企业要成功仅有初心是远远不够的（企业到底需不需要打破常规者）

企业要成功仅有初心是远远不够的（企业到底需不需要打破常规者）这不是要支持停滞不前。停滞不前将导致灭亡——这是那些继续任命我所说的“典型的管理者”的企业的最终命运。This is not an argument for stasis. That way lies extinction — the destiny of companies that continue to appoint what I’ve called “ default managers”.一位猎头表示，特立独行者很适合做非执行董事，他们可以“在董事会上挑战执行管理层”。但这些人一旦升任为首席执行官，几乎总是会导致“组织排斥”现象——除非是在陷入困境的企业中。One headhunter says mavericks are useful as non-executive directors who can “challenge the executive management

Exciting rule-breakers rarely rise through the ranks - FT

雇佣特立独行者——这是一条经典的管理建议，至少从上世纪80年代以来就反复被人提及，但却几乎无法成功应用到现实中。然而，一些大型企业仍然在夸耀，它们雇佣和培养了一些打破常规和离经叛道的人。“现状挑战者”甚至成为了领英(LinkedIn)上流行的自我评价。Hire mavericks: a classic piece of management advice trotted out since at least the 1980s — and almost impossible to enact successfully. Still big organisations continue to boast that they recruit and develop rule-breakers and renegades. “Status quo challenger” has even become a popular self-description on LinkedIn.

且不说一个想要摧毁一切常规的破坏者不太可能花大把时间去更新领英个人资料，更别提参加跨国企业的毕业生培训计划了——我们要知道的是，企业的成功往往基于那些已然行之有效的体系。Leave aside the fact that a break-all-the-furniture disrupter is unlikely to spend much time updating his or her LinkedIn profile let alone join the graduate trainee programme at a multinational: corporate success is often based on what already works.

企业在制定招聘计划和领导力发展政策时必须达到一个近乎不可能的平衡。它们需要培养足够多的变革者来推动企业发展，但又要遏制革命者的本能，即抛弃组织核心价值观、违反行为准则或是鲁莽地舍弃已经久经考验的方式方法。Companies must strike a near-impossible balance as they design their hiring and leadership development policies. They need to cultivate enough changemakers to advance the company but curb revolutionaries’ instincts to abandon the organisation’s core values breach acceptable behaviour or swerve recklessly away from tried and tested approaches.

​“特立独行者”(maverick)这个词来源于19世纪的德克萨斯农场主塞缪尔•马弗里克(Samuel Maverick)，据说他拒绝给自己的牛打上烙印。由此，四处游荡的牛开始被称为“maverick”。然而，大型企业希望从员工入职第一天就给员工打上“烙印”，让员工朝着同一方向前进。The word “maverick” derives from Samuel Maverick a 19th century Texas rancher who allegedly refused to brand his cattle. Wandering cows became known as mavericks. Big companies though wish to apply the branding iron from day one and move the herd in the same direction.

因此，“特立独行的老板”大都不是通过有序的人员更替上任的。最近被打上这一标签的人（有趣的是，这些人都是男性）包括：埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)、已故的前菲亚特克莱斯勒(Fiat Chrysler)首席执行官塞尔焦•马尔基翁内(Sergio Marchionne)、软银(SoftBank)的孙正义(Masayoshi Son)、优步(Uber)的特拉维斯•卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)、杰夫•贝索斯(Jeff Bezos)，马云(Jack Ma)和美国T-Mobile首席执行官约翰•莱杰尔(John Legere)。As a result “maverick bosses” are rarely the product of an orderly succession plan. A list of those who have recently earned the tag (all men interestingly) includes Elon Musk the late Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Travis Kalanick of Uber Jeff Bezos Jack Ma and John Legere chief executive of T-Mobile USA.

这些人大多是企业家和创始人。第一个自封为“特立独行者”的老板是Semco的里卡多•塞姆勒(Ricardo Semler)，他因为其分权管理而闻名，并在1993年撰写了一本名为《塞氏企业》(Maverick!)的书专门讲解这一管理模式，但他并不是逐步晋升上来的，他从他父亲手中继承了这家巴西工程集团。创始人-企业家模式中的例外——马尔基翁内和莱杰尔都是在企业陷入困境之时从企业外部“空降”的领导者。In most cases these are entrepreneurs and founders. The first self-styled maverick boss Semco’s Ricardo Semler who became known for decentralising management and wrote a 1993 book about it called Maverick! did not rise through the ranks. He was handed control of the Brazilian engineering group by his father. The exceptions to the founder-entrepreneur model — Mr Marchionne and Mr Legere — were outside appointments to struggling companies.

一位猎头表示，特立独行者很适合做非执行董事，他们可以“在董事会上挑战执行管理层”。但这些人一旦升任为首席执行官，几乎总是会导致“组织排斥”现象——除非是在陷入困境的企业中。One headhunter says mavericks are useful as non-executive directors who can “challenge the executive management within the context of the boardroom”. Their elevation to chief executive — except at companies that are struggling — almost always leads to “tissue rejection”.

这不是要支持停滞不前。停滞不前将导致灭亡——这是那些继续任命我所说的“典型的管理者”的企业的最终命运。This is not an argument for stasis. That way lies extinction — the destiny of companies that continue to appoint what I’ve called “ default managers”.

我也并不认为异议不应存在。即使是成熟的企业也应该尝试聘用一些革命者和无拘无束的人。事实上，这些人对某些活动至关重要。想想皮克斯(Pixar)的创意漫画家，或是谷歌(Google)的创新工程师们。Nor do I believe dissent should be shut down. Even established companies should try to recruit a few revolutionaries and free spirits. In fact those kinds of people are essential to some activities. Think of the creative cartoonists at Pixar or the innovative engineers at Google.

弗兰切斯卡•吉诺(Francesca Gino)最近告诉我，常规挑战者有一个核心特性——好奇心，而好奇心也是“预测你会让自己的人际网络多样化到何种程度的预测因素”。在她关于如何避免过于习惯于从众的著作《叛逆天才》(Rebel Talent)中，她援引了一项对多个行业中逾3000名员工的调查。她发现，超过九成的人认为好奇的人能带来新的想法，但只有不到四分之一的人经常对自己的工作感到好奇。One core attribute of norm-challengers — curiosity — is also “a predictor of how you make your network more diverse” Francesca Gino told me recently. In her book Rebel Talent about how to avoid becoming too comfortable with conformity she cites a survey of more than 3 000 employees across a number of industries. She found more than nine out of 10 thought curious people brought new ideas but less than a quarter regularly felt curious about their job.

这个结果令人沮丧，但鼓励好奇心是相对容易的。当先驱者逼得太紧，前进得太快时，事态就会变得棘手。就以典型的现状挑战者、优步(Uber)创始人卡兰尼克为例。在优步爆发一系列争议问题后，去年他辞去了首席执行官一职。在优步的发展上，卡兰尼克的“始终锐意进取”的发展策略把这家运输企业导入了领导力的死胡同中。现在，这家企业才刚刚开始好转。That is a depressing outcome. But encouraging curiosity is relatively easy. Things get sticky when pioneers push too far too fast. Take one classic status quo-challenger Mr Kalanick Uber’s founder who stepped down as chief executive last year after a string of controversies. His “always be hustlin’”approach to the transportation company’s development led it into a dark leadership dead-end out of which it is only now reversing.

相比之下，莱杰尔接管的企业已经适合拥有一名非传统型的领导者。他对外展示的形象是一个穿着连帽衫和T恤的“非常规首席执行官”，副业是做慢炖烹饪直播。Mr Legere by contrast took the helm of a company ripe for an unconventional leader. He projects an image as a hoodie-and-T-shirt-wearing “un-CEO” with a sideline in live webcasts of his slow cooking.

不过，莱杰尔并不总是一副长发的特立独行者形象。在本世纪之交领导环球电讯公司(Global Crossing)处理破产保护程序时，他与其他任何首席执行官并没有什么不同。甚至当美国T-Mobile控股股东德国电信(Deutsche Telekom)在2012年任命他时，他也和其他首席执行官没什么两样。他在一次采访中解释了自己的转变：“我不再需要用西装和发型来往上爬了。”Mr Legere was not always a long-haired maverick though. When he led Global Crossing in and out of bankruptcy protection at the turn of the century — and even when Deutsche Telekom T-Mobile USA’s controlling shareholder appointed him in 2012 — he looked like any other chief executive. “I don’t need to fight my way up the hierarchy with my suit and hair any more ” he once said in an interview explaining his transformation.

但是，这些都是例外。大多数企业的改变更像是一种进化而非革命。大部分企业都在建设性的冲突中前进，也就是捍卫成功的老方法的人和支持有希望的新方法的人之间的冲突。这些企业面临的挑战在于，如何培养出牛群的领导者，他既能带领牛群前往新鲜的草地，但又不会踢倒所有的围栏，或者不管不顾地冲出企业的围栏。These though are exceptions. Most corporate change is more evolution than revolution. Most companies advance through constructive conflict between defenders of successful old ways and advocates of the promising new. These incumbents’ challenge is to raise herd leaders who move to fresh pastures without kicking down all the fences and stampeding out of the corporate pen.