The Bad Behavior of Visionary1 Leaders

By Mia Benlim

埃隆·馬斯克、史蒂夫·喬布斯和杰夫·貝佐斯這三位商業(yè)巨頭都可稱得上當(dāng)今世界商業(yè)領(lǐng)域最為舉足輕重的人物，他們的遠(yuǎn)見卓識和諸多偉大的產(chǎn)品改變了我們的生活方式，也在間接改變著整個世界。但是另一方面，他們的很多為人處世之道也都頗為世人詬病。難道真像愛因斯坦所說的：還是不要當(dāng)成功的人吧，不如做個有價值的人。

杰夫·貝佐斯

As I was reading Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk: Tesla,Space X and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, I was alternately awed and disheartened, almost exactly the same ambivalence I felt after reading Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs and Brad Stone’s The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.2. Elon Musk: 埃隆·馬斯克，是貝寶（paypal）、SpaceX太空探索技術(shù)公司、環(huán)保跑車公司特斯拉（Tesla）以及SolarCity四家公司的CEO；awed: 充滿敬畏的；disheartened: 沮喪的，灰心的；ambivalence: 矛盾心理，矛盾情緒；Steve Jobs: 史蒂夫·喬布斯，美國企業(yè)家，蘋果公司聯(lián)合創(chuàng)辦人；Jeff Bezos:杰夫·貝佐斯，全球最大的網(wǎng)上書店亞馬遜（Amazon）的創(chuàng)始人。

The three leaders are arguably3. arguably: 可能，大概。the most extraordinary business visionaries of our times. Each of them has introduced unique products that changed—or in Mr. Musk’s case, have huge potential to change—the way we live.

史蒂夫·喬布斯

埃隆·馬斯克

I was awed by the innovative, courageous, persistent and creative ways all three built their businesses.4. innovative: 革新的，創(chuàng)新的；courageous: 有勇氣的。I also love their products. I own a Mac Pro and an iPhone, and I have been a loyal customer of Apple for 20 years. I buy many books and other products on Amazon, lured5. lure: 引誘，誘惑。by a blend of low prices, ease of purchase and reliably quick delivery. The Tesla X hands down the best car I have ever driven, and it’s all electric, rechargeable in your garage.6. Tesla X: 特斯拉汽車公司推出的首款電動SUV車型；hand down: 宣布；rechargeable: 可充電的。

What disheartens me is how little care and appreciation any of them give (or in Mr. Jobs’s case, gave) to hard-working and loyal employees, and how unnecessarily cruel and demeaning7. demeaning: 有損人格的，侮辱的。they could be to the people who helped make their dreams come true.

In fairness8. in fairness: 公平地說，平心而論。, the leaders all have loyal defenders. At Apple, for example, Mr. Jobs’s successors9. successor: 繼承人，繼任人?！猧ncluding Tim Cook, the chief executive, and Jonathan Ive, the chief design of ficer—have argued that Mr. Jobs matured significantly as a leader in his final years. Mr.Musk and Mr. Bezos have senior leaders who have worked with them for many years. But even an admirer like Mr. Ive remained bewildered10. bewildered: 困惑的。by the way Mr. Jobs treated people.

“He’s a very sensitive guy,” Mr. Ive told Mr. Isaacson shortly before Mr. Jobs died in 2011. “That’s one of the things that makes his antisocial behavior, his rudeness, so unconscionable.11. antisocial: 反社會的；unconscionable:昧著良心的，無道德心的。I can understand why people who are thick-skinned12. thick-skinned: 厚臉皮的，感覺遲鈍的。and unfeeling can be rude, but not sensitive people.”

Given the extraordinary success of these men, the obvious question is whether being relentlessly hard on people, and even cruel, may get them to perform better.13. 鑒于這三人所取得的非凡成就，一個顯而易見的問題浮出了水面：是否對待員工冷酷無情，甚至殘酷，就是他們能夠如此出眾的原因呢？relentlessly:殘酷地，無情地。

Like their biographers14. biographer: 傳記作者。, I think the answer is no. Our research at the Energy Project has shown that the more employees feel their needs are being met at work—above all, for respect and appreciation—the better they perform.

As Mr. Isaacson writes of Mr. Jobs: “Nasty15. nasty: 令人不快的事物。was not necessary.It hindered16. hinder: 阻礙，妨礙。him more than it helped him.” Similarly, a person who worked with Mr. Musk told Mr. Vance: “He can be so gentle and loyal, and then hard on people when it isn’t necessary.” At Amazon,Mr. Bezos’s angry outbursts came to be called “nutters.”17. outburst:（情感等）爆發(fā)；nutter: 怪人，瘋子?！癏e was capable of hyperbole and cruelty in these moments,” Mr. Stone writes, “and over the years delivered some devastating rebukes to employees.”18. hyperbole: 夸張；devastating: 毀滅性的；rebuke: 指責(zé)，非難。

Why would otherwise brilliant men behave in such destructive ways?

The first answer is that they can. Genius covers a lot of sins19. sin: 罪孽，過錯。.A great product is a great product, and you don’t have to do everything right to be successful. Most customers don’t care how the sausage gets made, as long as it tastes good.

Employees, in turn, are willing to sacrifice a lot to work for a visionary. Much as Mr. Jobs was, Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos are passionate, inspiring and charismatic20. charismatic: 超凡魅力的。leaders. “Numerous people interviewed for this book decried the work hours, Musk’s blunt style and his sometimes ludicrous expectations,”21. 書（埃隆·馬斯克的傳記）中很多接受過采訪的人都不滿他們過長的工作時間，馬斯克生硬的態(tài)度以及他那些荒唐可笑的期望值。decry: 譴責(zé)，反對；blunt: 生硬的；ludicrous: 荒唐可笑的。Mr. Vance wrote.“Yet almost every person even those who had been fired—still worshiped Musk and talked about him in terms usually reserved for superheroes or deities.22. worship: 崇拜，信奉；deity: 神明。

Finally, a certain level of financial success and the resulting power effectively excuse those who achieve it from the ordinary rules of civility and even humanity.23. 最后一點(diǎn)，這些人在金融領(lǐng)域取得了巨大的成功和相應(yīng)的權(quán)力，這使得他們有最好的理由不去顧及一般的禮儀規(guī)范甚至人道。civility: 禮貌，禮儀；humanity: 人道，仁慈。

Mr. Jobs drove around without a license on his car, and he regularly parked in spaces reserved for the handicapped24. the handicapped: 殘疾人。. As Mr.Ive said of his attitude, “I think he feels he has a liberty25. liberty: 自由。and a license to do that. The normal rules of social engagement, he feels,don’t apply to him.”

Amazon employees collected examples of Mr. Bezos’s most eviscerating put-downs,26. eviscerating: eviscerate指除去……的內(nèi)臟，重創(chuàng)……的元?dú)?，這里用作形容詞，意為“傷人的”；putdown: 令人難堪的言行，貶低他人的行為。including, “Are you lazy or just incompetent?” “Why are you wasting my life?” and “I’m sorry, did I take my stupid pills today?”

When Mr. Musk’s loyal executive assistant of 12 years asked for a significant raise, he told her to take a two-week vacation while he thought about it. When she returned, he told her the relationship wasn’t going to work anymore. According to Mr. Vance, they haven’t spoken since.

Abusive as all this sounds, I would argue that most of the bad behavior of these men is fear-based, impulsive and reactive rather than consciously hurtful.27. abusive: 口出惡言的；impulsive: 沖動的，任性的。It grows not out of a sense of superiority28. superiority: 優(yōu)越。but rather of insecurity.

People like these three visionaries deeply crave29. crave: 渴望。control. Each of them was far more likely to act out suddenly and behave poorly when he wasn’t getting exactly what he wanted—when he felt that others were failing to live up to his standards.30. act out: 把……付諸行動；live up to:達(dá)到，符合。

All three invested endless hours and energy in building and running their businesses—and far less in anything else,including taking care of the people who worked for them or even understanding what doing so might look like. To a large extent,people were simply a means to an end.

The more apt question is how much more these men could have enhanced thousands of people’s lives—and perhaps made them even more successful—if they had invested as much in taking care of them as they did in conceiving great products.31. 一個更貼切的問題是：如果這幾個成功人士能夠像構(gòu)思那些了不起的產(chǎn)品一樣投入精力去關(guān)懷他們的員工，那么人們的生活將得到何等的改善（或許也會使他們自己更加成功）。apt: 適當(dāng)?shù)?，貼切的；conceive: 構(gòu)思，構(gòu)想。

“Try not to become a man of success,” Albert Einstein once said,“but rather a man of value.”