Now industriousness, or hard work.
接下来要讨论的是勤奋，或者说努力工作。
It's easy to mock people who say they work hard: after all, a hamster running around in a wheel is working hard - and getting nowhere.
我们很容易去嘲讽那些说自己努力工作的人，毕竟在轮子上不停跑的仓鼠也是在努力工作，只是一直都在原地而已。
Of course hard work is valuable but only when properly targeted.
努力工作当然是有价值的，但也仅是在有适当目标的情况下。
Otherwise it wastes the resources that companies value most - time and energy.
否则的话就是在浪费企业最重视的资源—时间和精力。
And that's bad for the organisation.
而这对组织（企业）是不利的。
There's a management model that groups people according to four criteria: clever, hardworking, stupid and lazy.
有一种管理模型依据四个标准对人们进行分类：聪明，勤奋，愚笨和懒惰。
Here 'lazy' means having a rational determination not to carry out unnecessary tasks.
这里的“懒惰”指的是理性地决定不去做那些不必要的工作。
It doesn't mean trying to avoid work altogether.
而不是尽量完全地避免工作。
Most people display two of these characteristics, and the most valuable people are those who are both clever and lazy:
大多数人都显示有两种上述特质，最有价值的人则是既聪明又懒惰的：
they possess intellectual clarity, and they don't rush into making decisions.
他们有着清醒的头脑，不仓促做决定。
They come up with solutions to save the time and energy spent by the stupid and hard-working group.
相较于那些愚笨和勤奋的人，他们提出的解决方案省时省力。
Instead of throwing more man-hours at a problem, the clever and lazy group looks for a more effective solution.
聪明且懒惰的人会寻找更有效的解决方法，而不是在问题上花费更多工时。
Next we come to creativity.
下一个要讨论的是创造力。
This often works well - creating an attention-grabbing TV commercial, for example, might lead to increased sales.
这一点通常很有用，比如说制作一个吸引人眼球的电视广告就可能促使销量的提升。
But it isn't always a good thing.
但它不一定总是个好东西。
Some advertising campaigns are remembered for their creativity, without having any effect on sales.
有的广告宣传只会因为其创造力而被人记住，却对销量没什么影响。
This happened a few years ago with the launch of a chocolate bar:
这种情况发生在几年前一个巧克力棒的上市宣传上：
subsequent research showed that plenty of consumers remembered the adverts, but had no idea what was being advertised.
后续的研究表明很多消费者记住了广告，却不知道广告宣传的是什么。
The trouble is that the creator derives pleasure from coming up with the idea,
问题就在于广告制作者从提出创意中获得了愉悦，
and wrongly assume the audience for the campaign will share that feeling.
并错误地认为广告的观众也会有同样的感觉。
A company that brings out thousands of new products may seem more creative than a company that only has a few,
一个生产出几千种新产品的公司可能比一个只有几种新产品的公司看起来更有创造力，
but it may be too creative, and make smaller profits.
但也许它太过具有创造力了，能够获得的利润也更小。
Creativity needs to be targeted, to solve a problem that the company has identified.
创造力也要具有目的性，要用于解决公司发现的问题。
Just coming up with more and more novel products isn't necessarily a good thing.
仅仅是生产出越来越多的新奇产品并不一定是件好事。
And finally, excellence.
最后要讨论的是卓越。
We all know companies that claim they 'strive for excellence', but it takes a long time to achieve excellence.
我们知道企业都会宣称自己追求卓越，但达到卓越要花很长的时间。
In business, being first with a product is more profitable than having the best product.
在商界，第一个拥有产品比拥有最好的产品更有利可图。
A major study of company performance compared pioneers - that is, companies bringing out the first version of a particular product
有一项关于公司业绩的重要研究对先锋公司及其追随者进行了对比，先锋公司指那些生产出某种产品第一版的公司，
with followers, the companies that copied and improved on that product.
而追随者是指那些复制并改善该产品的公司。
The study found that the pioneers commanded an average market share of 29 percent,
该研究发现先锋公司占据的市场平均份额是29%，
while the followers achieved less than half that, only 13 percent - even though their product might have been better.
而追随者公司，即使它们的产品可能更好，它们的份额也不到前者的一半，只有13% 。
Insisting on excellence in everything we do is time-consuming, wastes energy and leads to losing out on opportunities.
在所有事情上都坚持卓越耗时耗力，且会导致错失机遇。
Sometimes, second-rate work is more worthwhile than excellence.
有时候，第二等比卓越更值得。
'Make sure it's excellent' sounds like a good approach to business, but the 'just get-started' approach is likely to be more successful.
在商业里，“保证卓越”听起来像是一种好方法，但“即刻开始吧”可能会更加成功。