What I'm really here to do today is talk to you about micromanagement
今天在这儿，我想要和你们谈谈微观管理，
and what I learned about micromanagement by being a micromanager over the last few years of my life.
以及我在过去几年作为一名微观管理者所学到的东西。
But first off, what is micromanagement? How do we really define it?
首先，什么是微观管理？我们该如何确切定义它？
Well, I posit that it's actually taking great, wonderful, imaginative people -- like all of you
我认为微观管理就是把卓越、不凡、有想象力的人--比如在座的各位，
bringing them in into an organization and then crushing their souls by telling them what font size to use.
带入到一个组织中，然后逼疯他们--比如告诉他们该使用什么字体。
In the history of mankind, has anyone ever said this?
在人类的历史长河中，是否有人曾经说过这样的话？
"John, we were never going to close that deal with Times New Roman,
“约翰，用Times New Roman字体我们是不可能达成交易的，
but because you insisted on Helvetica -- bam! Dotted line -- millions of dollars started to flow. That was the missing piece!"
但因为你坚持要使用Helvetica字体--砰！虚线--数百万美元就开始流动了。我们缺的就是这个！”
No one's ever said that, right?
没人那样说过，对吧？
There's actually physical manifestations that we probably see in ourselves by being micromanaged.
实际上，这可能就是在接受微观管理时，我们会从自己身上看到的物理反应。
Think about the most tired you've ever been in your life, right?
想想看你一生中最累的时刻吧。
It probably wasn't when you stayed the latest at work, or it wasn't when you came home from a road trip,
可能不是在你最后一个离开公司，或者公路旅行回来的时候，
it was probably when you had someone looking over your shoulder, watching your each and every move.
而是有人一直在窥探你的时候，观察你的一举一动。
Kind of like my mother-in-law when she's over right?
有点像我岳母来探望我们的时候。
I'm like, "I got this," you know? And so there's actually data to support this.
我会说，“我能搞定”。这背后其实是有数据支撑的。
There was a recent study in the UK. They took 100 hospital employees,
英国最近有一项研究。他们找了100名医院员工，
put an activity tracker on them and then let them go about their next 12-hour shift all alone, just a regular 12-hour shift.
在他们身上装上活动追踪器，然后让他们在接下来的12个小时独自轮班，就是日常的12小时轮班。
At the end of the shift, they asked them, "Do you feel fatigued?"
在轮班结束的时候，他们问这些员工，“你觉得累吗？”
And what they found was actually really interesting.
研究结果非常有趣。
It wasn't necessarily the people who moved the most that felt the most fatigued,
并不一定是始终在忙来忙去的人感到最疲惫，
but it was the folks that didn't have control over their jobs.
反而是不能自己做出工作规划的一群人。
So if we know that micromanagement isn't really effective, why do we do it?
所以如果我们知道微观管理并不能起到实际效果，为什么还要这样做呢？
Is it that the definition is wrong?
是这个定义错了吗？
I posited that micromanagement is just bringing in great, wonderful, imaginative people and then crushing their souls,
我刚才说微观管理只是把这些卓越、不凡、有想象力的人带进来，然后让他们抓狂，
so is it that we actually want to hire -- deep down inside of us -- dull and unimaginative people?
那么我们是否其实是--在内心深处--想要雇佣那些平庸又缺乏想象力的人？
It's one of those questions you probably don't even need to ask.
这种问题不用问也知道答案。
It's like, "Do you want to get your luggage stolen at the airport?"
就好像，“你想让自己的行李在机场被偷吗？”
Probably not, but I've never been asked, right?
可能不想，但是从来没有人这么问过我，不是吗？
So has anyone asked you, as a manager, "Do you want to hire dull and unimaginative people?"
那么作为管理者，是否曾经有人问你，“你想雇佣一群平庸、没有创造力的人吗？”
So, I don't know, this is TED, we better back it up with data.
我不知道，这是TED，我们最好用数据佐证。
We actually asked hundreds of people around the country -- hundreds of managers across the country
我们实际上询问了全国各地的数百人--全国各地的数百名管理者，
do you want to hire dull and unimaginative people? Alright, it's an interesting question.
你想雇佣一些平庸又没想象力的人吗？好吧，这是一个有趣的问题。
Well, interesting results as well. So, 94% said no -- we don't want to hire dull and unimaginative people.
同样也有一个有趣的结果。94%的人说不--我们不想要雇佣平庸又没想象力的人。
Six percent probably didn't understand the question,
剩下的6%或许没理解这个问题，
but, bless their hearts, maybe they do just want to hire dull and unimaginative people.
但是，他们内心挺强大，或许确实想要雇佣平庸又没有想象力的人。
But 94 percent said they did not, and so why do we do this still then?
但94%的人说他们没想过，那么我们为什么还要这样做呢？
Well, I posit that it's something really, really simple that all of us deep down inside know and have actually felt.
我认为答案非常非常的简单，我们内心深处都知道并感觉到了。
So when we get hired into an organization -- it could be a club, it could be a law firm,
当我们被一家公司雇佣的时候--可能是一家夜总会，也可能是一家法律公司，
it could be a school organization, it could be anything -- no one ever jumps to the top of the totem pole, right?
也可能是学校，可能是任何的机构--没有人会直接跳到最上级，对吧？
You start at the very bottom. Doing what? Doing work. You actually do the work, right?
你会从最基层开始。做什么呢？做工作。你的确要工作，对吧？
And if you're really good at doing the work, what do you get rewarded with?
如果你真的擅长做这项工作，你会得到什么奖励？
More work, right? Yeah, that's right, you guys are all great micromanagers.
更多的工作，对吧？对，就是这样，在座的都是很棒的微观管理者。
You do more work, and then pretty soon, if you're really good at it, you do a little bit of work still,
你会做更多的工作，不久之后，如果你实在是很擅长做这项工作，你仍然要做一点工作，
but actually, you start to manage people doing the work.
但实际上，你开始管理人们去做这项工作。
And if you're really good at that, what happens after that?
如果你还是做得很好，接下来会发生什么呢？
You start managing the people who manage the people doing the work,
你开始管理这些管理做这些工作的人，
and it's at that point in time, you start to lose control over the output of your job.
就在那时，你会开始无法控制你对工作的产出。
I've actually witnessed this firsthand.
我真的亲眼目睹过。
So, I started a company called Boxed in our garage, and this was it -- I know it doesn't seem like much
我在我们车库里创立了一家名叫Boxed的公司，就是这家公司--我知道它看起来并不起眼，
you know, there's a pressure washer in the back -- this is "living the dream."
后面其实有个压力清洗机--这是“活在梦想中”的状态。
And my wife was really proud of me when we started this, or that's what she said, she was really proud of me
刚开始我的妻子很为我感到骄傲，或者至少她说她为我感到骄傲，
and so she would give me a hug, and I'm pretty sure she had her phone up and she was thinking,
她会给我一个拥抱，我敢肯定她还拿着手机，而且还在想，
"Oh, is John from Harvard still single?"
“约翰从哈佛毕业后还是单身吗？”
It was kind of like a lemonade stand gone wrong in the beginning,
这让我有种出师不利的感觉，
but we actually went up and said mobile commerce is going to be big,
但我们却跑出来说，移动商务的前景将是巨大的，
and actually consumer packaged goods were going to change over time,
消费品将会随时间发生变化，
so let's take these big, bulky packs that you don't want to lug home
所以把这些你不想拖回家的笨重的大包装交给我们吧，
so not the two-pack of Oreo cookies but the 24-pack and not the 24-pack of toilet paper but the 48-pack
不是两条装的奥利奥饼干，而是24条装的，不是24件装的厕纸，而是48件装的，
and let's ship it to you much like a warehouse club would do except they wouldn't ship it to you.
让我们把它寄给你，就像仓储会员店那样，除了他们不会寄给你外。
So that's what we basically did. We had a really slow printer and what we did was actually say,
所以这就是我们所做的。我们有台很慢的打印机，于是我们说：
"OK, this printer is taking forever, man.
“老天，这打印机也太慢了吧！
Let's scribble something that would delight the customer on the back of these invoices."
不如我们在收据背后写一些能让顾客开心的话吧。”
So we'd say, "Hey, keep smiling," you know? "Hey, you're awesome,"
于是我们写了：“嘿，保持微笑！”“嘿，你很棒！”
or, "Hey, enjoy the Doritos," or, "We love Gatorade, too." Stuff like that.
或：“嘿，好好享用玉米片吧！”或：“我们也喜欢佳得乐！”诸如此类。
And so it started breaking up the monotony of the job as well because I was picking and packing all of the boxes,
所以这也让我的工作不那么单调了，因为我一直要挑选和包装所有的箱子，
and that's all you basically do for eight, nine, 10, 12 hours a day when you're sitting in the garage.
这就是我在仓库里每天要花上8到12个小时的工作。
And so an interesting thing happened. So we actually started to grow.
于是，一件有趣的事情发生了。我们的业务真的开始成长了。
And so, you know, over the last -- actually just even 36 months after that,
在过去--就在那之后的36个月，
we ended up selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stuff, and we actually grew really, really quickly.
我们最终卖掉了价值数亿美元的东西，我们真的发展很快。
But during that time, my role started to change, too.
但在此期间，我的角色也开始发生了变化。
So, yes, I was the CEO in the garage; I was picking and packing, doing all the work,
没错，我是车库里的CEO；负责拣货和包装等所有的工作，
but then I graduated to actually managing the people who picked and packed,
但后来我过渡到了真正管理拣货和包装的人，
and then pretty soon I managed the people who managed the people picking and packing.
接着很快，我所管理的人管理了那些拣货和包装的人。
And even now, I manage the C-staff who manage the departments who manage the people who manage the people picking and packing.
而现在，我管理的是最高层的人，他们管理的部门要管理那些负责管理拣货和包装的员工的人。
And it is at that point in time, I lost control.
正是在那个时候，我失去了控制权。
So I thought, OK, we were delighting all of these customers with these notes.
所以我心想，好吧，我们的这些字条为顾客带去了快乐。
They loved them, but I can't write these notes anymore, so you know what I'm going to do?
他们爱这些字条，但我不能再继续写了，你知道我打算怎么做吗？
I'm going to tell these folks how to write these notes.
我要告诉这些人如何写这些纸条。
What pen to use, what color to use, what you should write, what font you should use,
用什么笔，什么颜色，写什么，应该使用什么字体，
don't mess up the margins, this has to be this big, this has to be that big.
旁边的留白很重要，这个一定要是这么大，那个则必须那么大。
And pretty soon this goal of raising morale by breaking up the monotony in the fulfillment center actually became micromanagement,
很快，这个通过打破配送中心单调性来提升士气的目标，就变成了微观管理，
and people started complaining to HR.
人们开始向人力资源处抱怨。
It's like, "Dude, this CEO guy has got to get out of my hair, OK? I know how to write a damn note."
他们会说：“老兄，这个CEO能不能别再来烦我了？我知道该怎么写一张该死的便条。”

So it was at that point in time, we said,
就在那时，我们说：
"OK, you know? We hired these great, wonderful people, let's give them the mission that's 'delight the customer,'
“好吧，既然我们雇佣了这些很棒的人，那我们就把“让客人愉快”这个任务派给他们，
let's give them the tool to do so, and that's these notes -- have at it."
给他们提供工具，就是这些字条——直接去做吧。”
And so what we found was actually pretty startling.
我们发现结果相当惊人。
Some folks actually took the notes and actually started drawing these really ornate minimurals on them.
有人真的就拿了这些字条，开始画一些小小的漂亮的图案。
When folks ordered diapers, you'd get really fun notes like this: "Say 'hi' to the baby for us!"
当人们订购尿布时，你会收到这样有趣的字条：“替我们向宝宝说声嗨！”
And you know, the next size up, if they bought a bigger size, they'd write, "Growing up so fast."
如果他们后来买了一个更大尺寸的尿布，他们会写：“长得真快呀。”
And so people really, really took to it. But it was at that time that it also went off the rails a few times.
人们真的很喜欢这种字条。但在那个时候，也发生了一些状况。
And so we had someone just writing, "Thx, thx," all the time,
我们有个人一直在写“谢谢，谢谢”，
and it's like, "Alright, dude, my boss used to write that to me," so, let's not write "Thx" anymore.
让人忍不住吐槽：“老兄，我老板以前就经常给我写这个。”所以咱们不要再写“谢谢”了。
But you also had interesting things on the other side. People got a little too creative.
但与之对立的一面也有一些有趣的事情发生。人们会过于有创意。
And so, like I said before, we sell everything in bulk:
我之前说过，我们出售的都是大型量贩装：
the big packs of diapers, big packs of toilet paper, the big packs of Doritos and Oreo cookies.
大型量贩尿布，大型量贩卫生纸，大型量贩包的玉米片和奥利奥饼干。
We also sell the big packs of contraception, and so -- this is getting a little hairy.
我们也卖大包的避孕用品，所以--这就有点麻烦了。
So we sell the 40-pack of condoms, right? We're all adults in this room -- 40-pack of condoms.
我们会卖40包大包装的避孕套。这里都是成年人--都知道40包大包装的避孕套有多少吧。
So, someone ordered four 40-packs of condoms.
有人订购了四组40包大包装避孕套。
And that's all they ordered, so, 160 condoms, the packer was like, "I know how to delight the customer."
他们就买了这些，所以，一共160片避孕套，包装工很兴奋，“我知道要如何让客人愉快。”
"This guy ..." This is what they wrote...
“这个家伙...”这就是他们所写的：
We didn't know whether to fire him or to promote him, but he's still there. So, "Everyone loves an optimist."
我们不知道该解雇他还是提拔他，但他还在公司里。他确实写了“大家都爱乐观的人”。
But here is where it went a little bit off the rails and I felt a little bit conflicted in all of this.
但这也正是它有些出格的地方，我感到有些矛盾。
And -- oh, there's a really bad typo
并且--哦，有个严重的拼写错误，
so if there was only a red T-E-D on stage that I counted on being here, it wouldn't be a typo, right?
这台上如果只有一个红色T-E-D字样，我就不会犯这种错误了，对吧？
I promised you I had a really bad sense of humor, and now I'm gratifying that.
我向各位保证过我的幽默感很差，现在我很满意。
So I told you. But I really was conflicted, right?
所以我告诉你们了。但我真的很矛盾。
At this point in time, we started doing things that actually weren't part of our core mission and people started failing at it.
在这个时候，我们开始做一些其实不属于核心内容的工作，并且大家都没能做好。
And so, I thought, should we let them fail? Should we continue to let them do this?
所以我想，我们应该眼睁睁看着他们失败吗？我们应该让他们继续吗？
I don't know -- I didn't know at that moment, but I thought this: Is failure really that bad?
我不知道--我当时不知道，但我想：失败真的那么糟糕吗？
I'm not saying we should celebrate failure.
我不是说我们应该庆祝失败。
There's a lot of talk in Silicon Valley that says, "Let's celebrate failure."
硅谷有很多人说：“我们应该以失败为荣。”
No, I don't know if we would go all the way there, because like, in our board meetings, our board members are never like,
我不知道我们是否也会这么想，因为在我们的董事会上，董事会成员从不会说：
"Hey, Chieh, you failed last quarter, keep doing that, buddy, OK?"
“嘿，杰，你上一季表现不好，请继续保持，伙计。”
No one's ever said that. If you're part of an organization like that, give me a call, I want to sit in on that meeting.
从来没有人说过这样的话。如果你在那样的组织，打电话给我，我想加入他们的董事会。
In private, I don't think many people celebrate failure,
私底下，我不认为很多人会真的“庆祝”失败，
but failure, I posit, is actually pretty necessary for the folks truly in the long-term,
但我认为，从长远来看，失败对于人们，
for the smart and imaginative people truly trying to fulfill the mission that you give them at hand.
对于聪明和富有想象力的人，真正努力去完成你给他们的任务实际上是非常必要的。
And so failure can actually be seen as a milestone along that mission towards success.
因此，失败实际上可以被看作成功道路上的里程碑。
And if the downside of not micromanaging is potentially this perceived notion that you might fail more often,
如果不进行微观管理，那么不利之处是觉得你有可能会经历更多的失败，
and if it's really not that bad, what is the upside?
而如果真实情况并没有那么糟糕，有利的一面又是什么呢？
Well, we saw the upside and it's pretty great.
我们看到了有利面，而且非常棒。
We tasked our engineers and said,
我们给工程师布置任务说，
"Hey, some of our fulfillment centers cost millions of dollars to build, there's miles and miles of conveyor,
“我们建造配送中心的成本要数百万美元，有几英里长的传送带，
and so, can you do the same thing, can you make them efficient without spending millions of dollars?"
你们能否能做同样的事，在不花费数百万美元的情况下使它们高效吗？”
So, they got to work: they actually did this -- this is not photoshopped, the guy is really grinding.
他们就去做了：他们做了这个--这可不是PS过的照片，那家伙真的是在打磨。
They built an autonomous guided vehicle. We didn't tell them what to build, what format it needed to be.
他们建造了一个自动导引的车辆。我们没有告诉他们要建造什么，要用什么样的形式。
In 90 days they produced the first prototype: powered off Tesla batteries, stereoscopic cameras, lidar systems.
在90天内，他们制作了第一个原型车：用特斯拉的电池供电，带立体相机和激光雷达系统。
It basically replicates the efficiency of a conveyor belt without the actual capex of a conveyor belt.
它基本上复制了传送带的效率且无需投入真金白银打造传输带。
So it doesn't actually just stop with engineers.
并不只有工程师这样做。
Our marketing department -- we told them, "Hey, get the word out; do the right thing."
我们的营销部门也很给力--我们告诉他们：“把话说出去；做对的事。”
We have this wonderful lady, Nitasha, on the marketing team.
我们的营销团队有个很棒的女士，妮塔莎。
She stopped me in the morning, she's like, "Chieh, what are we doing about the pink tax?"
有天早上，她截住我说，“杰，应该怎么处理粉红税？”
I went and got my coffee, I sat down, I said, "OK, Nitasha, what is this pink tax?"
我拿了咖啡，然后坐下来，对她说：“哦，妮塔莎，先告诉我粉红税是什么？”
And so she told me, it's really interesting.
她就告诉了我，这真的很有趣。
So, some of you might know that in 32 states across America,
有些人可能知道，在美国的32个州，
we actually charge a luxury goods tax on women's products like feminine care products,
我们实际上会对妇女产品征收奢侈品税，比如说女性护理产品，
so tampons and pads are taxed like luxury goods items.
所以卫生棉条和卫生巾会被当做奢侈品一样征税。
So I would never dare call my wife -- or if she called me and said, "Hey, hon, bring some pads on the way home,"
我绝对不敢打电话给我的妻子--或者如果她打给我说：“亲爱的，回家时买些卫生棉。”
and I said, "Babe, you know, there's a trade war going on, the economy's not that good,
而我说：“宝贝，你知道吗，现在有贸易战，经济状况不太好，
so no luxury goods this month but next month I promise -- I'll take a look at it."
所以这个月不能买奢侈品，但我保证下个月--我会看看状况。”
I'd be single pretty quickly, right? But what's super interesting is now -- we didn't tell them what to do
我会很快变单身，对吧？不过很有意思的是--我们没有告诉他们该怎么做，
but now, working with finance, they rebate the tax back to customers all around the country that we unfairly have to collect.
但现在，他们与财务合作退税，把我们多收的税款，退回给全国各地的客人。
And so at this point in time, you might be thinking, "OK, what is the real, real upside of not micromanaging?"
所以在这个时间点，你们可能在想，“那么不做微观管理的真正有利面是什么？”
and it's this: I didn't do any of these projects. I didn't make the AGV.
那就是：这些计划都不是我做的。我没有研发自动导引的车子。
I didn't do the "Rethink the Pink Tax" campaign.
我没有做“重新思考粉红税”活动。
I didn't do any of this, but I'm standing here on a TED stage taking all the credit for it.
这些都不是我做的，但我站在TED舞台上，拿了所有的功劳。
"This guy does nothing and takes all the credit for it. He's a real CEO, this guy. He's really got it down."
“这个家伙什么都不用做，功劳却都是他的。这个家伙是真正的CEO，他真的做到了。”
But the reality is this. I don't have the CEO thing down 100 percent pat,
但现实是这样的。我并没有完全精通CEO的工作，
but I've actually learned the most fundamentally challenging lesson I've ever had to learn, and that's this.
但我真的学到了一生中最基础也最富有挑战性的一课，这一课就是这个：
There is only one solution to micromanagement ... and that's to trust. Thank you.
微观管理只有一种解决办法...那就是信任。谢谢。