一個CEO的自我修養(yǎng).docx

此文檔收集于網(wǎng)絡(luò)，如有侵權(quán)，請聯(lián)系網(wǎng)站刪除一個CEO的自我修養(yǎng) 作者:Ben Horowitz 時間:2012年10月22日 來源: 財富中文網(wǎng)CEO是一項不符合人們天性的工作。CEO不是天生的，全憑后天造就。下面就是打造CEO的秘籍。 前幾天，有位朋友問我，CEO是天生的，還是后天造就的？我說：“這就像是問Jolly Ranchers糖是長出來的，還是造出來的。CEO是一項極端不符合人天性的工作?！闭f完這句話，看到他臉上驚詫的表情，我意識到這一點或許并沒有像我想得那么顯而易見。經(jīng)過一番思考后，我意識到大多數(shù)人的想法正好相反，他們認(rèn)為CEO是天生，而不是靠后天造就。我經(jīng)常聽到其他風(fēng)投資本家和董事會成員對某位創(chuàng)始人迅速做出評估，得出結(jié)論：他/她不是“當(dāng)CEO的料”。我不知道他們怎么能這么快就得出結(jié)論。公司創(chuàng)始人通常需要多年的時間來發(fā)展CEO技能，在我看來，成敗難料。體育運動中有些項目可以相對較快地學(xué)會，比如短跑。因為跑步是一種本能，只需多加訓(xùn)練。但像拳擊等其他運動就需要較長的時間來掌握，因為它們有很多有違本能的動作。比方說，在拳擊運動中后退時，很重要的一點是要先抬起后面那只腳。如果一個人用本能的方式后退，先抬起前面那只腳，很可能會被打暈。學(xué)習(xí)這樣有違本能的后退方式，直到習(xí)慣自如，必須要有大量的練習(xí)。如果當(dāng)了CEO后，還是以自己感覺最習(xí)慣的方式行事，可能也會被打暈。做CEO，很多行事都會違背天生的傾向。從人類學(xué)角度，做事討人喜歡符合人類的天性。因為它能增加一個人生存的機會。但要做好CEO，要贏得長期的推崇，必須做很多短期內(nèi)會讓人們失望的事情，不符合天性的事情。事實上，即便是一些最基本的CEO行事方式在一開始也會感覺不自然。如果你的搭檔給你講了一個好笑的故事，要對他/她的表現(xiàn)進行評估就會讓人感覺有點怪。下面這么說完全不符合我們的天性：“天哪，我覺得這個故事太爛了。原本或許是個好故事，但你的鋪墊一點都不吸引人，最后抖包袱時又搞砸了。我建議你回去重新編排，明天再給我講一遍?！边@么做太怪了，但對人們的表現(xiàn)進行評估、同時不斷給予反饋正是一名CEO必須要做的事情。如果不這么做，那么一些更復(fù)雜的事情，比如寫考核評語、劃定范圍、處理企業(yè)政治、確定薪酬和開除員工等工作就更不可能完成，或者即便完成，也做得很差。給出這樣的反饋有違天性，但同樣有違天性的管理技能正是建立于這樣的基石上。一個人如何能掌握這些有違天性的技能？三明治批評法對于新手，一種常用而有效的反饋技巧是資深經(jīng)理們所謂的“三明治批評法”。這個技巧在經(jīng)典管理書籍一分鐘經(jīng)理（The One Minute Manager）中有精彩的描述。它的基本理念是，如果你能在一開始先表揚（第一片面包），人們就會更容易接受你的反饋；接著給出令人不快的信息（批評）；最后提醒他們你有多看重他們的優(yōu)點（第二片面包）。三明治批評法的一大好處是反饋重在對事不對人，因為你在一開始就明確了一點，你很看重他/她。這是一個重要的反饋理念。三明治批評法對低級員工管用，但它也面臨以下挑戰(zhàn)： 它往往過于正式。因為你必須得預(yù)先計劃三明治的內(nèi)容，確保正確陳述，整個過程會讓員工感覺很正式，像是在接受評判。 而且，這種方法用過幾次后，就會變得不那么真誠。員工會想：“天啊，她又在表揚我了。我知道接下來是什么了，批評。” 中高級經(jīng)理人員會立即意識到這是三明治批評法，結(jié)果產(chǎn)生負(fù)面效果。我在職業(yè)生涯的早期曾試圖給一位資深雇員一份“三明治批評”，她就像看著一個小孩一樣看著我說：“本，那些好聽的就省省吧。直接告訴我，我哪里做錯了?！碑?dāng)時，我就想，我絕對不是天生的CEO料。關(guān)鍵點要想精通反饋之道，必須要超越“三明治批評”這類基礎(chǔ)技巧，形成符合自己個性和價值觀的風(fēng)格。以下是實現(xiàn)有效反饋的幾個關(guān)鍵點： 真實可信。非常重要的一點是要讓他們相信你的反饋，不要說一些操縱聽者感受的話。不能假模假式。 出發(fā)點正確。給出反饋的目的是因為希望他們成功，而不是失敗，這一點也很重要。如果你真的想讓他們成功，就得讓他們感受到這一點。讓他們感受到你的心。如果他們能感受到你的心，感受到你的支持，他們就會聽你的。 對事不對人。如果想開除某個人，就直接開除吧。不要讓他/她準(zhǔn)備好被開除。讓他/她準(zhǔn)備好取得成功。如果他/她不聽取反饋，那就換種對話方式。 不要在同事面前把一個人當(dāng)小丑耍。雖然在小組會議上給出某種反饋并無不可，但絕對要避免讓一個人在同事面前顏面掃地。否則，你的反饋除了能產(chǎn)生以下兩種效果，將毫無效果：1) 讓這名員工感到奇恥大辱；2)讓這名員工對你恨之入骨。 反饋因人而異。每個人都不同。有些人對于反饋非常敏感，有些人則臉皮特別厚，也很遲鈍。你的語氣應(yīng)當(dāng)結(jié)合員工的個性，而不是由著自己的性子。 直截了當(dāng)，但不刻薄。不要兜圈子。如果你覺得某人的演示很糟糕，不要說：“這的確不錯，但可以加一個過渡，強化結(jié)論部分?！毕旅娴恼f法聽起來嚴(yán)厲，但效果也許更好：“我沒聽懂，不知道你要說什么，原因是如何如何。”弱化反饋中的批評部分，可能會比沒有反饋還要糟搞 ，因為這可能導(dǎo)致誤解，讓聽者困惑。但不要狂批他們，也不要顯擺你的地位。這么做只會適得其反，因為正確的反饋是對話，而不是獨白。反饋是對話，而非獨白沒錯，你可能是CEO，你可以告訴人們哪些是你不喜歡的、不認(rèn)同的，但這并不意味著你一定是對的。你的員工應(yīng)當(dāng)比你更了解他們自己的職責(zé)。他們應(yīng)當(dāng)掌握了比你更多的數(shù)據(jù)。你有可能是錯的。因此，你的目的應(yīng)當(dāng)是通過反饋，啟動（而不是終結(jié)）討論。鼓勵人們挑戰(zhàn)你的判斷，給出觀點和結(jié)論。從文化上，你希望圍繞超高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)展開深入探討。你想通過施加高壓，獲得高質(zhì)量的想法，但同時也要足夠開明，以便及時發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的錯誤。高頻率反饋一旦掌握了這些關(guān)鍵點，就應(yīng)時時刻刻練習(xí)。作為CEO，你應(yīng)當(dāng)對幾乎每件事都有一個觀點。你應(yīng)當(dāng)對每項預(yù)測、每個產(chǎn)品計劃、每次演示，甚至每項評論都有一個觀點。讓人們知道你的想法。如果你喜歡某個人的評論，就反饋給她。如果你不同意，也反饋給她。說出你的想法。充分表達自己。這樣做會帶來兩大積極效應(yīng)： 在你的公司里，反饋對事不對人。如果CEO不斷給出反饋，那么與之互動的每個人都會習(xí)慣這一點。沒人會想：“天哪，他/她這么說到底是什么意思？他/她是不是不喜歡我？”每個人都會自然而然地關(guān)注事情本身，不會把它看成隨機的表現(xiàn)評估。 人們會習(xí)慣討論壞消息。如果人們習(xí)慣了探討每個人做錯了什么，那么，探討公司做錯了什么就會變得非常容易。優(yōu)秀的公司文化深諳“好事不出門，壞事傳千里”的信息傳播規(guī)則，而糟糕的公司文化則有綠野仙蹤（The Wiz）中東方女巫的影子：“別告訴我壞消息?！痹炀虲EO做CEO還需要有更廣泛的技能（對此，我在博客中已經(jīng)寫了很多），但要達到高級水平，獲得你天生就是CEO的感覺，關(guān)鍵是要掌握這些有違天性的行為。如果你是創(chuàng)始人CEO，你在做這些事的時候感到有些別扭或不能勝任，但深知這不是當(dāng)公司達到100人或1,000人時能一蹴而就，那么歡迎你加入我們的俱樂部。這正是我曾經(jīng)的感受。我遇到過的每位CEO都是如此。這是一個過程。CEO就是這么煉成的。本文作者本霍羅維茨是風(fēng)險資本公司Andreessen Horowitz的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人及合伙人。他曾是Opsware(前身為Loudcloud）的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官，該公司后來被惠普（HP）收購，他在網(wǎng)景（Netscape）負(fù)責(zé)過幾個產(chǎn)品業(yè)務(wù)部門。如今，他也在移動支付公司Foursquare、藍(lán)牙耳機制造商Jawbone、創(chuàng)新相機生產(chǎn)商Lytro、Magnet公司、云應(yīng)用管理服務(wù)商Okta、眾包網(wǎng)站Rap Genius和商用軟件廠商Tidemark等公司的董事會任職。他的博客地址：/。She got a big booty so I call her Big Booty.2 Chainz, Birthday SongThe other day, a friend of mine asked me whether CEOs were born or made. I said, Thats kind of like asking if Jolly Ranchers are grown or made. CEO is a very unnatural job. After saying it and seeing the surprised look on his face, I realized that perhaps it wasnt as obvious as Id originally thought.After thinking further, I realized that most people actually assume the oppositeCEOs are born not made. I often listen as other Venture Capitalists and board members rapidly evaluate a founder and conclude that shes not CEO material. I am not sure how they figure these things out so fast. It generally takes years for a founder to develop the CEO skill set and it is usually extremely difficult for me to tell whether or not she will make it.In athletics, some things like becoming a sprinter can be learned relatively quickly because they take a natural motion and refine it. Others, like boxing, take much longer to master, because they require lots of unnatural motions. For example, when going backwards in boxing, its critically important to pick up your back foot first, because if you get hit while walking backwards the natural waypicking up your front foot firstoften leads to getting knocked cold. Learning to make this unnatural motion feel natural takes a great deal of practice. If you do what feels most natural as a CEO, then you may also get knocked cold.Being CEO requires lots of unnatural motion. From an anthropological standpoint, it is natural to do things that make people like you. It enhances your chances for survival. Yet to be a good CEO, in order to be liked in the long run, you must do many things that will upset people in the short run. Unnatural things.In fact, even the most basic CEO building blocks will feel unnatural at first. If your buddy tells you a funny story, it would feel quite weird to evaluate her performance. It would be totally unnatural to say: Gee, I thought that story really sucked. It had potential, but you were underwhelming on the build up then you totally flubbed the punch line. I suggest that you go back, rework it and present it to me again tomorrow. Doing so would be quite bizarre, but evaluating peoples performances and constantly giving feedback is precisely what a CEO must do. If she doesnt, then the more complex motions such as writing reviews, taking away territory, handling politics, setting compensation and firing people will be either impossible or handled rather poorly.Giving feedback turns out to be the unnatural atomic building block atop which the unnatural skill set of the management gets built. But how does one master the unnatural?The Shit SandwichA popular and sometimes effective technique for feedback beginners is something that experienced managers call The Shit Sandwich. The technique is marvelously described in the classic management text, The One Minute Manager. The basic idea is that people open up to feedback far more if you start by complimenting them (slice of bread #1), then you give them the difficult message (the shit), then wrap up by reminding them how much you value their strengths (slice of bread #2). The shit sandwich also has the positive side effect of focusing the feedback on the behavior rather than the person, because you establish up front that you really value the person. This is a key concept in giving feedback.The shit sandwich can work well with junior employees, but has the following challenges: It tends to be overly formal. Because you have to preplan and script the sandwich to make it come out correctly, the process can feel formal and judgmental to the employee. After you do it a couple of times, it will lack authenticity. The employee will think: Oh boy, shes complimenting me again. I know whats coming next, the shit. More senior executives will recognize the shit sandwich immediately and it will have an instant negative effect.Early in my career, I attempted to deliver a carefully crafted shit sandwich to a senior employee and she looked at me like I was a little kid and said: Spare me the compliment, Ben, and just tell me what I did wrong. At that point, I thought that I was definitely not born to be a CEO.The KeysTo become elite at giving feedback, you must elevate yourself beyond a basic technique like the shit sandwich. You must develop a style that matches your own personality and values. Here are the keys to being effective: Be authentic. Its extremely important they you believe in the feedback that you give and not say anything to manipulate the recipients feelings. You cant fake the funk. Come from the right place. Its important that you give people feedback because you want them to succeed and not because you want them to fail. If you really want someone to succeed, then make her feel it. Make her feel you. If she feels you and you are in her corner, then she will listen to you. Dont get personal. If you decide to fire somebody, fire her. Dont prepare her to get fired. Prepare her to succeed. If she doesnt take the feedback, then thats a different conversation. Dont clown people in front of their peers. While its OK to give certain kinds of feedback in a group setting, you should strive never to embarrass someone in front of their peers. If you do so, then your feedback will have little impact other than to a) cause the employee to be horribly ashamed and b) cause the employee to hate your guts. Feedback is not one size fits all. Everybody is different. Some employees are extremely sensitive to feedback while others have particularly thick skin and often thick skulls. Stylistically, your tone should match the employees personality not your mood. Be direct, but not mean. Dont be obtuse. If you think somebodys presentation sucks, dont say: Its really good, but could use one more pass to tighten up the conclusion. While it may seem harsh, its much better to say: I couldnt follow it and I didnt understand your point and here are the reasons why. Watered down feedback can be worse than no feedback at all because its deceptive and confusing to the recipient. But dont beat them up or attempt to show your superiority. Doing so will defeat your purpose because when done properly feedback is dialogue, not a monologue.Feedback is a dialogue, not a monologueYou may be the CEO and you may be telling somebody about something that you dont like or disagree with, but that doesnt mean that youre right. Your employee should know more about her function than you. She should have more data than you. You may be wrong.As a result, your goal should be for your feedback to open up rather than close down discussion. Encourage people to challenge your judgment and argue the point to conclusion. Culturally, you want super high standards thoroughly discussed. You want to apply tremendous pressure to get the highest quality thinking, yet be open enough to find out when you are wrong.High frequency feedbackOnce youve mastered the keys, you should practice what youve mastered all the time. As CEO, you should have an opinion on absolutely everything. You should have an opinion on every forecast, every product plan, every presentation and even every comment. Let people know what you think. If you like someones comment, give her the feedback. If you disagree, give her the feedback. Say what you think. Express yourself.This will have two critically important positive effects: Feedback wont be personal in your company. If the CEO constantly gives feedback, then everyone she interacts with will just get used to it. Nobody will think: Gee, what did she really mean by that comment? Does she not like me? Everybody will naturally focus on the issues, not an implicit random performance evaluation. People will become comfortable discussing bad news. If people get comfortable talking about what each other are doing wrong, th