Next time you find yourself grumbling about what a jerk your boss is, just think: This person could be giving you a valuable negative example. "I've worked for some horrible managers and some great ones," says Steve Pogorzelski, the CEO of online-marketing metrics powerhouse ClickFuel. He's grateful to the worst of them, he adds, "for showing me what to avoid."
下一次抱怨老板有多混蛋的时候，不妨这样想：这个人可是一个非常宝贵的反面典型。在线营销指标评估网站ClickFuel的CEO史蒂夫?鲍格兹尔斯基说：“我曾为各种老板工作过，有的老板很糟糕，有的则是非常优秀的管理者。”而对于那些糟糕的上司，他也心怀感激，因为“他们让我知道未来应该避免哪些问题。”
Before joining ClickFuel, Pogorzelski spent 10 years at Monster.com (MWW), including two years as group president of Monster International, from 2005 to 2007, during which he helped revenues jump by 60% to $488 million. As an investor in tech startups, whose founders he advises, "I'm still learning every day," he adds. Not sure whether your fearless leader qualifies as a bad boss? Pogorzelski has pinpointed five things bad bosses do.
加入ClickFuel之前，鲍格兹尔斯基曾在招聘网站Monster.com任职十年.2005年至2007年期间，他还曾担任过该公司集团总裁。期间，在他的带领下，公司收入上涨了60%，达到4.88亿美元。作为一名科技初创企业投资人，他经常为初创企业的创始人提供咨询。他说：“我每天仍然在不断学习。”你的那位大无畏的领导是不是一位糟糕的老板呢？且看鲍格兹尔斯基总结出的“糟糕老板5症状”。
1. Discourage risk-taking. As an intern at a publishing company a couple of decades ago, Pogorzelski recalls, "they told me I wasn't management material because I wasn't cautious and conservative enough." His penchant for questioning the status quo was more welcome later on at Monster, where "I had a great boss who encouraged risk," he says. "The only rule was, if you're going to take a chance and make a mistake, do it fast -- so you can change direction fast." Much of Monster International's growth spurt came from acquisitions, especially in Asia: "Every one of them was a big risk, but they all worked out."
1. 禁止承担风险。回忆起几十年前，自己在一家出版公司实习时，鲍格兹尔斯基说：“他们说我不是当管理者的料，因为我不够谨慎和保守。”他喜欢质疑现状的嗜好后来在Monster公司更受欢迎。他说：“在Monster，我有一位很了不起的上司，他鼓励冒险。唯一的规则是，如果你要冒险一试，而且可能会犯错，那就一定要动作迅速——这样你还有余地，可以更快地调整方向。”Monster International的急剧扩张大部分都源于收购，尤其是在亚洲的收购：“每一笔收购都存在巨大的风险，结果全都成功带来了回报。”
Often, he says, bad bosses "squelch risk -- even small risks -- because they fear being shown up by someone who has a better idea. But great people under you push you up. They don't push you out."
他说，糟糕的老板经常“压制风险——即便是很小的风险，因为他们担心想法更好的人会超过他们。但实际上，优秀的下属会推动上司更进一步，而不是挤掉上司的位置。”
2. Manage by command-and-control. At that publishing company where he interned, Pogorzelski recalls, bosses' command-and-control style meant that "nobody did anything more than was absolutely required, because you'd be punished for showing any initiative."
2. 命令与控制式的管理。鲍格兹尔斯基回忆称，在那家出版公司实习时，老板命令与控制式的管理方式意味着，“除了遵守死命令之外，没有人会多干活，因为只要员工表现出一点积极性，便会受到惩罚。”
Crushing creativity may have worked all right back in the days when the pace of technological and economic change was glacial, and people expected to stay at one company for decades. "But now, employees are loyal to their own careers, not to any one company," he says. "If you fall back on command-and-control, your best people will leave. Anyone who performs well under that kind of boss is not an A player."
在科技与经济变革极其缓慢的时代，打压创造力的做法或许还能行得通，因为人们都希望能在一家公司呆上几十年。“可如今，员工只会忠于自己的职业，而不是哪一家公司，”他说。“如果老板采取命令与控制式的管理方式，最优秀的员工肯定会离开。在这种老板手下即便表现好的员工，也一定不会是最优秀的人才。”
One symptom of a command-and-control culture, he adds, is when "people are surprised by their annual performance evaluations. That shouldn't happen, because a boss should be coaching and giving feedback constantly." In his experience, the most effective coaches pull no punches: "If people know you have their best interests at heart, they can take honest criticism no matter how it's given. There's no need to sugarcoat it."
他补充说，命令与控制式管理文化的另外一种症状则表现在“年度绩效评估令员工大吃一惊的时候。本来这种事不应该发生，因为老板应该不断给员工提供指导与反馈。”按照他的经验，最有效的教练从来都是毫不留情的：“如果大家知道，你真诚地批评完全是为了他们的最大利益，他们应该都能够接受，不论你采取哪种方式。没有必要粉饰批评。”
3. Reward tenure and personal loyalty over merit. "I've worked for some bosses who demanded personal loyalty and rewarded sycophants, not performance," Pogorzelski says. "But the best bosses believe everyone's main loyalty should be to the customer, and they reward you based on what you do, not who you know."
3. 功过不分，任人唯亲。鲍格兹尔斯基称：“许多我之前的老板会要求对个人的忠诚，对‘马屁精’会加奖赏，却不管绩效如何。而最优秀的老板则相信，员工主要的忠诚应该献给客户，他们会根据员工做过什么进行奖励，而不是你认识什么人。”
As for tenure, a long stint with one employer is now just as outdated as command-and-control management, he believes. "Unless you've been promoted a lot or faced a series of new challenges, staying a long time in one place is almost a negative." That idea is more accepted in the U.S. than in some other cultures, he adds: "At Monster International, we found that it was hard to convince European managers, who are used to a whole different tradition, that just being there for a certain number of years didn't guarantee a promotion."
而关于任期，他相信，长期只为一个人打工，就像命令与控制式的管理模式一样，早已经过时了。“除非你得到了许多升职机会，或者面临一系列全新的挑战，否则长时间待在一家公司，通常都不会有积极的效果。”他补充说，和在其他国家相比，这种观点在美国更容易被接受。“在Monster International，我们发现，要想让欧洲管理者相信，在这里工作几年不一定能得到升职，是非常困难的，因为他们习惯了一种截然不同的传统。”
4. Emphasize anecdotes over analytics. "I've worked with a few bad bosses who made decisions based on anecdotal information rather than hard data," says Pogorzelski. "But given the amount and the speed of data available now, there's no good reason to do that. Incompetent managers prefer to rely on anecdotes because they can always find someone to tell them what they want to hear, rather than what the facts are."
4. 偏信传闻，忽视分析。鲍格兹尔斯基说道：“我以前跟过的几位糟糕老板，会根据道听途说的信息制定决策，而不是实实在在的数据。考虑到当下可用信息的数量和传递速度，他们更不应该这样做。能力不足的管理者之所以喜欢小道消息，是因为他们总能找到一个人，告诉他们自己想听的话，而不是确凿的事实。”
Beware, he says, of "a boss who starts a meeting by saying, 'If the data are to be believed ... ' or 'I know what the data show, but everybody thinks ... ' My answer to that is, 'Bring me everybody, and we'll see.'" One of his all-time worst bosses, he adds, "made a major product decision based on an isolated anecdote he heard that suggested the product didn't work well, when the analytics showed that it did. The changes he made as a result were disastrous for the business."
要注意下面的情况，他提醒谁：“比如老板在开会时，开场白就是‘如果相信这些数据……’或者‘我知道这些数据代表着什么，但每个人都认为……’对这个问题，我会这样回答：‘把每个人都请来，让我们看个究竟。’”他说，有一位史上最糟糕的老板，“听到一点传闻，称某款产品表现不好，虽然分析结果与传闻内容截然相反，但他还是根据那条孤立的传闻，做出了一项重大的产品决策。结果，他做出的改变让公司落入万劫不复的深渊。”
5. Consider management a project or an end result. "Bad bosses see managing people as an event, rather than a process," Pogorzelski notes. "A once-a-year performance evaluation is an event. But real management is something that goes on every day, where you're constantly finding occasions to give feedback."
5. 将管理视为一个项目或最终结果。鲍格兹尔斯基发现：“糟糕的老板会将人员管理视为结果，而不是过程。一年一次的绩效评估是结果，但真正的管理应该体现在日常工作当中。管理者应该不断寻找机会给员工提供反馈。”
Listening helps, too. Pogorzelski observes that key people often start job hunting because "they're uncertain what's next for them in this company. If you create an environment where they feel they can tell you what they're hoping for -- international experience, for example -- you're less likely to lose them."
倾听也能有所帮助。鲍格兹尔斯基发现，许多优秀员工之所以开始寻找新工作，通常是因为“他们不确定未来在这家公司会有怎样的发展。如果管理者能创造一种环境，让员工感觉他们可以将自己所期望的条件提出来，比如国际经历等，优秀员工离开的可能性便会大幅降低。”
In the tech startups he advises, Pogorzelski says, "I recommend to top management that theycoach the people under them as often as possible, because coaching is a gift. If you put it that way -- if you say, 'I'm telling you this because I care about your success' -- people will respond by giving you their best work." Ideally, he adds, the coaching goes both ways. As a CEO interviewing potential new hires, "I look for people who will tell me I'm wrong. I want subordinates who aren't afraid to bring me bad news."
鲍格兹尔斯基称，在自己提供咨询建议的科技初创公司，“我会建议公司高层尽可能经常指导下属，因为对员工来说，来自高层的指导就像是一件礼物。比如，如果管理者这样说：‘我之所以告诉你这个，是因为我在乎你的成功。’下属就会以最佳表现来回报公司。”他补充道，理想情况下，指导应该是双向的。作为一名经常面试新员工的CEO，“我喜欢那些会直言我做错了的人。我希望下属敢于直言，不怕告诉我坏消息。"