Confessions of a recovering micromanager | Chieh Huang

校对人员: jacks peng

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

以及我在过去几年

by being a micromanager over the last few years of my life.

作为一名微观管理者 所学到的东西。

But first off, what is micromanagement?

首先，什么是微观管理？

How do we really define it?

我们该如何确切定义它？

Well, I posit that it's actually taking great, wonderful, imaginative people --

我认为微观管理就是把卓越， 不凡，有想象力的人——

like all of you --

比如在座的各位——

bringing them in into an organization

带入到一个组织中，

and then crushing their souls --

然后逼疯他们——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

by telling them what font size to use.

比如告诉他们该使用什么字体。

In the history of mankind,

在人类的历史长河中，

has anyone ever said this?

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 --

但因为你坚持要 使用 Helvetica 字体——

bam!

砰！

Dotted line --

虚线——

millions of dollars started to flow.

数百万美元就开始流动了。

我们缺的就是这个！”

That was the missing piece!"

No one's ever said that, right?

没人那样说过，对吧？

实际上，这可能就是在接受 微观管理时，我们会从自己身上

There's actually physical manifestations that we probably see in ourselves

by being micromanaged.

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,

可能不是在你最后一个离开公司，

or it wasn't when you came home from a road trip,

或者公路旅行回来的时候，

it was probably when you had someone looking over your shoulder,

而是有人一直在窥探你的时候，

watching your each and every move.

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。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

I'm like, "I got this," you know?

我会说，“我能搞定”好让她放心。

And so there's actually data to support this.

这背后其实是有数据支撑的。

There was a recent study in the UK.

英国最近有一项研究，

They took 100 hospital employees,

他们找了100名医院员工，

put an activity tracker on them

在他们身上装上活动追踪器，

and then let them go about their next 12-hour shift all alone,

然后让他们在接下来的 12个小时独自轮班，

just a regular 12-hour shift.

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。

并不一定是始终在忙来忙去的人

It wasn't necessarily the people who moved the most

that felt the most fatigued,

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,

所以如果我们知道 微观管理并不能起到实际效果，

why do we do it?

为什么还要这样做呢？

Is it that the definition is wrong?

是这个定义错了吗？

我刚才说微观管理

I posited that micromanagement

is just bringing in great, wonderful, imaginative people

只是把这些卓越，不凡， 有想象力的人带进来

and then crushing their souls,

然后让他们抓狂，

so is it that we actually want to hire --

那么我们是否其实是—— 在内心深处——

deep down inside of us --

想要雇佣那些

dull and unimaginative people?

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。

就好像，“你想让自己的 行李在机场被偷吗？”

It's like, "Do you want to get your luggage stolen at the airport?"

可能不想，但是从来没有人 这么问过我，不是吗？

Probably not, but I've never been asked, right?

那么作为管理者，是否曾经有人问你，

So has anyone asked you, as a manager,

“你想雇佣一群平庸， 没有创造力的人吗？”

"Do you want to hire dull and unimaginative people?"

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 --

我们实际上询问了 全国各地的数百人——

hundreds of managers across the country --

全国各地的数百名管理者——

do you want to hire dull and unimaginative people?

你想雇佣一些平庸 又没想象力的人吗？

Alright, it's an interesting question.

好吧，这是一个有趣的问题。

Well, interesting results as well.

同样也有一个有趣的结果。

So, 94% said no --

94%的人说不——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

我们不想要雇佣 平庸又没想象力的人。

we don't want to hire dull and unimaginative people.

剩下的6%或许 没理解这个问题——

Six percent probably didn't understand the question --

(Laughter)

（笑声）

but, bless their hearts,

但是，他们内心挺强大，

maybe they do just want to hire dull and unimaginative people.

或许确实想要雇佣 平庸又没有想象力的人。

但94%的人说他们没想过， 那么我们为什么还要这样做呢？

But 94 percent said they did not, and so why do we do this still then?

Well, I posit that it's something really, really simple

我认为答案非常非常的简单，

that all of us deep down inside know and have actually felt.

我们内心深处都知道并感觉到了。

So when we get hired into an organization --

当我们被一家公司雇佣的时候——

it could be a club, it could be a law firm,

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 --

也可能是学校 ， 可能是任何的机构——

no one ever jumps to the top of the totem pole, right?

没有人会直接跳到最上级，对吧？

You start at the very bottom.

你会从最基层开始。

Doing what?

做什么呢？

Doing work.

做工作。

You actually do the work, right?

你的确要工作，对吧？

And if you're really good at doing the work,

如果你真的擅长做这项工作，

what do you get rewarded with?

你会得到什么奖励？

更多的工作，对吧？

More work, right?

Yeah, that's right, you guys are all great micromanagers.

对，就是这样，在座的 都是很棒的微观管理者。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

You do more work,

你会做更多的工作，

and then pretty soon, if you're really good at it,

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，

you do a little bit of work still,

但实际上，你开始管理 人们去做这项工作。

but actually, you start to manage people doing the work.

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,

就在那时，

you start to lose control over the output of your job.

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,

我在我们车库里创立了 一家名叫 Boxed 的公司，

and this was it -- I know it doesn't seem like much --

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 --

后面其实有个压力清洗机——

this is "living the dream."

这是 “活在梦想中”的状态。

And my wife was really proud of me when we started this,

刚开始我的妻子很为我感到骄傲，

or that's what she said, she was really proud of me --

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

她会给我一个拥抱， 我敢肯定她还拿着手机，

and she was thinking, "Oh, is John from Harvard still single?"

而且还在想，“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，

但我们却跑出来说， 移动商务的前景将是巨大的，

but we actually went up and said mobile commerce is going to be big,

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——

不是两条装的奥利奥饼干， 而是24条装的，

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

让我们把它寄给你， 就像仓储会员店那样，

except they wouldn't ship it to you.

除了他们不会寄给你外。

所以这就是我们所做的。

So that's what we basically did.

We had a really slow printer

我们有台很慢的打印机，

and what we did was actually say, "OK, this printer is taking forever, man.

于是我们说：“老天， 这打印机也太慢了吧！

不如我们在收据背后写一些

Let's scribble something that would delight the customer

on the back of these invoices."

能让顾客开心的话吧。”

于是我们写了：“嘿，保持微笑！”

So we'd say, "Hey, keep smiling," you know?

“嘿，你很棒！”

"Hey, you're awesome,"

or, "Hey, enjoy the Doritos,"

或：“嘿，好好享用玉米片吧！”

or, "We love Gatorade, too."

或：“我们也喜欢佳得乐！”

Stuff like that.

诸如此类。

And so it started breaking up the monotony of the job as well

所以这也让我的工作不那么单调了，

because I was picking and packing all of the boxes,

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

这就是我在仓库里每天要花上

when you're sitting in the garage.

8到12个小时的工作。

And so an interesting thing happened.

于是，一件有趣的事情发生了。

So we actually started to grow.

我们的业务真的开始成长了。

And so, you know, over the last --

在过去——

actually just even 36 months after that,

就在那之后的36个月，

we ended up selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stuff,

我们最终卖掉了 价值数亿美元的东西，

and we actually grew really, really quickly.

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;

没错，我是车库里的CEO；

I was picking and packing, doing all the work,

负责拣货和包装等所有的工作，

但后来我过渡到了

but then I graduated

to actually managing the people who picked and packed,

真正管理拣货和包装的人，

接着很快，我所管理的人

and then pretty soon I managed the people

管理了那些拣货和包装的人。

who managed 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

And even now, I manage the C-staff who manage the departments

who manage the people who manage the people picking and packing.

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,

他们爱这些字条， 但我不能再继续写了，

so you know what I'm going to do?

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。

用什么笔，什么颜色，写什么，

What pen to use, what color to use, what you should write,

what font you should use,

应该使用什么字体，

don't mess up the margins,

旁边的留白很重要，

this has to be this big, this has to be that big.

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

很快，这个通过打破 配送中心单调性

by breaking up the monotony in the fulfillment center

来提升士气的目标，

就变成了微观管理，人们 开始向人力资源处抱怨。

actually became micromanagement, and people started complaining to HR.

It's like, "Dude, this CEO guy has got to get out of my hair, OK?

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。”

I know how to write a damn note."

（笑声）

(Laughter)

So it was at that point in time, we said, "OK, you know?

就在那时，我们说：“好吧，

We hired these great, wonderful people,

既然我们雇佣了这些很棒的人，

let's give them the mission that's 'delight the customer,'

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.

结果相当惊人。

Some folks actually took the notes

有人真的就拿了这些字条

and actually started drawing these really ornate minimurals on them.

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:

当人们订购尿布时， 你会收到这样有趣的字条：

"Say 'hi' to the baby for us!"

“替我们向宝宝说声嗨！”

And you know, the next size up, if they bought a bigger size,

如果他们后来买了一个 更大尺寸的尿布，

they'd write, "Growing up so fast."

他们会写：“长得真快呀。”

And so people really, really took to it.

人们真的很喜欢这种字条。

But it was at that time that it also went off the rails a few times.

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,"

让人忍不住吐槽：“老兄， 我老板以前就经常给我写这个。”

so, let's not write "Thx" anymore.

所以咱们不要再写“谢谢”了。

但与之对立的一面 也有一些有趣的事情发生。

But you also had interesting things on the other side.

People got a little too creative.

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,

大型量贩尿布，大型量贩卫生纸，

the big packs of Doritos and Oreo cookies.

大型量贩包的玉米片和奥利奥饼干。

We also sell the big packs of contraception,

我们也卖大包的避孕用品，

and so --

所以——

this is getting a little hairy.

这就有点麻烦了。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

So we sell the 40-pack of condoms, right?

我们会卖40包大包装的避孕套。

We're all adults in this room -- 40-pack of condoms.

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——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

他们就买了这些，

And that's all they ordered,

so, 160 condoms,

所以，一共160片避孕套。

the packer was like, "I know how to delight the customer."

包装工很兴奋， “我知道要如何让客人愉快。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

这个家伙…

"This guy ..."

This is what they wrote:

这就是他们所写的：

[Everyone loves an optimist]

【大家都爱乐观的人】

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

We didn't know whether to fire him or to promote him, but he's still there.

我们不知道该解雇他 还是提拔他，但他还在公司里。

So, "Everyone loves an optimist."

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

但这也正是它有些出格的地方，

and I felt a little bit conflicted in all of this.

我感到有些矛盾。

And --

并且——

oh, there's a really bad typo --

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,

这台上如果只有一个红色T-E-D字样，

it wouldn't be a typo, right?

我就不会犯这种错误了，对吧？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

I promised you I had a really bad sense of humor,

我向各位保证过我的幽默感很差，

and now I'm gratifying that.

现在我很满意。

So I told you. But I really was conflicted, right?

但我真的很矛盾。

At this point in time, we started doing things

在这个时候，我们开始做一些

that actually weren't part of our core mission

其实不属于核心内容的工作，

and people started failing at it.

并且大家都没能做好。

And so, I thought, should we let them fail?

所以我想，我们应该 眼睁睁看着他们失败吗？

Should we continue to let them do this?

我们应该让他们继续吗？

I don't know --

我不知道——

I didn't know at that moment,

我当时不知道，

but I thought this:

但我想：

Is failure really that bad?

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,

我不知道我们是否也会这么想，

because like, in our board meetings,

因为在我们的董事会上，

our board members are never like, "Hey, Chieh, you failed last quarter,

董事会成员从不会说： “嘿，你上一季表现不好，

keep doing that, buddy, OK?"

请继续保持，伙计。”

No one's ever said that.

从来没有人说过这样的话。

If you're part of an organization like that,

如果你在那样的组织，

give me a call, I want to sit in on that meeting.

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

但我认为，从长远来看， 失败对于人们，

for the folks truly in the long-term,

对于聪明和富有想象力的人，

for the smart and imaginative people

真正努力去完成你给他们的任务

truly trying to fulfill the mission that you give them at hand.

实际上是非常必要的。

And so failure can actually be seen as a milestone

因此，失败实际上可以被看作

along that mission towards success.

成功道路上的里程碑。

And if the downside of not micromanaging

如果不进行微观管理，那么不利之处

is potentially this perceived notion that you might fail more often,

是觉得你有可能会经历更多的失败，

and if it's really not that bad,

而如果真实情况并没有那么糟糕，

what is the upside?

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,

“我们建造配送中心的 成本要数百万美元，

there's miles and miles of conveyor,

有几英里长的传送带，

and so, can you do the same thing,

你们能否能做同样的事，

can you make them efficient without spending millions of dollars?"

在不花费数百万美元的 情况下使它们高效吗？”

So, they got to work:

他们就去做了：

they actually did this -- this is not photoshopped,

他们做了这个——这可不是PS过的照片，

the guy is really grinding.

那家伙真的是在打磨。

他们建造了一个自动导引的车辆。

They built an autonomous guided vehicle.

We didn't tell them what to build, what format it needed to be.

我们没有告诉他们要建造什么， 要用什么样的形式。

在90天内，他们制作了第一个原型车：

In 90 days they produced the first prototype:

用特斯拉的电池供电， 带立体相机和激光雷达系统。

powered off Tesla batteries, stereoscopic cameras, lidar systems.

It basically replicates the efficiency of a conveyor belt

它基本上复制了传送带的效率

without the actual capex of a conveyor belt.

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 --

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 told them, "Hey, get the word out; do the right thing."

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,

有天早上，她截住我说，

she's like, "Chieh, what are we doing about the pink tax?"

“应该怎么处理粉红税？”

我拿了咖啡，然后坐下来，

I went and got my coffee, I sat down,

对她说：“哦，妮塔莎， 先告诉我粉红税是什么？”

I said, "OK, Nitasha, what is this pink tax?"

她就告诉了我——这真的很有趣。

And so she told me, it's really interesting.

有些人可能知道，在美国的32个州，

So, some of you might know that in 32 states across America,

我们实际上会对 妇女产品征收奢侈品税，

we actually charge a luxury goods tax on women's products

like feminine care products,

比如说女性护理产品，

所以卫生棉条和卫生巾会 被当做奢侈品一样征税。

so tampons and pads are taxed like luxury goods items.

So I would never dare call my wife --

我绝对不敢打电话给我的妻子——

or if she called me and said, "Hey, hon, bring some pads on the way home,"

或者如果她打给我说： “亲爱的，回家时买些卫生棉。”

而我说：“宝贝， 你知道吗，现在有贸易战，

and I said, "Babe, you know, there's a trade war going on,

the economy's not that good,

经济状况不太好，

所以这个月不能买奢侈品， 但我保证下个月——

so no luxury goods this month but next month I promise --

（笑声）

(Laughter)

我会看看状况。”

I'll take a look at it."

我会很快变单身，对吧？

I'd be single pretty quickly, right?

不过很有意思的是——

But what's super interesting is now --

we didn't tell them what to do --

我们没有告诉他们该怎么做——

but now, working with finance, they rebate the tax

但现在，他们与财务合作退税，

back to customers all around the country that we unfairly have to collect.

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,

所以在这个时间点，你们可能在想，

"OK, what is the real, real upside of not micromanaging?"

“那么不做微观管理的 真正有利面是什么？”

and it's this:

那就是：

I didn't do any of these projects.

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 make the AGV.

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,

这些都不是我做的，

but I'm standing here on a TED stage taking all the credit for it.

但我站在TED舞台上，拿了所有的功劳。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"This guy does nothing and takes all the credit for it.

“这个家伙什么都不用做， 功劳却都是他的。

He's a real CEO, this guy. He's really got it down."

这个家伙是真正的CEO， 他真的做到了。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But the reality is this.

但现实是：

我并没有完全精通 CEO 的工作，

I don't have the CEO thing down 100 percent pat,

but I've actually learned the most fundamentally challenging lesson

但我真的学到了一生中最基础

I've ever had to learn,

也最富有挑战性的一课，

and that's this.

这一课就是：

There is only one solution to micromanagement ...

微观管理只有一种解决办法…

and that's to trust.

那就是信任。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）