选文来源 The Economist-20221119期「Business」Bartleby: Management balls

Bartleby: Management balls

What you can/cannot learn from the success of football’s next World Cup winners

巴托比:足球管理启示录

本届世界杯冠军的经验/教训供人们品尝

On december 18th the winners of the football World Cup in Qatar will lift the famous golden trophy. Several rituals will then unfold. The final entry will be made on fans’ wall charts. Pundits will share their lists of players of the tournament. In the victors’ home country, cars will clog the streets and drivers will lean on their horns. And in the days that follow, leadership coaches will post drivel about the secrets to be learned from the successful manager.

参考译文卡塔尔世界杯冠军球队将于12月18日举行一个著名的金色奖杯。一些庆祝活动也将随之而来：决赛球员的照片将出现在球迷的海报上，足球专家将分享他们选择的世界杯最佳球队。在冠军的家乡，街上会有河流和笛声。在接下来的几天里，主教头们还会对世界杯冠军教练的秘密发表连篇废话。

But why wait till the end of the World Cup to find out how Hansi Flick of Germany, Didier Deschamps of France or whoever actually wins did it? Why even hang around for the start of the tournament on November 20th? Before a whistle has been blown and a ball has been kicked, here is your cut-out-and-keep guide to what bosses everywhere can learn from the winning manager (WM). All you have to do is delete anything that doesn’t quite fit the narrative.

参考译文但是为什么要等到世界杯结束才总结德国教练汉斯呢？·弗利克（Hansi Flick）、法国教练迪迪埃·德尚（Didier Deschamps）还是冠军教头的经历？ 为什么11月20日世界杯开幕时什么都不做？ 吹哨开球前，请接受这个可剪切保存的，关于世界各地的老板都可以从冠军教练那里拿到（WM）学到什么？你所要做的就是划掉所有与现实不符的内容。

Team spirit. The WM instilled a tight bond among the team by showing them unwavering support/creating an atmosphere of fear. He was known for putting his arms around the shoulders/hands around the necks of underperforming players. His oxytocin-releasing bearhugs/scarlet-faced rages ensured that a group of elite performers relaxed/did not relax. “He showed us love/utter contempt and we all responded to that,” said a man in shorts from the winning team. The power of empathy/barely suppressed terror will surely not be lost on managers in the workplace.

参考译文团队精神。主教练通过(给予坚实的信任/营造恐惧氛围)将整个球队紧密结合在一起。众所周知，面对表现不佳的球员，他总是(肩膀/脖子)。他的(释放催产素的熊抱/脸红的愤怒)保证一群精英球员(放松/不放松)。冠军队一名穿短裤的球员说：他向我们表达了（关心/蔑视），我们都做出了回应。(同理心的力量/无法抑制的恐惧)管理者身上一定有痕迹可循。

Data. The WM obsessively immerses himself in data/does not know how to turn on a computer. In the build-up to each game he took each player through a detailed analysis of his opposite number/encouraged everyone to play table tennis. After the matches were over he watched videos of each game/Netflix. “He planned everything in minute detail/told us to just go out there and have fun,” said another happy man in shorts. In the office, as on the pitch, rigorous analysis/gut instinct is often the difference between success and failure.

参考译文数据。主教练(沉迷于数据分析/连电脑都不知道怎么打开)。每场比赛的赛前准备会议在中间，他(详细分析了每个球员的特点/鼓励球员)打乒乓球放松一下）。每场比赛结束后，他都会观看(比赛视频/网飞视频)。另一位穿着短裤的球员高兴地说:他(详细计划每一个小细节/让我们玩得开心)。 办公室的情况与体育场的情况不同。(严格的分析/直觉)往往是成败的区别。

Purpose. The choice of Qatar as a venue for the World Cup was mired in controversy from the start; questions have swirled about corruption, human rights and worker safety. The WM turned these concerns to his advantage/seemed totally unaware of them. He made it clear that the team were ambassadors for the sport/only there to win. His decision to always wear a rainbow-coloured wristband/refuse to answer any questions about the host country was incredibly astute. “He gave us a much-needed sense of purpose,” recalled one of his players. “Only an absolute cretin would have wondered what we were in Qatar to do,” said another.

参考译文使命感。将卡塔尔选为本届世界杯的举办地——这一决定从一开始就备受争议，关于腐败、人权和工人安全的丑闻不断涌现。主教练(把这些担忧转化为有利因素/似乎根本没有意识到)。他明确表示，球队(是这项运动的大使/目的只有胜利)。教练都是人，因为他们(总是戴彩虹护腕/拒绝回答任何东道主的问题)。他的一名球员回忆说：他给了我们一种紧迫的使命感。” 另一名球员说：只有顶级傻瓜才不知道我们来卡塔尔的真正目的是什么。 

Stars. The WM built his whole team around/eschewed the very idea of a star player. “A superstar like Neymar/Harry Maguire/someone else has to be given freedom to express himself/realise that the team comes first,” he said afterwards. Every organisation will have its own outstanding performers. The clear message from this World Cup is that they should sometimes/never be given special treatment.

参考译文明星球员。主教练是(围绕明星球员组建团队/不承认团队中有明星球员的概念)。赛后他说：就像内马尔一样（Neymar）/哈里·马奎尔（Harry Maguire）/或者其他超级巨星必须(有自由表达自己/意识到球队是第一位的)。” 每个组织都会有表现出色的人。本届世界杯传达的明确信息是，优秀的人(有时候应该/永远不应该)受到特殊待遇。

There is an alternative way of thinking about the lessons for corporate managers from an event like the World Cup: there are none. First, the jobs are wholly different. Football managers don’t need to change strategy because the market is shifting (“we will use our excellence in the field of spherical objects to diversify into basketball”). Corporate bosses do not tend to get customer feedback from people making hand gestures in a crowd. Nor do their career prospects usually rely on the split-second decision-making of a bunch of talented 20-somethings.

参考译文从另一个角度来看，企业管理者能从世界杯等大型活动中学到什么经验？也许一点也没有。首先，这两份工作完全不同。足球教练不需要根据市场变化来调整策略——例如，他们不需要在篮球领域扩展在足球场上处理球形物体的杰出经验。企业主不会通过人群中的手部动作获得用户反馈。他们的职业前景不依赖于一群二十多岁的精英在球场上的现场表现。

Second, all leadership writing depends on the dubious premise that an entity was successful because a person was in charge, rather than while they were in charge. The “halo effect” is the name given to the tendency for a positive impression in one area to lead to a positive impression in another. But just as a high-flying firm does not necessarily signal a world-beating CEO, so a World Cup winners’ medal does not mean the manager was a genius.

参考译文此外，所有的领导理论都是基于一个站不住脚的前提：企业的成功归功于指挥官。事实上，有时候，只是指挥官赶上了好时机！光环效应是指一个人在某一领域的积极形象将迁移到另一个领域。例如，一个成功的企业不一定有一个独特的世界CEO同样，赢得世界杯的球队也不一定有一个绝世教练。

Just one, Vittorio Pozzo of Italy, has ever successfully defended the World Cup title; only eight countries have ever lifted the trophy in the history of the tournament. Whoever ends up celebrating on December 18th, the pool of people available for selection, the role of luck and the quality of the competition will have mattered at least as much as the person at the top. That is one management lesson worth learning.■

参考译文纵观世界杯历史，只有意大利教练维托里奥·波佐（Vittorio Pozzo）带领球队成功卫冕世界杯冠军-世界杯历史只有八个国家赢得了冠军。无论哪个国家最终在12月18日笑到最后，你知道，如何调度球员储备，运气和赛事含金量的影响不亚于教练——这种管理经验值得学习。