephens discovered. He's second-in-command at RSR Partners, the mid-sized search firm that Mr. Reynolds started in 1993 after leaving Russell Reynolds Associates Inc.
希斯菲尔德补充说，这家公司正力求将权力下放，而这位中层经理的专权风格严重背离了这一点，并且使她的下属感到她只会为自己着想。这位女经理重复申请了好几周。几个月后，她因未能晋升而辞职。
A year ago, a three-man marketing committee created by Mr. Stephens suggested picking a consultant to craft its first strategic marketing plan. Mr. Reynolds nixed the proposal for being too costly.
有的时候，耐心的坚持是赢得同老板的争论的关键──正如巴雷特•史蒂芬斯（Barrett Stephens）所发现的。他是RSR Partners的副主管，这家中型猎头公司是由雷诺兹在离开罗盛咨询公司后于1993年创立的。
