In public discussion of business, we take certain values for granted.

在对于商业的公开讨论中，我们这些价值观是理所当然的。

Today I'm going to talk about four of them: collaboration, hard work, creativity and excellence.

今天，咱们就来讨论一下这四个价值观：合作，努力，创造性以及卓越性。

Most people would say they're all 'good things'.

大多数人会说这些都是很好的东西。

I'm going to suggest that's an over-simple view.

我接下来就告诉大家，这样一个想法其实是过于简单的。

The trouble with these values is that they're theoretical concepts, removed from the reality of day-to-day business.

这些价值观的问题在于，它们只是理论化的概念，偏离了日常商务的真实性。

Pursue values by all means, but be prepared for what may happen as a result.

我们可以使用任何方式来追求这些价值观，但是我们也要做好接收它们所带来的任何后果的准备。

They can actually cause damage, which is not at all the intention.

它们会在无意之间给我们造成损失。

Business leaders generally try to do the right thing.

公司领导人常常会努力去做正确的事情。

But all too often the right thing backfires, if those leaders adopt values without understanding and managing the side effects that arise.

但是往往又由于没有认知并且掌控它们所带来的弊端，而产生不好的结果。

The values can easily get in the way of what's actually intended.

所以这些价值观往往很容易适得其反。

OK. So the first value I'm going to discuss is collaboration.

好了。那么第一个我将要讨论的价值观是合作。

Er, let me give you an example.

我来举个例子吧。

On a management training course I once attended, we were put into groups and had to construct a bridge across a stream, using building blocks that we were given.

再一次我曾经参加过的管理培训课程中，我们被分配成不同的小组去讨论如何使用我们手上的积木在一条溪流上建一座桥。

The rule was that everyone in the team had to move at least one building block during the construction.

规则是，在建造过程中团队的每一个人都最少要移动一块积木。

This was intended to encourage teamwork.

这很明显是在鼓励团队合作。

But it was really a job best done by one person.

但是这个任务很明显更适合一个人来完成。

The other teams tried to collaborate on building the structure, and descended into confusion, with everyone getting in each other's way.

其他的团队都尝试着合作着来建造，但是随着每个人都陷入了自己的方法之中，他们越来越混乱疑惑。

Our team leader solved the challenge brilliantly.

我们的组长很机智地解决了这个问题。

She simply asked everyone in the team to move a piece a few centimetres, to comply with the rule, and then let the person in the team with an aptitude for puzzles like this build it alone.

她通过让团队中的每一个人只移动几厘米的距离，来顺应前面所提及的规定，然后让团队中一名擅长拼图的人来独自完成建造的任务。

We finished before any other team.

我们比其他任何一个组都完成的快。

My point is that the task wasn't really suited to teamworking, so why make it one?

我的观点是，既然这个任务根本不适合团队合作来完成，那为何要成立这个团队呢？

Teamwork can also lead to inconsistency - a common cause of poor sales.

团队合作同时还会导致分歧——一个导致低销售额的常见因素。

In the case of a smartphone that a certain company launched, one director wanted to target the business market, and another demanded it was aimed at consumers.

比如某一个公司研发的一款智能手机，某一个主管想要瞄准商务市场，而另外一个则希望针对消费者。

The company wanted both directors to be involved, so gave the product a consumer-friendly name, but marketed it to companies.

这个公司想要两位主管同时参与，所以给了这个手机一个倾向于消费者的名字，但却将其对企业发售。

The result was that it met the needs of neither group.

结果是这款手机两头都没有顾到。

It would have been better to let one director or the other have his way, not both.

这个手机本就该让一个主管来设计，而不是两个。

Now industriousness, or hard work.

现在我们来谈谈勤奋，或者说努力。

It's easy to mock people who say they work hard: after all, a hamster running around in a wheel is working hard - and getting nowhere.“

一个仓鼠在轮子里再怎么努力奔跑——也只是无用功。”用这样一句话来嘲笑那些努力的人是轻而易举的事情。

Of course hard work is valuable, but only when properly targeted.

努力当然是很重要的，但是要用对地方才行。

Otherwise it wastes the resources that companies value most - time and energy.

否则会浪费掉公司间最重视的资源——时间和精力。

And that's bad for the organisation.

这种浪费对组织来说是很不好的。

There's a management model that groups people according to four criteria: clever, hard-working, stupid and lazy.

有一种管理模式将人按照四个标准划分：聪明，努力，愚蠢，以及懒惰。

Here 'lazy' means having a rational determination not to carry out unnecessary tasks.

这里的懒惰指的是那些倾向于理性决策不希望开展不必要工作的人。

It doesn't mean trying to avoid work altogether.

这并不意味着是避免团队合作。

Most people display two of these characteristics, and the most valuable people are those who are both clever and lazy: they possess intellectual clarity, and they don't rush into making decisions.

大多数人具有其中的两种特性，而最有价值的是同时具备聪明和懒惰的人。他们不仅思路清晰，同时不会急着去做出决定。

They come up with solutions to save the time and energy spent by the stupid and hard-working group.

他们能想出来一些办法去省下被愚蠢又努力的人浪费掉的时间和精力。

Instead of throwing more man-hours at a problem, the clever and lazy group looks for a more effective solution.

而不是在某一个问题上不断地浪费时间。这些聪明又懒惰的人会寻求更加有效的解决方式。

Next we come to creativity.

下一个话题是创造力。

This often works well - creating an attention-grabbing TV commercial, for example, might lead to increased sales.

这个东西经常很有成效——比如在需要抓取注意力的电视广告中，然后也就可能提升销售额。

But it isn't always a good thing.

但是它并不总是有益处的。

Some advertising campaigns are remembered for their creativity, without having any effect on sales.

有些广告活动会因为其创造性被人们所记住，而这些活动其实对销售额没有丝毫影响。

This happened a few years ago with the launch of a chocolate bar: subsequent research showed that plenty of consumers remembered the adverts, but had no idea what was being advertised.

一个几年前诞生的一款巧克力棒就是这样的例子。研究显示，很多人对其广告记忆深刻但却对这个广告所表达的内容一无所知。

The trouble is that the creator derives pleasure from coming up with the idea, and wrongly assumes the audience for the campaign will share that feeling.

问题就在于广告的创造者虽然乐此不彼的想出了这个点子，却单方面的认为它所面向的观众会有相同的感觉。

A company that brings out thousands of new products may seem more creative than a company that only has a few, but it may be too creative, and make smaller profits.

也许一个带来上千种新产品的公司看起来会比只拥有个别产品的公司更具有创造性，但是正是因为太具有创造性反而带来更小的利益。

Creativity needs to be targeted, to solve a problem that the company has identified.

创造性需要被运用在公司所鉴定出的具体问题上。

Just coming up with more and more novel products isn't necessarily a good thing.

仅仅只是源源不断的想出新奇的产品，其实并不是一件好事。

And finally, excellence.

最后我们来谈谈卓越性。

We all know companies that claim they 'strive for excellence', but it takes a long time to achieve excellence.

我们都知道公司都标榜着“为卓越而奋斗”，但是要真正的达到这个目标是要花很多时间的。

In business, being first with a product is more profitable than having the best product.

在商业中，第一个创造出某种产品的公司比拥有最好的产品的公司会获取更大的利益。

A major study of company performance compared pioneers - that is, companies bringing out the first version of a particular product – with followers, the companies that copied and improved on that product.

一项关于公司表现的研究将先锋公司——那些生产出某个产品的初代产品的公司——与追随者，也就是那些复制并将产品质量进行提升的公司，进行了比较。

The study found that the pioneers commanded an average market share of 29 percent, while the followers achieved less than half that, only 13 percent - even though their product might have been better.

研究表明先锋公司拥有29%的平均市场占有率，而后者却比这一数据的一半还要少，只有13%——尽管他们的产品质量更好。

Insisting on excellence in everything we do is time-consuming, wastes energy and leads to losing out on opportunities.

在任何事情上追求卓越是一件耗时，费神，同时还会使机会流失的事情。

Sometimes, second-rate work is more worthwhile than excellence.

有时，次等级的工作比卓越的工作要有价值的多。

Make sure it's excellent' sounds like a good approach to business, but the 'just-get-started' approach is likely to be more successful.“

确保卓越性”听起来好似一个不错的商务手段，但是“刚刚起步”这种心态却往往更容易带来成功。