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经济学人丨0322 - 麦肯锡的合伙人们饱受集体自欺之苦

Michael

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背景知识

麦肯锡公司是世界级领先的全球管理咨询公司,是由美国芝加哥大学商学院教授詹姆斯·麦肯锡(James O’McKinsey)于1926年在美国创建 。自1926年成立以来,公司的使命就是帮助领先的企业机构实现显著、持久的经营业绩改善,打造能够吸引、培育和激励杰出人才的优秀组织机构。麦肯锡采取“公司一体”的合作伙伴关系制度,在全球44个国家有80多个分公司,共拥有7000多名咨询顾问。麦肯锡大中华分公司包括北京、香港、上海与台北四家分公司, 共有40多位董事和250多位咨询顾问。在过去十年中,麦肯锡在大中华区完成了800多个项目,涉及公司整体与业务单元战略、企业金融、营销/销售与渠道、组织架构、制造/采购/供应链、技术、产品研发等领域。麦肯锡的经验是:关键是找那些企业的领导们,他们能够认识到公司必须不断变革以适应环境变化,并且愿意接受外部的建议,这些建议在帮助他们决定作何种变革和怎样变革方面大有裨益。国外许多行业的公司很早就知道,他们不可能在所有他们涉及的领域都处于世界先进水平,因此没有必要拥有那些在偶然情况下才会用到的专家。


正文阅读

McKinsey's partners suffer from collective self-delusion

麦肯锡的合伙人们饱受集体自欺之苦

One of the best explanations for the triumph of a "solution shop" like McKinsey was co-written by the late Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School in 2013. When hiring a management-consulting firm, he said, clients do not know what they are getting in advance, because they are looking for knowledge that they themselves lack. They cannot measure the results, either, because outside factors, such as the quality of execution, influence the outcome of the consultant's recommendations.

哈佛商学院已故的克莱顿·克里斯滕森在2013年与人合著了像麦肯锡这样的“解决方案商店”成功的最好解释之一。他说,当客户雇佣管理咨询公司时,他们事先并不知道他们会得到什么,因为他们寻找的是自己缺乏的知识。它们也不能判定结果,因为执行质量等外部因素会影响顾问建议的结果。

So they rely on reputation and other squishy factors—the consultants' "educational pedigrees, eloquence, and demeanour"—as substitutes for tangible results. On that basis, no one would hire Schumpeter to help fix McKinsey's problems. His diagnosis is as lacking in eloquence as he is in demeanour. In his unschooled view, those of the firm's 650 senior partners who voted to oust their global managing partner, Kevin Sneader, on February 24th, are in a clueless mess. Worse, they don't get that they don't get it.

因此,他们依靠声誉和其他不可靠的因素——顾问的“教育背景、口才和举止”——来代替实际的结果。在那个基础上,没有人会雇佣熊彼特来帮助解决麦肯锡的问题。他的诊断和他的口才以及举止一样差。从他非学院派的角度来看,2月24日,公司650名高级合伙人投票决定罢免其全球管理合伙人凯文·斯尼德,这些人毫无头绪,一团糟。更糟糕的是,他们不明白自己的无知。

The Byzantine voting system that has done away with Mr Sneader has not yet determined which of his two potential successors will replace him. Nor is it clear for what precisely the 54-year-old Scot is paying the price. Some see his departure as the firm's strangled mea culpa; the ousting of a boss is typical of a firm engulfed in the sort of scandals Mr Sneader has had to cope with, from dodgy dealings in South Africa and settling conflict-of-interest lawsuits to paying almost $575m to settle claims that its advice helped exacerbate America's opioid crisis.

拜占庭投票系统已经淘汰了斯尼德,但它还没有决定在他的两个潜在继任者中,谁将取代他。也不清楚这位54岁的苏格兰人究竟在为什么付出代价。一些人认为他的离开是公司的一种认错方式;从南非的欺诈交易,解决利益冲突诉讼,到支付近5.75亿美元,用以解决一项指控,指控麦肯锡的建议加剧了美国类鸦片类药物的危机,解雇老板是卷入丑闻的公司的典型例子,斯尼德不得不应对这些丑闻。


今日单词

  • suffer from sth. 受……的苦;苦于……;

  • self-delusion/ˌself dɪˈluːʒn/ n.自我欺骗;

  • late /leɪt/ adj.已故的;

  • in advance 预先,提前;

  • squishy/ˈskwɪʃi/ adj.不确切的;不精确的;不明确的;

  • pedigree /ˈpedɪɡriː/ n. (人的) 背景; 出身;

  • eloquence/ˈeləkwəns/ n.口才;雄辩;修辞;

  • demeanour /dɪˈmiːnər/ n.外表;风度;行为;举止;

  • fix/fɪks/ vt.修理;校准;校正;

  • oust/aʊst/ vt.剥夺;罢免;革职;

  • clueless/ˈkluːləs/ adj.很愚蠢的;(对某事)不懂的,无能的;

  • do away with 消除; 终结;废除;

  • strangled /ˈstræŋɡld/ adj.哽塞的;哽咽的;顿住的;

  • mea culpa/ˌmeɪə ˈkʊlpə/ 是我的错;是我的责任;

  • engulf/ɪnˈɡʌlf/ vt.严重影响;

  • dodgy/ˈdɑːdʒi/ adj.狡猾的;狡诈的;可疑的;

  • exacerbate/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪt/ vt.使恶化;使加剧;使加重;


素材来源

文本选自:The Economist(经济学人)
作者:Unknown
原文发布时间:3 Mar. 2021


背景音乐

Tobu&Itro - Sunburst


每日美句

There is a great different between exposure of the mind and that of the body.

表露思想和展露身体之间存在极大的不同。


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