Although there is a great deal of public interest in ensuring more women become leaders, thereby reversing their under-representation in the ranks of power, too many suggested solutions are founded on the misconception that women ought to emulate men. The thinking is: “If men have most of the top roles, they must be doing something right, so why not get women to act like them?”
虽然确保更多的女性成为领导人，从而扭转她们在权力阶层中缺少代表的状况，符合公共利益。但太多人建议的解决办法都是基于一种误解，即女性应该效仿男性。他们的想法是：“如果男性占有大部分最高职位，他们一定在做正确的事情，那么为什么不让女性学习他们呢？”
But this logic fails to account for the relatively dismal performance of most leaders — who are overwhelmingly male. As we have argued before, the real problem is not a lack of competent females; it is too few obstacles for incompetent males, which explains the surplus of overconfident, narcissistic, and unethical people in charge.
但这一逻辑却不能解释大多数表现不佳的领导人同样也是男性。正如我们之前所言，真正的问题不是缺乏有能力的女性；而是对于不称职的男性来说，障碍太少了，这也能够解释为什么太多的领导人自命不凡、缺乏道德。
As a consequence, gender differences in leadership effectiveness (what it takes to perform well) are out of sync with gender differences in leadership emergence (what it takes to make it to the top). Indeed, research shows that the prevalence of male senior leaders is not a product of superior leadership talent in men. Rather, large quantitative studies, including meta-analyses, indicate that gender differences in leadership talent are either nonexistent, or they actually favor women.
因此，领导效能的性别差异(表现良好所需的条件)与领导成长的性别差异(进入高层所需的条件)并不同步。事实上，研究表明，男性高层领导的普遍存在并不是男性卓越领导才能的产物。相反，包括meta分析在内的大量定量研究表明，领导才能方面的性别差异或不存在，或实际上有利于女性。
With this in mind, it would be more logical to flip the suggested remedy: instead of encouraging women to act like male leaders (many of whom are incompetent), we should be asking men in power to adopt some of the more effective leadership behaviors more commonly found in women. This would create a pool of better role models who could pave the way for both competent men and women to advance.
考虑到这一点，显然推翻这个建议更符合逻辑：我们不应该鼓励女性表现得像男性领导者一样（他们中的许多人都不称职），而是应该要求掌权的男性采取一些女性更常用的高效领导行为。这将创造出一批更好的榜样，为有能力的男性和女性铺平前进的道路。
Leadership Lessons for Men
男性可以借鉴的领导经验
Here are some critical leadership lessons that most men can learn from the average woman.
以下是大多数男性可以从普通女性身上学到的一些关键领导力经验。
Don’t lean in when you’ve got nothing to lean in about. There is a trend of telling women to “lean in” to qualities like assertiveness, boldness, or confidence. In men, such qualities can manifest as self-promotion, taking credit for others’ achievements, and acting in aggressive ways. Since there has never been a strong correlation between leaning in and being good at something — especially for men —a better option would be to stop falling for people who lean in when they lack the talents to back it up. In a logical world, we would promote people into leadership roles when they are competent rather than confident, vetting them for their expertise, track record, and relevant leadership competencies (e.g., intelligence, curiosity, empathy, integrity, and coachability). Note that all these attributes are far better evaluated with science-based assessments than via the typical job interview.
当你名不副实时，不要迈步。现在有一种趋势是告诉女性“向前一步”，要具备自信、无畏等品质。而在男性身上，这种品质却可以表现为自吹自擂、占他人的成就为己有以及咄咄逼人。因为学会某事不代表擅长某事，尤其是对男性来说。更明智的选择是，当有些人缺乏相应的能力却想要上升时，不要沦陷于他们。在一个合乎逻辑的世界里，当人们有能力而不是盲目自信时，通过考察他们的专业知识、工作经历和相关的领导力(例如，智力、好奇心、同情心、道德和可塑性)，我们会提拔他们担任领导。请注意，用基于科学的模型评估这些属性比通过典型的工作面试评估要有效得多。
Know your own limitations. We live in a world that celebrates self-belief, but it is far more important to have self-awareness. And often there is a conflict between the two. For instance, awareness of your limitations (flaws and weaknesses) is incompatible with skyrocketing levels of self-belief, and the only reason to be utterly devoid of self-doubt and insecurities is delusion. Although women are not as insecure as they are portrayed to be in the self-help literature (and much of the popular media), studies do show that they are generally less overconfident than men. This is good news because it enables them to understand how people see them and gives them the capacity to spot gaps between where they want to be and where they actually are. People who see themselves in a more critical way than others do are better able to prepare, even if it means overpreparing, and that’s a solid way to increase your competence and performance.
了解自己的局限性。我们生活在一个崇尚自信的世界，但自知自觉要重要得多。两者之间经常会有冲突。例如，意识到自己的局限(缺点和弱点)与不断飙升的自信是不相容的。然而，只有妄想和错觉能保证人完全没有自我怀疑和不安全感。尽管女性并不像励志文章(以及许多流行媒体)中描述的那样缺乏安全感，但研究确实表明，她们通常没有男性那么自信。这是一个好消息，因为这能让她们感受到别人的看法，并让她们有能力发现目标和现实之间的差距。那些以比别人更挑剔的方式看待自己的人，更有能力做好准备，甚至是准备得过分充足，而这恰恰是提高你的能力和表现的可靠方法。
Motivate through transformation. Academic studies show that women are more likely to lead through inspiration, transforming people’s attitudes and beliefs, and aligning people with meaning and purpose (rather than through carrots and sticks), than men are. Since transformational leadership is linked to higher levels of team engagement, performance, and productivity, it is a critical path to improving leaders’ performance. If men spent more time trying to win people’s hearts and souls, leading with both EQ and IQ, as opposed to leaning more on the latter, and nurturing a change in beliefs rather than behaviors, they would be better leaders.
以变革激励你的团队。学术研究表明，与男性相比，女性更有可能通过启示、改变人们的态度和信仰、让人们认同意义和目的(而不是通过胡萝卜加大棒)来领导他人。由于变革型领导意味着团队参与度、绩效和生产力的提高，因此它是提高领导者绩效的关键途径。如果男性能够花更多的时间去赢得人心、培养信念、结合情商和智商来领导，而不是更多地依靠智商，追求行为的改变——他们会成为更好的领导者。
Put your people ahead of yourself. It’s very hard to turn a group of people into a high-performing team when your main focus is yourself. People who see leadership as a glorified career destination and individual accomplishment are too self-centered to foster their teams’ wellbeing and unlock their subordinates’ potential. Imagine a person who is only interested in being a leader because they are chasing a bigger paycheck, the corner office, a more senior title, or any form of status. Clearly, they will be inherently less interested in making others better; their only goal is to be more successful themselves. Because men are generally more self-focused than women, they are more likely to lead in a narcissistic and selfish way. If the average male leader wants to improve their performance, they would do well to adopt a less self-centered style of leadership.
优先考虑你的团队。当你的主要焦点是你自己的时候，很难把一群人变成一个高效的团队。那些视领导力为光荣的职业目标和个人成就的人过于以自我为中心，无法促进团队的共同利益，释放下属潜力。想象一下，一个人想成为领导者，只因为他追求更高的薪水、更高的职位或任何形式的地位。那么显而易见，他对提升他人不感兴趣，他唯一的目标是让自己更加成功。因为男性通常比女性更注重自我，所以他们更容易陷入这种自恋和自私的状态。如果表现一般的男性领导者想要有所提升，他们可以试着采用一种不那么以自我为中心的领导风格。
Don’t command; empathize. Throughout history, we have told women that they are too kind and caring to be leaders, but the notion that someone who is not kind and caring can lead effectively is at odds with reality. We are not living in medieval times. Twenty-first century leadership demands that leaders establish an emotional connection with their followers, and that is arguably the only reason to expect leaders to avoid automation. Indeed, while AI will hijack the technical and hard-skill elements of leadership, so long as we have humans at work, they will crave the validation, appreciation, and empathy that only humans — not machines — can provide. Men can learn a lot about how to do this effectively by watching and emulating women.
不要颐指气使，要共情。纵观历史，我们告诉女性，她们因为太善良、太关心他人而不能成为领导者，但认为一个不善良、不关心他人的人能够成为优秀领导的观点也与现实不符。我们不是生活在中世纪，21世纪的领导力要求领导者与其下属建立情感联系，这可以说是领导者避免被自动化替代的唯一理由。事实上，尽管人工智能将剥夺领导的技术和硬技能元素，但只要我们有人类在工作，他们就会渴望得到只有人类——而不是机器，才能提供的认可、欣赏和共情。通过观察和模仿女性，男性可以学习如何有效地做到这一点。
Focus on elevating others. Female leaders have been proven to be more likely to coach, mentor, and develop their direct reports than male leaders. They are true talent agents, using feedback and direction to help people grow. This means being less transactional and more strategic in their relationship with employees, and it also includes the openness to hire people who are better than themselves, because their egos are less likely to stand in the way. This enables them to unlock other people’s potential and promote effective cooperation on their teams. While we gravitate towards leaders who are self-focused and self-centered, the likelihood that such individuals can turn a group of people into a high-performing team is low.
专注于提升他人。事实证明，女性领导者比男性领导者更有可能指导和发展她们的直接下属。她们是真正的人才中介，通过反馈和辅导来帮助他人成长。这意味着在与员工的关系中减少事务性而更具战略性，同时对雇佣比自己优秀的人持开放态度，因为女性的自尊心不太可能阻碍她们。这使她们能够释放员工的潜力，并促进团队的有效合作。虽然我们倾向于以自我为中心的领导者，但这种人将一群人转变成高效团队的可能性很低。
Don’t say you’re “humbled.” Be humble. We have been asking for humble leaders for 20 years or so, but we keep gravitating toward ones who are overconfident and narcissistic (generally not female). There are well-established gender differences in humility, and they favor women. Not all women are humble, of course, but selecting leaders on humility would result in more female than male leaders. Humility is fundamentally a feminine trait. It is also one that is essential to being a great leader. Without humility it will be very hard for anyone in charge to acknowledge their mistakes, learn from experience, take into account other people’s perspectives, and be willing to change and get better. Perhaps the issue is not that men are unwilling or unable to display it, but that we dismiss them for leadership roles when they do. This must change, for humility is a critical driver of leadership effectiveness in both men and women.
谦逊，不要只是口头说说。大约20年来，我们一直在寻找谦逊的领导者，但我们总是遇到过于自信、孤芳自赏的人(通常不是女性)。“谦逊”存在既定的性别差异，而这种差异有利于女性。当然，并不是所有的女性都是谦逊的，但若以谦逊选择领导者，女性会多于男性。谦逊基本上是女性的特征，这也是成为一个伟大领袖的关键。没有谦逊，任何负责人都很难承认自己的错误，从经验中学习，考虑他人的观点并乐于改变，从而让一切变得更好。也许问题不在于男性不愿意或不能展示这一点，而在于当他们展示时，我们会出于对男性领导的刻板印象而解雇他们。这种情况必须改变，因为无论是男性还是女性，谦逊都是领导效能的关键驱动力。
Does reading this upset you?
这篇文章是否令你感到沮丧？
Ask yourself why. If you’re a man, does this make you feel that there’s a campaign against white males and toxic masculinity and that angry feminism is on the rise? That reaction is getting in the way of your learning from women what you can do to make yourself more successful. If you’re a woman — and/or a feminist — do you reject the idea that women are generally more likely to display feminine traits than men are? That’s exactly the reason the average woman has more potential for leadership than the average man.
问问自己为什么。如果你是一个男性，你是否觉得这是一场反对男性和有害的男子气概的运动，或是愤怒的女权主义正在兴起？而恰恰是这种反应阻碍了你向女性学习如何让自己更成功。如果你是一名女性，或者女权主义者，你会反对女性通常比男性更有可能展现女性特征的观点吗？这正是普通女性比普通男性更有领导潜力的原因。
At the end of the day, the only controversial aspect of our views is the notion that increasing female representation in leadership would augment rather than reduce meritocracy. The best gender equality intervention is to focus on equality of talent and potential — and that only happens when we have gender-equal leadership to enable men to learn different leadership approaches from women as much as women have always been told to learn leadership approaches from men. This article is a short cut. Men, these lessons accelerate your leadership development. Women, these are the reasons why you should have been leaders already and why you should demand what you deserve now.
归根结底，我们观点中唯一有争论的方面是，增加女性在领导层中的代表性将会增加而不是减少优秀的领导。最佳的性别平等干预措施是关注天赋和潜力的平等——只有当我们拥有性别平等的领导力，就像女性总是被告知向男性学习领导力方法一样，让男性能够向女性学习不同的领导力方法时，这种情况才会发生。这篇文章是一条捷径。男性们，这些经验帮助你发展你的领导力。女性们，这就是为什么你们本应该成为领导者，为什么你们现在应该追求你们本应得到的。
关键词：领导力
托马斯·查莫罗-普雷姆齐奇、辛迪·盖洛普 | 文
托马斯·查莫罗-普雷姆齐奇是曼氏集团的首席人才科学家，伦敦大学学院和哥伦比亚大学的商业心理学教授，哈佛大学创业金融实验室的助理。他是《为什么这么多无能的人成为领导者（如何改善这种情况）》一书的作者，他也围绕此进行了TEDx的演讲。辛迪·盖洛普是互动营销软件If We Ran The World(《哈佛商业评论》曾进行案例研究)和Make Love Not Porn的创始人兼首席执行官。
闫旭彦 | 译 周强 | 编校
