高管新時尚 休假時不工作
When I was at university I spent a summertravelling around Europe with some friends, and one of them suggested we dropin on his parents’place in the south of France.
大學時的一個夏天，我和一羣朋友一起環遊歐洲，其中一個朋友邀請我們到法國南部他的父母家做客。
There are two things I remember about thatvisit.
說起那次拜訪，有兩件事我至今記憶猶新。
There was the mortification of beinggreeted by a butler who ceremoniously carried my tatty luggage —a fewthings stuffed into a plastic bag —to the suite ofrooms to which I’d been allocated.
首先讓我覺得很沒面子的是，一名管家彬彬有禮地將我寒酸的行李——一隻塞了許多東西的塑料包——送到爲我安排的套房。
But what stays in my mind even more was theimage of his father —who turned out to be a famous tycoon —clad in smallswimming trunks with cigar clamped between teeth, holding a gin and tonic in onehand and a telephone receiver in the other.
而讓我印象更爲深刻的是我朋友父親的樣子——他原來是位有名的大亨——只見他穿着窄小的泳褲，嘴裏叼着雪茄，一手端着杯金湯力，一手握着電話聽筒。
The year was 1979 and this was what powerlooked like.
那時是1979年，當時大人物就是這樣。
The man was too important to be out oftouch with the deals he was doing.
這個男人位高權重，沒法將自己的生意放手不管。
So he had installed a telephone line by theswimming pool and passed his summers issuing instructions from a lounger by thewater.
所以他在泳池邊也裝上了電話，於是他在水邊的躺椅上發號施令，度過了一個個夏日。
A quarter of a century later, technologyallowed all of us to pretend to be tycoons.
25年過去了，技術使我們人人都能裝成大亨。
We might not have had the butler or thepool house but everyone could head to the beach with a BlackBerry packed alongwith their towels.
也許我們沒有管家或是帶泳池的房子，但卻都能帶着浴巾和黑莓(BlackBerry)手機去海灘。
And because we could, we did.
正因爲我們能這樣做，我們就這樣做。
Only for most of us, what we were doing wasnot deals, it was responding to mundane inquiries that could have waited twoweeks —or forever.
只不過我們多數人都不是在做生意，而是在回覆雞毛蒜皮的小事，這些事可以兩週後再處理——或者乾脆不用理會。
This year, I decided to do somethingradical that I hadn’t done for almost a decade.
今年，我決定做些大膽的嘗試，我已經有將近十年沒這樣做了。
I took a proper holiday.
我愜意地度了個假。
I disconnected myself from work.altogether.
全然拋開了工作。
I didn’t open any workmessages.
不去打開任何與工作有關的消息。
I spent time reading, walking, looking atthe sea —and sometimes getting into it —while I thoughtabout not much at all.
我閱讀、散步、瞭望大海——有時到海里泡一泡——腦子裏什麼都不想。
When I returned to work and reacquaintedmyself with email, it was perfectly straightforward.
回來上班後，我非常簡捷地處理了電子郵件。
I deleted almost all of them unread,responding only to the things that looked interesting.
我幾乎刪除了所有未讀郵件，只回復那些看起來有趣的。
Far from feeling overwhelmed, I felt acertain excitement in the sudden immersion in work.
突然恢復工作不僅沒讓我覺得不堪重負，反而讓我有一點興奮。
It was a new-shoes and sharp-pencil sort offeeling that used to go with the beginning of a school term.
這種感覺似曾相識，就像以前在新學期伊始，穿上新鞋子，削尖了鉛筆的感覺。
Over the past week it has started to dawnon me that my radical action was not radical at all.
過去一週，我意識到自己的大膽舉動其實一點都不大膽。
I was merely following the latest fashion.
僅僅是趕了趟時髦。
Last week I sent an email to anentrepreneur I know, and within seconds the automatic reply came back: I am onholiday until August 30 and will not be checking messages.
上星期，我給一位認識的企業家發了封郵件，隨即就收到了自動回覆：目前我正在休假，8月30日前不會查看信箱。
This was particularly remarkable given thatlast time I’d seen him —some five years ago —he had told me how he expected all his employees to respond tomessages instantly wherever they were and whatever they were doing.
這種口吻跟我上次見到他時——大約五年前——簡直判若兩人。那時他對我說，他希望所有員工，不論何時何地，都能第一時間回覆信息。
So I emailed back asking what had made himchange his mind —but all I got in return was the same automatic message telling mehe wasn’t reading whatever I was sending.
於是，我回郵件問他爲什麼改變了想法——可收到的仍舊是一模一樣的自動回覆，無論我發什麼，他都不會看。
The very next day I got an email from awoman who I had contacted before I went away.
就在第二天，我在休假前聯繫過的一位女士給我發了封郵件。
It began: Sorry for my radio silence —I have hada blissful two-week holiday and am just catching up on emails on my return.
郵件開頭這樣寫道：抱歉一直沒回復，我度過了一個兩週長的愉快假期，回來後纔開始處理郵件。
Here was the same thing again: a driven,thirtysomething entrepreneur who wanted me to know not how hard she worked onholiday but how she loafed around, and how much she enjoyed it.
這又是一個同樣的事例，一個銳意進取、已屆而立之年的企業家，想讓我看到的不是她在假期如何努力工作，而是她如何放鬆，如何適得其樂。
To see how widespread this change is, I’ve done alittle experiment.
爲了看看這種變化有多普遍，我做了個小實驗。
I’ve collected all theout-of-office emails I’ve had this summer, and counted the number that were followed atonce by an email sent from the beach.
我收集了今年夏天收到的所有外出時的自動應答郵件，又數了數那些在第一時間從海灘回覆的郵件。
Three years ago, it was very unusual for anautomatic message not to be quickly followed by a real one.
三年前，收到一封自動回覆郵件後，如果沒有一封真實的郵件緊隨其後，是很稀罕的。
This year I’ve had a total of 38automatic messages telling me the sender was away, only six of which have beensucceeded by a personal, poolside reply.
今年，我總共收到38封外出時的自動應答郵件，其中只有6封郵件隨後有真人從泳池邊上發來了回覆。
Bragging about not working on holiday seemsto be part of a wider trend —which I wrote about a few months ago —in whichfashionable execs flaunt not their long hours, but their short ones.
誇耀自己不在假期工作符合一種趨勢：緊跟時代潮流的企業高管們炫耀的不再是花了很長時間工作，而是隻用了很短時間就完成了工作——我幾個月前曾寫過一篇文章談到了這種趨勢。
To be emailing from the pool does not proveyou are powerful, it is starting to be seen for what it is —a sign ofweakness, poor time management and an inability to delegate.
在泳池邊發郵件並不能證明你有影響力，這開始被人們視爲能力不足、不善管理時間以及不會放權的證明。
If you can take two weeks off altogether itshows you have overcome all gadget addiction, and like a modern-day tycoon cancontrol when you work —and when you don’t.
如果你能休息整整兩個星期，則說明你已經克服了對電子設備的依賴，而且像一個現代大亨一樣，自己掌控着何時工作——何時不工作。
