總裁也是人：經營跨國企業的貓箱指南

The Catbox Guide to Running a Multinational Corporation

作者 Donella H. Meadows　06.07.2000

　　在清晨美國國家廣播電台(National Public Radio) 廣播的背景新聞中我半夢半醒中聽著，相信我確實聽到了以下這則新聞，心裡卻希望自己沒有?因為新聞裡說最新的商業書籍的作者告訴總裁們，要好好地學習孩子們在沙坑裡玩沙。

　　這聽起來是否很可怕，還是商業上的天方夜譚？是不是只有我一個人對這不退流行，教總裁們 "如何怎樣怎樣" 的系列叢書，覺得吃驚卻又感到擔憂的呢？

　　我的意思是說，這些總裁們所經營的公司比世上大多數的政府都還龐大，而且富有。他們其實直接或間接的控制著政府。以前我們聽說:只有這些商場高手們以確實、有效、積極的態度，和先進的技術來完成事情聞名。可是，我見到他們一個接一個地轉而聽信那些能言善道、卻只會紙上談兵的顧問 (這些顧問所執行過最難的計畫，大抵就是電腦文書處理罷了)。

　　在清晨的晨霧中，當我開門讓貓出去溜達的片刻，我的腦海中突然出現了這個諷刺的畫面。(抱歉，早晨時間我的想像力特別靈活，我實在控制不了。)

　　也許下一本暢銷的商業書籍將是: "保證生意成功的貓箱指南"，或是"成功的貓的七種行為"，或是"從您的貓身上學到跨國企業的求生之道"。

我想這本怪書的宗旨如下：

• 保持你的毛皮乾淨。外表比行為重要的多。當你製造髒亂時，要小心將它掩飾好。如此一來，就不會有人知道是誰做的。
• 當你抓到小型獵物時，先暫時和牠一起玩，接著殺了牠，再得意地嚎叫，並且將屍體放在可見之處。
• 知道如何發出逢迎的叫聲。知道如何戰略性的伸出爪子。知道如何躲避現實，又瞬間將爪子四撂八抓。知道什麼時候該、或不該做這些事情。
• 只要有人在看，絕對一絲不苟地服從每一規則。
• 絕對不忘記那些餵你、保護你，並且在你身後清理的這種生物。因為你知道自己生下來就比這些人優越。

　　我對這些自己所寫下的清單低笑著。(我將清單縮短了-您可以自行增加。) 但我僅能搞笑到這裡。我原先的思潮聽起來像是呆伯特的卡通，或是沉悶的網路笑話，所以我將焦點轉到我那起不了作用的善意的嘲諷。

　　很清楚地，我同時在開顧問、老闆，與貓的玩笑。我可以輕易追縱到我對貓的敵意的來源。我總是有2、3，或是4隻貓。我餵牠們，撿起牠們抓到的死老鼠，看著牠們玩耍。我深愛牠們，但是希望他們不要再抓扯我的家具。我那位支持容格心理學說的朋友，說我是在宣洩心中的陰影，那不被承認的陰暗面。

在顧問與總裁的身上也是相同的情況嗎？

　　當然不是的，我並沒有那麼了解他們。我從不願意與他們共同生活。

　　若許 林柏先生(Rush Limbaugh) 和他的同黨，說我的問題在於 "階級妒忌"。我努力地檢視了這個可能性很久，之後揚棄它。我其實並不想要這些商業富豪的生活、財富、物質、工作、責任、甚或是他們的驕傲。我並不嫉妒他們；卻同情他們。我開始發覺，這種同情關乎他們對於時事的敏感性。

　　我們認為這些領導人是絕對正確的，他們也接受了這樣的責任。但是我們內心都知道這是假相。他們也是人，與其他的人一樣不完美、會犯錯，也許錯得更多。他們總是假裝知道自己在做什麼，事實上當他們比其他人更有權力時，就反而可能推卸責任。我們隱忍這假相，因為我們寧願相信有某個人在某個地方負責。但我們對領導者的真相的認知在我們的內心深處卻是陰影，它提醒整件事情的弔詭性。在這些領導人的內心深處也明白真相，這讓他們言論尖銳，對於評論非常敏感，並且急切地去僱用高貴的顧問，教導他們技倆，好讓他們可以看來掌控大局。

　　這個故事與國王和教宗一樣古老?相形之下人性顯得醜惡。所以後來我們將信任與希望放在總統與議員身上，當他們明顯的變得空虛腐敗時，我們就推崇企業皇帝。因為總是會人願意穿上黃袍與王冠的。

　　我在想若是在我們周圍的，是建立在謙遜與人道上的社會制度，而不是假造的，會是什麼樣子。將我們對權力的專注，放在可普通階級可以掌握的事物上。停止鼓勵我們之中的一些人站上不可能的位子，如此一來，我們之中的其它人，就會對他們期望太多，並且嘲笑他們沒有滿足自己的期望。

　　這想法也許可以同時讓企業總裁們與其餘人輕鬆些。畢竟，企業總裁們就像一般人，也像沙堆裡的孩子，更像貓箱裡的貓，在發覺他們的缺點之後，他們更加可愛，比欺瞞自己他們沒有任何缺點好的多。他們也許會感謝被重新承認為人類。企業總裁們終究沒有九條命，當他們從高處跌倒時，不可能總是死裡逃生。

Donella H. Meadows，永續學會會長，Dartmouth大學環境研究副教授

原文詳見： http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/
citizen/citizen060700.stm

版權歸屬 Earth Day NetWork，環境信託協會 (黃曉菊 譯 ，陳維立審校)

中英對照全文：http://news.ngo.org.tw/reviewer/donella/
re-donella20000607.htm

by Donella H. Meadows 06.07.00

Half awake, with an early morning NPR broadcast in the background, I think I heard, though I hope I did not, the author of the latest business book telling CEOs the great lessons to be learned from kids playing in a sandbox.

Is that frightening or what? Am I the only one who's both amused at and a little scared by the endless succession of "how-to" books for executives?

I mean, these people run organizations that are bigger and richer than most governments. Heck, they own, directly or indirectly, most governments. We are told that only corporate managers can be counted upon to do things practically, efficiently, competitively, and with technical superiority. But I see them running in herds from one executive fad to another, listening to glib consultants who have never run anything more complex than word processors.

In the early morning haze I pondered this paradox as I shooed the cat out. Suddenly the next business book popped fully formed into my mind. (Sorry, it was very early and I couldn't stop it.) "The Catbox Guide to Business Success," or "The Seven Behaviors of Highly Successful Felines," or "All You Really Need to Know about Multinational Corporations, You Can Learn from Your Cat."

The main points are obvious:

• Keep your coat immaculate. Looks are far more important than behavior.
• When you foul something, cover it over carefully, so no one knows who did it
• When you hunt down a small business, toy with it awhile, kill it, yowl proudly, and deposit the corpse in a visible place.
• Know how to purr ingratiatingly. Know how to scratch strategically. Know how to freak out and unleash rapidly moving claws in all directions at once. Know when and when not to do each of these things.
• Obey every rule punctiliously as long as anyone is watching.
• Never forget that other creatures feed you, shelter you, and clean up after you because you are intrinsically superior to them.

I chuckled as this list presented itself. (I have truncated it here -- you can add to it.) But I can sustain bitter sarcasm just so long. My stream of consciousness was sounding like a Dilbert cartoon or a tedious Internet joke, so I turned my attention to the well of animosity out of which it so effortlessly bubbled.

Clearly I was making fun of consultants, business leaders, and cats all at the same time. I can easily trace the source of my hostility to cats. I've always had two or three or four of them. I've fed them, picked up their dead mice, watched them put on airs. I love them, but I wish they'd stop scratching the furniture. My Jungian friends would say I was letting out the Shadow, the unadmitted dark side of our relationship

Could it be the same with consultants and CEOs?

Well, no, I don't know them that well. I have never chosen to live with any of them.

Rush Limbaugh and his ilk would say my problem is "class envy." I looked long and hard at that possibility and discarded it. I wouldn't want the lives, wealth, stuff, jobs, responsibility or pride of the business folks. I don't envy them; I pity them. The pity, I began to see, is connected with their susceptibility to business fads.

We have set them up to be infallible. They have accepted the charge. We all know it's a myth. They are human beings, as flawed and foolish as the rest of us, maybe more so, because they are willing to pretend they know what they are doing, while they in fact hold more power than anyone could possibly discharge responsibly. We go along with the pretense because we need to think that someone is in charge, somewhere. But deep within us is the Shadow, our knowledge of the truth about our leaders. It seeps out in the fun of mocking them. Deep within them is the knowledge of the truth too, which makes them so often prickly, sensitive to criticism, and desperate to hire grand viziers to teach them tricks so they can appear to be in control.

This story is as old as kings and popes, with which humanity eventually got disillusioned. So we put our faith in presidents and senators. As they grew all too visibly empty and corrupt, we enthroned corporate emperors. There is always someone willing to take on the mantle and crown.

I wonder what it would be like to ground our social institutions on humility and humanity instead of pretense. To keep our concentrations of power at a scale ordinary mortals can handle. To stop elevating some of us to impossible positions, so the rest of us can expect too much of them and mock them for not filling that expectation.

It might be a relief to the CEOs as well as the rest of us. After all, like the rest of us, like the kids in the sandbox and the cats in the catbox, they are more lovable in the recognition of their flaws than in the delusion that they don't have any. They may appreciate being re-admitted to the human race. After all, they don't have nine lives. And when they fall, they don't always land on their feet.

Donella H. Meadows is director of the Sustainability Institute and an adjunct professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.