企業(yè)領(lǐng)袖還能重拾公眾信任嗎？

Chief executives: pipe down. Your public posturing and noisy lobbying is not winning your battle to restore trust in business. In fact, you may even be helping to lose it.

首席執(zhí)行官們，靜一靜吧。你們的公開表態(tài)和喧鬧的游說不會(huì)讓你們重拾民眾對(duì)企業(yè)的信任。實(shí)際上，你們甚至可能正在造成信任流失。

On the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, a safe space for many chief executives to opine on the state of the world, their credibility is under fire. Repeated scandals (Volkswagen was back in the dock last week); protests over excessive pay; incidents of day-to-day disrespect of employees: all take their toll on a CEO’s image.

在達(dá)沃斯世界經(jīng)濟(jì)論壇(World Economic Forum)——一處可供許多首席執(zhí)行官對(duì)世界局勢發(fā)表看法的安全之所——召開前夕，他們的公信力正在經(jīng)受拷問。不斷曝光的丑聞(上周大眾(Volkswagen)再次成為眾矢之的);對(duì)過高薪酬的抗議;日常工作中發(fā)生的不尊重員工事件：都在損害首席執(zhí)行官的形象。

And this is nearly a decade after the first ominous rumblings of the financial crisis that torpedoed trust in business, and in spite of multiple well-meaning, top-down efforts to salvage confidence.

如今距摧毀人們對(duì)企業(yè)信任的全球金融危機(jī)首次發(fā)出不祥的隆隆聲已過去近10年，盡管期間有各種善意、自上而下的努力來挽回人們的信心。

Business leaders need to set the tone for how their organisations behave and evolve. If they are confident enough to shout publicly about their successes in creating a positive culture, that has always seemed to me to be a good sign.

商界領(lǐng)袖需要為自己的企業(yè)如何運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)和發(fā)展定下基調(diào)。如果他們有足夠信心公開吶喊他們成功地創(chuàng)造了一種積極的文化，這在我看來一直都是個(gè)好跡象。

But I’m increasingly worried that chief executives’ public interventions make things worse, rather than better.

 但我越來越擔(dān)心的是，首席執(zhí)行官們的公共干預(yù)將讓情況變得更糟，而非更好。

The latest edition of consultancy Edelman’s Trust Barometer, published today, just underlines my concern. Once again, the survey indicates the “trust gap” has widened. Confidence in media, business, government and non-governmental institutions has dwindled among the mass population, particularly in the US, UK and France. The trust levels of the 15 per cent of survey participants dubbed “the informed public” have plateaued. Even these college-educated, media-savvy, wealthier individuals are losing faith in the system.

公關(guān)公司愛德曼(Edelman)近日發(fā)布的最新《愛德曼信任度調(diào)查報(bào)告》(Edelman Trust Barometer)就凸顯了我在這方面的擔(dān)憂。該調(diào)查再次表明“信任鴻溝”已經(jīng)擴(kuò)大。大眾對(duì)于媒體、商業(yè)、政府和非政府機(jī)構(gòu)的信心下滑——尤其是在美國、英國和法國。在占15%的被稱為“有識(shí)公眾”的調(diào)查參與者中，信任水平停止上升。即使這些受過高等教育、了解媒體、較富裕的個(gè)人也在對(duì)這個(gè)體系失去信心。

Last year’s survey presciently pointed to the yawning gap as one reason populist politicians were thriving. I used to justify paying attention to the Davos summit because even if the consensus from the Swiss resort was wrong, this wrongness would inform how global leaders conducted themselves in the year ahead. After various 2016 elections handed greater authority and influence to people beyond the usual Alpine circle of anxious, overachieving chin-strokers, even that depressingly modest assumption looks shaky.

去年的調(diào)查有先見性地表明這一鴻溝是造成民粹主義政客崛起的原因之一。我過去常力挺關(guān)注達(dá)沃斯峰會(huì)，因?yàn)閬碜赃@個(gè)瑞士度假勝地的共識(shí)即便是錯(cuò)的，它也將讓我們知道全球領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人在未來一年將如何行事。2016年的各種投票和選舉給通常那個(gè)小心翼翼、過于進(jìn)取的決策圈之外的人群更大的權(quán)力和影響力之后，即便上述極其溫和的假設(shè)也站不住腳了。

Chief executives, though, remain princes and princesses in their own corporate citadels. Their authority may be the subject of canteen criticism, staff gossip or shop floor mockery, but they are not subject to electoral challenge. The danger is that they use that power to grandstand. Instead, they should divert their efforts to the hard, often under-recognised work of converting their employees into their biggest fans.

然而，首席執(zhí)行官在自己公司的城堡中仍是“王子和公主”。他們的權(quán)威或許會(huì)成為餐桌談資、員工八卦或車間嘲諷的目標(biāo)，但他們不必面對(duì)選舉的挑戰(zhàn)。危險(xiǎn)在于他們利用這種權(quán)力嘩眾取寵。相反，他們應(yīng)將努力轉(zhuǎn)向一項(xiàng)艱難且常常被低估的工作——把員工變成自己最大的粉絲。

One reason to do so is that while the credibility of chief executives dwindled in all the countries Edelman surveyed, employees again came out as companies’ most trusted and honest spokespeople on everything from their own treatment to industry issues, innovation, and financial performance.

這樣做的原因之一是，雖然首席執(zhí)行官的聲譽(yù)在愛德曼調(diào)查的所有國家都出現(xiàn)下滑，但員工們?cè)俅纬蔀槠髽I(yè)最可信賴、最誠實(shí)的發(fā)言人——從自身待遇到行業(yè)問題、創(chuàng)新和財(cái)務(wù)業(yè)績。

Common practice, common sense, and stock exchange rules impose certain basic requirements that executives are best placed to fulfil. But there are some clear ways CEOs could rebuild trust with staff.

 慣例、常識(shí)和證券交易所規(guī)則所帶來的某些基本要求，高管們是最適合來履行的。但也存在一些首席執(zhí)行官可以重獲員工信任的明確辦法。

Corporate leaders should consider instituting a fixed pay ratio between lowest and highest paid, not to signal virtue to the outside world, but to limit internal resentment. They should seek to involve employees more closely in decisions, inviting them on to committees and into consultations that could also include non-executive directors. They should defy cynicism about purpose to reinforce a positive sense of why people come to work, and link that energy to the local communities they touch. 企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人應(yīng)考慮在最高薪酬與最低薪酬之間確立一個(gè)固定的比率，這不是為了向外界展示美德，而是為了減少內(nèi)部不滿。他們應(yīng)設(shè)法讓員工們更密切地參與決策過程，邀請(qǐng)他們加入委員會(huì)，參加可能非執(zhí)行董事也會(huì)參加的磋商。他們應(yīng)抵制嘲諷工作意義的論調(diào)，強(qiáng)化人們對(duì)工作意義的積極看法，并將這種精神融入他們所接觸的當(dāng)?shù)厣鐓^(qū)。

“We live in societies and we can thrive only if the society around us is in harmony,” the thoughtful chief executive of one large multinational told me last week. 一位頗有見地的大型跨國公司首席執(zhí)行官上周對(duì)我說：“我們都生活在社會(huì)之中，只有我們身處的社會(huì)保持和諧，我們才能成功。”

Making public statements along such lines is the easy part. Stepping back in order to encourage staff to step forward is much harder. But enthusiastic employees can become advocates — through social media and company “review” sites such as Glassdoor, and in conversation with their peers. After all, according to Edelman, one of the most credible overall sources of information about business is “a person like me”. 以此類口吻公開發(fā)聲相對(duì)容易。為鼓勵(lì)員工前進(jìn)而選擇下臺(tái)則困難得多。但滿腔熱情的員工可以成為辯護(hù)者——通過社會(huì)媒體、Glassdoor之類的公司“評(píng)價(jià)”網(wǎng)站以及與同儕交談。畢竟，根據(jù)愛德曼的數(shù)據(jù)，商業(yè)信息最可靠的來源之一正是“我這種人”。

Rebuilding trust in business like this, layer by layer, will be a slow process. 如此一層一層重建人們對(duì)企業(yè)的信任，將是一個(gè)緩慢的過程。

A senior executive at a crisis-battered bank once told me, ruefully, that his employer could only restore trust by doing a consistently good job for customers over time. That is true. But narrowing the trust gap with staff could help, by enlisting employees to offset the scandals and pay protests that tend to chip away at overall credibility. 一家遭危機(jī)重創(chuàng)的銀行的高管曾感慨地對(duì)我說，他們公司只能通過今后始終如一地為客戶好好服務(wù)才能贏回信任。這話沒錯(cuò)。但縮小與員工之間的信任鴻溝也可以有所幫助——通過贏取員工的支持來抵消丑聞和薪酬抗議的影響，這些往往會(huì)削弱整體公信力。

So next time, as chief executive, you are offered a public platform to change everyone’s mind about business’s lacklustre reputation, first try changing the minds of those closest to you: the people you work with. 因此，作為首席執(zhí)行官，你們被賦予了一個(gè)公共平臺(tái)，可以改變每個(gè)人對(duì)企業(yè)不佳聲譽(yù)的看法，但首先應(yīng)嘗試改變那些離你最近的人——和你一起工作的人——的看法。