商界領袖是好的政治領袖嗎

We need political leaders with real world experience. Too many of those who govern us have never worked outside politics. It is a frequent cry. But if we think business leaders are the answer, Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, is providing a near-daily display of how hard it is to leap from running a business to winning elections.

我們需要在現實世界裏摸爬滾打過的政治領導人。太多的執政者從未在政治圈以外工作過。這是老生常談了。但是如果我們認爲商界領袖是答案的話，美國共和黨總統候選人唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)則幾乎每天都在向我們展示，實現從執掌企業到贏得競選的跨越是多麼困難。

There are two reasons. First, business leaders such as Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, who have both lost elections, did not seem to grasp that holders of political office have less control over events than does a chief executive. While a business boss can hire, fire, acquire and sell, even the US president is hemmed in by the constitution and can be stymied by Congress, as the political economist Francis Fukuyama has noted.

這其中有兩點原因。第一，梅格•惠特曼(Meg Whitman)和卡莉•菲奧里納(Carly Fiorina)等商界領袖（上述兩人都曾在競選中落敗）似乎並不明白，公職人員對各類事件的掌控權沒有首席執行官(CEO)大。正如政治經濟學家弗朗西斯•福山(Francis Fukuyama)指出的那樣，企業老闆可以僱人、炒人、收購和出售，但是即便是美國總統也要受限於憲法，還可能受到國會掣肘。

British prime ministers have more executive and legislative power but still have to accommodate rivals who might challenge for their job. The aggravation Tony Blair tolerated from his chancellor Gordon Brown? No chief executive would put up with it for a week, let alone 10 years.

英國首相擁有更多的行政權力和立法權力，但仍然要容忍那些可能以挑戰首相爲己任的反對者。託尼•布萊爾(Tony Blair)面對自己的財政大臣戈登•布朗(Gordon Brown)曾一次次強壓怒火。這樣的狀況沒有哪位首席執行官能忍受一週，更別提10年了。

The second and more important reason business leaders struggle in the political fray is that they are unprepared for the criticism, invective and ridicule they will have to endure.

商界領袖之所以難以應對政治爭鬥，第二點也是更重要的原因是，他們並未準備好面對將不得不忍受的批評、謾罵和嘲笑。

The press does sometimes attack chief executives. Politicians occasionally attack them too. Hauled before legislative committees, they react badly to the kind of questioning a political office-holder expects as a matter of course.

媒體有時確實會攻擊首席執行官。政客偶爾也會攻擊首席執行官。當首席執行官被傳喚到立法委員會面前接受訊問時，他們應對糟糕，而這樣的訊問是公職人員習以爲常的。

Some respond truculently, as did British retailer Sir Philip Green when asked by a House of Commons committee in June to explain the shortfall in the pension fund of BHS, the chain he ran that has since gone bust. Or they blink into the bright lights of a televised hearing and stumble through their answers — which were the reactions of Starbucks, Amazon and Google executives when questioned about tax arrangements by a UK parliamentary committee in 2012, and US car industry chiefs when congressional inquisitors demanded to know why they had flown to Washington in their private jets in 2008.

一些人表現得蠻橫，英國零售業大亨菲利普•格林爵士(Sir Philip Green)今年6月接受英國下議院委員會質詢時就是如此。（該委員會要求格林對BHS的養老金缺口作出解釋；BHS是格林曾經執掌的連鎖百貨店，後來破產。）又或者他們在電視聽證會的聚光燈下窘迫不安，結結巴巴地回答問題——2012年，當英國議會委員會就稅務安排對星巴克(Starbucks)、亞馬遜(Amazon)和谷歌(Google)的高管們進行訊問時，高管們的表現就是如此；2008年，當國會議員們要求美國汽車業首席執行官們解釋爲何乘私人飛機來華盛頓時，首席執行官們的表現也是如此。

Few business bosses know what it feels like to face the vituperation endured by politicians or to be caricatured relentlessly. Steve Bell, the Guardian cartoonist, decided that David Cameron’s shiny pink complexion made it look as if he had a condom over his head — and he drew the former prime minister that way for years. Zapiro, the South African cartoonist, always draws President Jacob Zuma with a shower growing out of his head — never allowing him to forget that while on trial in 2006 for allegedly raping a woman who was HIV-positive (he was acquitted), he said he had avoided infection by taking a shower.

沒有幾位企業老闆知道面對政客所經受的那種謾罵是什麼滋味，抑或被諷刺漫畫惡搞是什麼滋味。《衛報》(The Guardian)漫畫家史蒂夫•貝爾(Steve Bell)認定，戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)光亮的粉紅膚色看起來就像是頭上套了個避孕套，於是就把這位前首相畫成了這個樣子，並且一畫就是許多年。南非的漫畫家Zapiro總是把南非總統雅各布•祖馬(Jacob Zuma)畫成頭上長出一個花灑的樣子——時刻提醒他記得，2006年他因涉嫌強姦一名HIV陽性的女性而受審時（後被判無罪），他說自己通過沖澡避免了感染。

Politicians may loathe these depictions but they have to put up with them. Mr Bell says Mr Cameron once said to him “you can only push a condom so far” — which he wrote on the back of the moving truck in the cartoon he drew last month of the Camerons leaving 10 Downing Street.

政客或許厭惡這些惡搞，但是他們不得不忍受。貝爾表示，卡梅倫曾經跟他說“一隻避孕套的‘容量’是有限度的”(you can only push a condom so far)——上個月在畫卡梅倫離開唐寧街10號的漫畫時，貝爾把這句話寫在了畫中搬家卡車的車身背面。

Chief executives, by contrast, are surrounded by managers and staff eager to win favour. Talking back to the boss does not get people far. Business leaders become used to the admiration but this can make them thin-skinned when outsiders criticise them. A retired business leader once called to yell at me for writing that he couldn’t take criticism.

相比之下，首席執行官身邊圍繞着急於討好的經理和員工。和上司頂嘴的人待不長久。商界領袖變得習慣於接受崇拜，但是這使得他們對外人的指責過於敏感。一名已經退休的商界領袖曾因爲我在文章中說他無法接受批評，而打電話過來衝我大吼大叫。

Politicians’ press officers try to bully critics too but those who successfully run for public office know they often have to let the brickbats sail by.

政客的新聞官也會嘗試威嚇那些批評者，但是那些成功當選公職的人知道，他們往往不得不任由別人批評。

Any political leader could have told Mr Trump not to attack Megyn Kelly, a Fox News female television presenter, by saying she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever”. A sensible politician would have responded to criticism from the parents of a dead US Muslim soldier by saying how much he respected their sacrifice, rather than suggesting, as Mr Trump did, that the soldier’s mother had been prevented from speaking at the Democratic convention.

任何一位政治領袖都會告訴特朗普，不要攻擊福克斯電視臺的女主持人梅金•凱利(Megyn Kelly)，說她“雙眼通紅，熱血簡直要從身體裏噴出來了”。面對來自美國穆斯林陣亡士兵的父母的批評，明智的政客會說他有多麼敬重他們的犧牲，而不是像特朗普一樣，暗示那位士兵的母親在民主黨全國代表大會((Democratic National Convention))上被禁止發言了。

Few chief executives are as abusive towards their detractors as Mr Trump. Even fewer speak as recklessly or pick as many fights. Many will, rightly, object to being likened to him. But he is just an extreme example of the narcissistic boss who, once in the public arena, is incredulous that people dare to criticise him.

沒有幾個首席執行官會像特朗普一樣辱罵他們的批評者。像特朗普一樣言語輕率、四處挑事的首席執行官更是少之又少。許多首席執行官會拒絕被拿來跟特朗普相提並論——他們理應如此。但是特朗普只是一個極端的例子，展示了一名自戀的老闆在進入公共領域後，會不相信人們居然膽敢批評自己。