The One Question Every Aspiring Leader Needs To Ask | Constance Hockaday | TED

翻译人员: Ryan Qiao 校对人员: Gentle Yang

Most of what we know about performing leadership

我们对于领导力表现的大部分认识，

is made up of these practiced postures

都来自于西方

passed down in the West through a white, male embodiment of power.

白人男性权力象征的传承。

These have become so intertwined with actually having power,

这些经过训练的姿势 已经与实际拥有权力紧密相连，

that imitating these behaviors

以至于模仿这些行为

kind of feels like the only way to show up with authority.

似乎成为表现权威的唯一方式。

We can obviously do better than that.

显然，我们可以做得更好。

I work in organizational and leadership development

我从事组织与领导力发展方面的工作，

and I'm an artist.

同时，我也是一名艺术家。

I believe artists are leaders in expressing things

我相信在表达那些 人类通常难以言表的东西时，

that humankind often doesn't know how to say yet.

艺术家们就是领导者。

So that's why I invited a bunch of artists

所以，我邀请了一群艺术家

to do a leadership makeover.

进行领导力改造。

They wrote public addresses.

他们撰写公共演讲稿，

They made leadership portraits.

创作领导人肖像，

I call them the Artists in Presidents.

我称他们为“总统”艺术家。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Since 2020,

自 2020 年以来，

over 70 Artists in Presidents have contributed to the digital archive.

已经有超过70位“总统”艺术家 为我们的数字档案馆做出了贡献。

They're North American, Indigenous,

他们有北美人、原住民，

international and stateless,

也有国际人士与无国籍人士，

they're artists with disabilities,

有残疾艺术家，

they're queer.

还有性别多样化群体。

They made beautiful attempts at embodying

他们做出了漂亮的尝试，

inclusive performances of leadership and power.

以包容性的表现形式展现了领导力和权力。

Some sung,

他们有的唱歌，

others looked to repair the past,

有的则试图弥补过往。

one person used artificial intelligence to write her speech,

其中一位借助人工智能写她的演讲稿，

and one person just straight up wrote a curse.

另一位直接留下了一句咒骂。

And so many more.

还有更多其他的形式。

But what really surprised me,

但真正让我惊讶的是，

was that a lot of us struggled to say something new.

我们中的很多人都很难说出新想法，

To articulate what we want with authority.

难以用权威的语言表达我们想要的东西。

Blame it on the millennia of humans colonizing humans,

这可能要归咎于人类 几千年来的相互殖民与统治，

but it seems like we don't believe we can have the things we want.

但似乎我们不相信 自己能够拥有想要的东西，

The things that we need to live and work with dignity.

不相信可以得到那些 能让我们有尊严地生活和工作的东西。

So I think as leaders

因此，我认为作为领导者，

interested in investing in an equitable society,

要想为一个更加平等的社会做出贡献，

modeling agency is one of the most important things

我们能为我们的各个社群和组织 所做的要事之一，

that we can do for our communities and organizations.

就是树立一个展示主观能动性的榜样。

But it's hard.

但这挺难的。

How do you move towards believing in your own agency?

一个人该如何开始相信自己的主观能动性？

The way that I learned to do this

我学到的方式

came in a really unusual place.

来源于一个特别的地方。

When I was in my early 20s,

在 20 岁出头的时候，

I met Captain Betsy.

我遇上了贝奇船长。

I was queer, depressed, feeling totally alone

我是一个抑郁的“酷儿”，

in my tiny south Texas town on the Gulf of Mexico.

在墨西哥湾边南德克萨斯州的 一个小镇里感到无依无靠。

And by the time Betsy landed in my town,

而当贝奇在我的小镇登陆时，

she had been living on homemade rafts for decades,

她和自称“漂游中微子” (Floating Neutrinos）的一队人

with a group called the Floating Neutrinos.

已经在他们自制的木筏上生活了几十年。

She had captained over a dozen rafts,

她曾担任几十艘木筏的船长，

including one across the Atlantic Ocean.

其中一艘还曾横跨大西洋。

In that thing.

就是这个东西。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So the Floating Neutrinos believe

“漂游中微子”们认为

that the most important thing a person needs to know how to do

一个人必须掌握的最重要的能力，

is articulate their own desires.

就是能够清楚表达自身的主观意愿。

To break out of being solely in reaction to the systems that contain us,

也就是摆脱被动的应对者的角色， 跳出那种仅仅对我们所处体系，

like the economic system and the education system.

例如经济体系和教育系统， 做出反应的状态，

So that we can allow our deepest desires

这样我们才能让自己最深层次的愿景

to be the thing that bring direction and urgency to our lives.

给我们的人生提供方向和动力。

The rafts were a tool that the Neutrinos used

”中微子“们以木筏为工具

to bring themselves closer to their desires.

来缩短自己和愿景之间的距离。

So obviously, I was very taken by this,

显然，我被这个概念深深地吸引了，

not because I wanted to permanently live on a raft,

并非因为我想长居于木筏上，

but because I wanted to believe in an extraordinary life.

而是因为我想相信 自己能够过上非凡的人生。

And Betsy was the first person to ever ask me

而贝奇是第一个问我

what it is that I wanted.

究竟想要什么的人。

And she did this using a practice called the three deepest desires.

她是用一种叫做 “三个最深切渴望” 的 方法来做到这一点的。

She’d say, “Pretend you’re gonna die.”

她说，“假设你快要死了“。

You’re gonna die, you’re all gonna die.

你会死的，你们都会死的。

“Pretend that you’re gonna die tomorrow.

What is one thing that you need to do before you die?"

“在你死之前， 你最想做哪件事情？”

And then I would have full-on drama meltdowns

为了回答这个问题，

around answering this question,

我陷入了戏剧性的崩溃状态，

because it was impossible for me to believe that I had any authority

因为当时的我无法相信，

over my own life.

我对自己的人生能有任何掌控权。

That I could want things

我无法相信自己可能想要一些

outside of what my parents and our culture had told us to want.

超出父母和文化所要求的东西。

So Betsy finally said, "Look,

所以，贝奇最后说，“你看，

all you have to do is answer this question for today.

You could say, 'I want to eat the biggest hamburger in the world.'

OK, great. Whatever, write it down.

“好的。不管是什么，把它写下来。”

Because you're going to answer this question again tomorrow

“因为你明天还会再次回答这个问题。”

and it's how you answer this question over time that matters."

And so then I said something super weird, like,

于是我就说了一些荒唐的愿望，

"I want to see a waterfall,"

比如“我想去看瀑布，”

because there's no waterfalls in south Texas.

因为得克萨斯州南部没有瀑布。

And I got much better at it.

后来我进步了很多。

Saying what we want out loud

大声地把我们想要的说出来，

is something that we have to practice.

是我们必须反复练习的事情。

But the crux of this learning is the believing part.

但这种学习方法的关键在于相信。

Believing. Faith.

相信！信念！

It's not something that we learn in isolation.

这并不是我们闭门造车能学到的，

It's something that we learn through imitation.

这是我们通过模仿而学到的，

Like, leadership and language.

就像领导力和语言。

So in my life,

所以在我的生活中，

Betsy modeled for me what it meant to articulate my desires

贝奇为我树立了表达愿景的榜样，

and in lending her faith to me,

通过向我倾注她的信念，

she was also giving it back to herself.

她也从中获得了反馈与回报。

But she did another thing.

但她还做了另一件事，

And this is something that leaders often forget to do.

一件领导者们经常忽视的事：

She listened.

倾听。

She sat with me

在我痛苦和不安的练习过程中，

in the pain and discomfort of my process

她始终和我站在一起，

and it's from that place, my current reality,

正是从我那时的现状开始，

that she guided me towards a vision

她引导我成为今天的我，

of possibility and agency in this world.

走向一个充满可能性和能动性的世界。

We can choose to model our leadership styles in similar ways.

我们可以选择以类似的方式 来塑造我们的领导风格。

It's a commitment to relationality.

这是一种对相互依存的关系的承诺。

It's a process that never ends,

这是一个永无止境的过程，

but it pays off because it grows empowered, engaged

但它会带来回报，因为它能培养出 有能力、有担当、有抱负，

and inspired groups of people, focused on a shared vision.

并且专注于共同愿景的一群人。

So if what we want is to connect people's priorities

因此，如果我们想要将人们的优先事项

with our visions for the greater good,

与我们对最大化公众利益的愿景联系起来，

we have to commit to mediating between the truth that is in the room

我们就必须致力于在当下的现实

and the aspirational future.

与愿景中的未来之间斡旋。

You’re all gonna die.

人终有一死。

You could die tomorrow.

假设你明天就要死了，

What's one thing that you want to do before you die?

临死之前，你最想做哪件事？

What kind of leader do you want to be?

你想成为怎样的领导者？

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）