About a year ago a friend landed a grand job running a medium-sized company. A few weeks in, I had lunch with him and he told me he was having a pretty grim time. Half his staff was mediocre¹, the culture was sleepy and, although he had come up with a plan to change things, he wasn’t at all sure it would work.

大约一年前，有位朋友找了一份非常棒的工作：管理一家中等规模的公司。几周后，我俩共进午餐时，他告诉我，他现在感觉很糟糕。公司里死气沉沉，半数员工都不怎么样，尽管他想出了一个改革计划，但一点都不确定是否会管用。

Last week we met again and I asked how it was going.

上周我们又见面了，我问他，现在情况怎么样？

Great! he said. It’s all good.

好极了！他说，一切顺利。

I congratulated him on having whipped everything into shape so quickly. He gave me a funny look and said the only thing he had so far managed to whip into shape was himself. He had worked out that the first thing you have to do as a chief executive is to learn to lie. Or if not actually to lie, never to give voice to four basic truths.

我恭喜他这么快就让所有事情走上正轨。他带着古怪的神情对我说，到目前为止他唯一搞定的就是他自己。他已经发现了，作为一名首席执行官，你不得不做的第一件事就是学会撒谎。如果确实不想撒谎的话，绝不能透露四条基本事实。

The first rule is never to admit to not enjoying the job. When you are in charge you cannot say that you are struggling or stressed or having any negative feelings about the work at all. Instead, you must insist that the job is stimulating² and going well and that you are entirely³ in control.

第一条，绝不能承认你不喜欢自己的工作。身为负责人，你绝不能说，你在苦苦挣扎、你压力很大，不能说你对工作有任何负面情绪。相反，你必须坚称，这份工作令你感到兴奋，一切顺利，你完全掌控着局面。

The second truth you are forbidden from uttering is that you don’t like or rate anyone at all in your organisation⁴. “My chairman is an idiot,” is something often thought but which must never be uttered. Even less can you disparage⁵ anyone who works for you.

你不能说的第二个真相是你一点儿不喜欢或看不上公司里的任何人。“董事长是个白痴”，这样的想法即使经常在心里冒出来，也绝不能说出口。你更不能轻视任何一个下属。

Third, bad-mouthing your company is out of the question. You are responsible for it and for everyone who works there and you have to be chief cheerleader at all times, however unnatural⁶ that feels.

第三条，说公司坏话是不行的。你对公司和所有员工负责，你在任何时间都必须是拉拉队队长，即使你觉得不自然。

There was John Cryan last week laying it on with a trowel as he insisted that Deutsche Bank was “absolutely rock solid”. By the standards of bank chief executives Mr Cryan is a straight talker (he dared declare in November that his bonus didn’t make him work harder) but even he had to play the confidence game — banks are only ever rock solid when people believe them to be so.

约翰克赖恩(John Cryan)最近就说了大话，他坚称德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)“绝对稳如磐石”。以银行CEO的标准来衡量，克赖恩是个直言不讳的人（去年11月他居然大胆地说，奖金并没有让他更卖力地工作），但就连他也必须玩信心游戏——当人们认为银行稳如磐石的时候，银行才会真的稳如磐石。

There are only two times when it is possible to say something negative: when you can blame it on your predecessor⁷ (and then it’s open season) and when you have a plan up your sleeve for improving matters. Even then, though, such talk can be dangerous.

唯有在两种情况下能说些不中听的话：你可以将问题归咎于前任的时候（然后就可以公开批评了），和你想出了一个改善局势的好办法的时候。不过，即便此时，这样讲话也可能是危险的。

When Stephen Elop likened Nokia to a burning platform, he spoke⁸ the truth, one that was needed to frighten employees into action, yet it was a disaster. Things continued to get worse until Nokia was finally bailed⁹ out by Microsoft, which bought its mobile phone unit.

当斯蒂芬埃洛普(Stephen Elop)把诺基亚(Nokia)比作一个“燃烧的平台”(burning platform)时，他道出了实情，他需要这种恐慌促使员工们行动起来，可结果却是一场灾难。局面持续恶化，最后诺基亚被微软(Microsoft)所拯救，把手机业务卖给了微软。

The final thing my friend has learnt never to tell anyone is that he’s not sure. As chief executive, you cannot say: “We are making this takeover/ restructuring/slashing costs but I’m not entirely sure if it will work.” Instead, you have to present every initiative as a no-brainer.

我朋友学到的最后一条，是绝不能告诉任何人，自己不太有把握。作为首席执行官，你不能说：“我们正在进行收购/结构重组/大力削减成本，但我不太有把握能做好。”相反，你在说起任何行动时，都必须表现出轻而易举的样子。

Not only is doubt over strategy forbidden but admissions of self doubt are ruled out too. Even though almost all chief executives privately¹⁰ admit to being riddled¹¹ with it — and those that don’t are the ones we worry about — they must not ever say: “I’m not sure I’m up to this” for fear they will be taken at face value.

不仅不能对公司战略表示出怀疑，而且也不能承认对自己感到怀疑。尽管几乎所有首席执行官私下里都会承认，经常感到怀疑——不是这个样子的首席执行官，反倒让人感到担忧——但他们务必不能说出口：“我没把握能否胜任”，以防别人真的信了他们的话。

Possibly these four forbidden truths can be confided¹² to a sympathetic spouse¹³ in the dead of night but that is as far as it is wise to go.

这些不能说的真相，可以在夜深人静时透露给跟你一条心的伴侣，但也最好仅限于此。

Any sign of non-enjoyment, or doubt, or lack of faith in the company or individuals is taken as tantamount to admitting that you are unfit for the job.

任何对公司或个人表现出的不高兴、或怀疑、或缺乏信心，都会被认为等同于承认你不适合做这份工作。

This is all pretty constraining¹⁴, especially given how hard it is to be a chief executive and how often it ends in failure. With hindsight some former chief executives will in unguarded moments admit that the job was hellish but at the time there was only one thing for it: square their shoulders and lie.

这太令人拘束了，尤其是考虑到当一名CEO是多么困难，而且最终失败的情况又是多么常见。回首往事之时，有些前CEO会在不留神时承认，这份工作让人烦透了。但在任时，他能做的唯有一件事：抬头挺胸，坚定地说谎。

According to my friend, the good thing about pretending to be having a great time is that it helps you convince yourself that you actually are; the bad thing is that it is thoroughly¹⁵ alienating¹⁶. If you can’t tell your friends what you really feel, there isn’t much point in having friends.

我朋友表示，假装过得很愉快的好处是，这可以有助于让自己相信，你确实过得不错；坏处是，这么做会彻底让你与别人疏远。如果你不能把真实想法告诉朋友们，那么交朋友就没太大意义了。

As I headed back to work it occurred to me that his list was not complete. There is a further taboo¹⁷ and over this lunch he had comprehensively broken it.

在回公司的路上，我想到，他列出的清单并不完整。还有另外一条禁忌，在这次午餐时被他彻底打破了。

That fifth thing you can never say as a chief executive is: “My job means that I sometimes have to lie and pretend.”

作为CEO绝不能说的第五件事是：“我的工作意味着，我有时不得不说谎和装腔作势。”

There is only one acceptable view of what it takes to be a great leader, which is that you have to be honest with yourself and others at all times.

关于一位伟大的领导者需要具备什么素质，只有一条公认的标准：无论什么时候，你都必须对自己和别人诚实。

This simply is not true. A chief executive can only afford to be honest up to a point. In fact, the scope for honesty is so curtailed¹⁸ that the job is quite unsuited to anyone who, like my friend, is too addicted¹⁹ to saying what they really think.

这绝非事实。CEO只能做到一定程度的诚实，他负担不起百分百诚实的代价。事实上，鉴于CEO的可诚实程度是如此受限，这个岗位非常不适合那些爱讲真实想法的人，比如我那位朋友。