快樂的人能夠獲得直覺、創(chuàng)造力和適應力方面的改善??鞓酚兄T多益處,比如可以增強我們的免疫功能,減少中風風險,甚至還可以延長壽命。
Positive emotions also widen the number of ways in which people react to threats and challenges. Too much negativity merely encourages us to fight or flee from danger.
積極的情緒還會拓寬人們應對威脅和挑戰(zhàn)的方法。太多的消極情緒只會促使我們對抗或逃離危險。
So it is entirely logical, even desirable, that leaders should aim to encourage this self-reinforcing attitude.
因此,領導者應該致力于鼓勵這種自我強化的態(tài)度,這是完全合乎邏輯的,甚至是非常可取的。
Listen to the London Stock Exchange’s chief executive David Schwimmer on the prospects for his group’s $27bn high-stakes takeover of Refinitiv, the data provider:
聽聽倫敦證券交易所(LSE)首席執(zhí)行官大衛(wèi)•施維默(David Schwimmer)對該集團以270億美元大手筆收購數(shù)據(jù)提供商路孚特(Refinitiv)的前景是怎么說的:
“We feel that this is a very strong combination that we feel very good about strategically, we feel very good about the leverage and our ability to pay it down. We feel good about integration and we feel very good about the combined team.” It is fair to say he feels good and wants everyone around him to feel good.
“我們認為這是一個非常強大的組合,我們在戰(zhàn)略上感覺非常好,我們對使用的杠桿和償還它們的能力感覺非常好。我們對整合感覺很好,我們對合并后的團隊感覺非常好。”可以這么說,他感覺很好并希望身邊的每個人都感覺良好。
In business, the influence of psychologist Carol Dweck’s concept of the “growth mindset” — openness to learning and trying new approaches — is spreading. It has been key to Satya Nadella’s plan to change Microsoft’s culture. When he stepped in as chief executive of Volkswagen, mired in the “Dieselgate” scandal, Matthias Müller talked of the need to change the carmaker’s mindset and adopt “the right attitude and mentality”.
在商業(yè)領域,心理學家卡羅爾•德韋克(Carol Dweck)提出的“成長思維”(對學習和嘗試新方法持開放態(tài)度)的影響正在擴大。它是薩提亞•納德拉(Satya Nadella)改變微軟(Microsoft)文化的計劃的關鍵。當馬提亞斯•穆勒(Matthias Müller)成為陷入“柴油門”丑聞的大眾汽車(Volkswagen)的首席執(zhí)行官時,他談到了改變大眾思維方式并采取“正確態(tài)度和心態(tài)”的必要性。
Both CEOs recognise relentless positivity alone will not achieve results, though.
然而,兩位首席執(zhí)行官都承認,單憑積極態(tài)度是辦不成事的。
Prof Dweck herself has criticised the common misconception that just by assuming a growth mindset, “good things will happen”.
德韋克教授本人批評了一種常見的誤解,即只要采取成長思維,“好事就會發(fā)生”。
Leaders who set a strategic goal, without rooting it in reality, or laying out the steps to execute the strategy, set followers up for disappointment, cynicism and chaos. Boosterism risks being exposed as mere blusterism.
領導者如果沒有根據(jù)實際情況制定戰(zhàn)略目標,或者沒有制定執(zhí)行戰(zhàn)略的步驟,都會讓追隨者失望、產(chǎn)生懷疑和混亂。推動主義有可能變成吹牛主義。
Before leaders take to the battlements to rally their troops with positive messages, they must understand their own abilities. Adam Grant of Wharton business school points out that “whether people succeed is not a matter of thinking positively or negatively, but rather whether they choose the strategies that match their thinking styles”. A defensive pessimist will look foolish and unconvincing making a tub-thumpingly upbeat speech to the Boosters’ Club.
在領導人以積極口號集結(jié)人手參加戰(zhàn)斗之前,他們必須了解自己的能力。沃頓商學院(Wharton)的亞當•格蘭特(Adam Grant)指出,“人們是否成功不是積極思維或消極思維的問題,而是他們是否選擇了與其思維方式相匹配的策略”。一個防御性的悲觀主義者向推動者俱樂部發(fā)表慷慨激昂的樂觀演講,這會顯得很蠢而且難以令人信服。
Leaders who are strategic optimists actually perform no better than pessimists, who are able to turn anxiety into action. What is needed is a mix of both. “We do not wish to knock the booster,” Sinclair Lewis wrote, “but we certainly do wish to boost the knocker.”
戰(zhàn)略上樂觀的領導者實際上比悲觀主義者好不到哪里去,后者能夠?qū)⒔箲]轉(zhuǎn)化為行動。需要的是兩者的結(jié)合。辛克萊•劉易斯寫道:“我們不希望打擊推動者,但我們當然希望推動消極者。”
Studies back him up. Too much positivity can be bad for you. In fact, there’s an ideal ratio for human flourishing of about three to one, between positive emotions — amusement, hope, joy and so on — and negative ones. Three cheers, then, for positive thinking — and one carefully modulated catcall.
研究支持了他的觀點。太多積極思維可能不是什么好事。事實上,人類要蓬勃發(fā)展,樂趣、希望和喜悅等積極情緒和消極情緒之間的理想比例大約是三比一。所以,請為積極思維歡呼三聲——再加上一聲謹慎的噓聲。