Why Play Is Essential for Business | Martin Reeves | TED

44,811 views ・ 2022-03-15

TED


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翻译人员: Shuhui Huang 校对人员: Yanyan Hong
00:04
Have you ever trodden on a Lego brick in your bare feet?
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你有没有过一不小心 光脚踩在乐高积木上面?
00:08
You’re tiptoeing through your lounge late at night,
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当你在晚上蹑手蹑脚地走过客厅时,
00:11
and suddenly that stabbing pain,
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突然脚底一阵钻心的痛,
00:13
the expletives
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一句脏话就脱口而出。
00:14
and the inevitable question:
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你问你自己:
00:16
“Why do we have so much of this stuff all over the place?”
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“为什么到处都是东西?”
00:19
Well, that’s really quite simple.
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好吧,显而易见,
00:21
Your kids love playing with it,
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你的孩子喜欢玩玩具,
00:23
so you buy more.
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家里的玩具就越买越多。
00:25
And a confession --
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我也承认——
00:26
I love to watch my kids play with Lego.
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我喜欢看我的孩子玩乐高。
00:30
Especially good is when I see them inventing their own rules
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没有什么比看着孩子 创造出自己的一套规则
00:33
and their own worlds.
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和属于他们自己的世界更快乐的了。
00:36
So here are my daughters,
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这是我的女儿们。
00:37
last Saturday,
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在上周六,
00:39
making something out of different kits
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她们显然在造一些东西。
00:42
and pieces of string
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用着各种各样的玩意儿和一些绳子,
00:43
and pieces of wood and dolls and other objects.
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木块、娃娃之类的小玩意。
00:46
And I asked them, “What is it?”
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于是我问她们,“这是什么?”
00:47
And they said to me, “Dad, of course it’s a princess flying on a dragon
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她们说:“爸爸, 这不明摆着是一个公主骑着龙
飞去纽约拜访农场的动物朋友啊。”
00:51
to visit farm animals in New York.”
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00:54
Of course, what else could it be?
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那真的是再明显不过了呢!
00:59
Kids at play inspire me.
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小孩子的玩耍常常能启发我,
01:01
They’re not afraid to ask, “What if”
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因为他们不怕去尝试不同的可能性。
01:03
and “Why not?”
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01:04
But what kids implicitly know that adults tend to forget
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但有一点是小孩子知道 而大人总忘记的事:
01:08
is that play isn’t just about fun.
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玩耍并不只是为了开心。
01:11
Now, as a biologist, I know that play is spontaneous and pleasurable --
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作为一个生物学家, 我知道玩耍会给人带来愉悦——
01:16
as you can see by the smiles in this photograph --
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你只要看看照片上 这些笑容就知道了——
01:19
but also, it accelerates and derisks learning.
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但玩耍还能有效地帮助学习,
01:24
It helps kids to try out new behaviors,
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它能帮助孩子尝试新行为,
01:27
to refine those behaviors
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并去不断完善这些行为,
01:29
and to imagine what is not
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以及去畅想那些现在无法实现
01:31
but what could be or what will be.
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但将来可能会成为的样子。
01:35
As a business strategist dealing with adults,
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作为一个和成年人打交道的商务顾问,
01:38
I still recommend play.
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我依然推荐玩耍这个方式。
01:39
In fact, play in business is not just possible,
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事实上,玩耍这个方式 在商业领域不仅是可行的,
01:43
I’d argue that it’s essential
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我认为还十分重要,
01:45
and even urgent.
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甚至可以说是紧迫。
01:46
And here’s why.
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让我来说说为什么。
01:48
Competitive advantage fades away faster than any time in recent memory.
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最近几年, 企业的竞争优势的衰弱正在加速。
01:54
In the 1980s,
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在 1980 年,
01:55
if you had a performance edge over your competitors,
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假如你公司的业绩优于竞争对手,
01:58
you could reasonably expect to continue being a leader for around 10 years,
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你可能在接下来的十年里 都是这个行业的领导者。
02:02
on average.
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02:04
But now the half-life of that advantage has shrunk to just one year.
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但现在这些竞争优势的有效期 已经缩减到只有一年了,
02:10
That means that short-lived success is actually still very common,
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这意味着各行业的成功都可能非常的短暂,
02:15
but sustained success becomes very hard
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而且要保持成功变得异常艰难及罕见,
02:19
and very rare.
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02:21
That means that, actually, reimagination is the new execution.
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这也意味着再度创造变成了新常态。
02:25
In order to stay on top,
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为了保持在领头羊的位置, 或者仅仅是为了不要落后,
02:27
or even just to tread water and stay still,
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02:30
you need to constantly reimagine your business.
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你都要不断地有新的想法。
02:36
But that’s not so simple
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如果你已经有了 一个非常成功的商业模型,
02:37
if you already have a highly successful business model.
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那这就更不容易了。
02:41
We become prisoners of the mental models that underpin our past success.
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过去的成功, 会困住我们的想象力。
02:47
In fact, I found in dealing with businesses
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事实上,我发现在商业上,
02:49
that you can’t really stretch your strategy
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假如你不放开自己的思维, 你是不可能想出新策略的。
02:53
unless you stretch your mind.
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02:55
Now play is of course a great way of stretching your mind.
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玩耍就是一个很好的开阔思维的方式。
02:59
Now --
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大家不要误会,
03:01
I mean, there’d be no mistake,
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03:02
I’m not suggesting literally
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我不是在建议
03:04
that executives huddle around a conference table
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各位高管在会议桌上玩乐高。
03:07
with a big pile of Lego bricks --
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03:10
although I’ve done that, and that works too.
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虽然我这么做过, 而且效果还很不错。
03:13
But instead, I’ve created a series of imagination games
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但我在这里说的是, 一系列锻炼想象力的游戏
03:18
to help executives to stretch their thinking.
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来帮助高管们拓展思维。
03:21
Would you like to play with me?
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你想来跟我一起玩这个游戏吗?
03:22
(Audience nods)
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(观众点头)
03:23
Good, I'm glad you said that.
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还好你们同意了
03:26
OK, so let’s supposing that you’re stuck in the rut
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好,如果你一直都以曾经的成就为标准
来看待这个世界, 并感到没法改变自己的视角。
03:31
of seeing the world through the lens of your past and current success.
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03:36
I would recommend the “Anti-Company Game,”
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我建议你玩这个“镜面企业游戏”。
03:38
and here’s how it works.
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这个游戏是这样的,
03:39
You get a piece of paper,
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拿一张纸,
03:41
you create a list of everything which is essential to your strategy --
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列出所有在策略上非常重要的事情——
03:44
everything which underpinned your past success,
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所有能让你当初如此成功的事情,
03:47
everything which is core and sacred --
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那些核心而神圣的事。
03:50
and then you flip it.
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然后你把这些要素给反过来,
03:52
You create the exact mirror-image list of assumptions,
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列出一张完全相反的表。
03:56
and then you make the best business case for this antiself.
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然后根据这个镜面列表, 构思出一个你认为最好的商业案例。
04:01
You’ll be surprised at the ideas that it triggers.
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这所激发的奇思妙想, 会出乎你的意料。
04:04
Supposing, for example, that you’re the CEO of a hotel chain
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举个例子, 假如你是一家连锁酒店集团的总裁,
04:08
and playing the game and flipping the assumptions.
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通过这个游戏 你把你所有的成功要素都反过来。
04:10
Let’s assume that, inconveniently,
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例如,很不幸地,
04:13
you don’t actually own any hotels
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你不拥有任何酒店甚至房间,
04:16
or any rooms
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04:17
or even operate any hotels or any rooms anywhere.
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你甚至连一间酒店都没有管理过。
04:21
Ridiculous --
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荒谬——
04:23
quite possibly --
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但也有可能——
04:25
but actually, how would you know the difference between ridiculous
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老实说,我们有时很难分得清——
04:28
and the merely unfamiliar, untried and uncomfortable?
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荒谬、陌生、未尝试过的 和让我们不舒服的事的区别。
04:32
And who’s to say
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谁又敢说
04:33
that something that seems impractical can’t actually become and evolve
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那些看似不切实际的事, 就不可能变成一个很棒的主意呢?
04:37
into a more powerful idea?
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04:40
Actually, had the executives of hotels played the “Anti-Company Game”
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事实上,假如连锁酒店集团的高管 在 2007 年前玩过这个游戏的话,
04:46
before 2007,
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04:48
they might have been able to foresee the appearance of Airbnb,
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那他们可能会预见到 爱彼迎 (Airbnb) 的诞生。
04:53
the hotel-less hospitality company,
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这个旗下没有任何酒店的酒店公司,
04:56
and they might have been able to stave off disruption
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那这些高管可能已经成功地通过自我改革
04:59
by preemptively disrupting themselves.
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而安全地度过这行业的巨变。
05:02
Let’s play another game:
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让我们再玩另一个游戏。
05:04
“The Maverick Game.”
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那就是“异见者游戏”。
05:06
On the edge of your industries --
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在你的行业边缘——
05:08
on the edge of every industry --
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在所有的行业边缘——
05:10
are a population of maverick companies
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都会有一些特立独行的公司。
05:12
that are taking a bet against the incumbents’ business model
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他们挑战着现有的商业模型和商业愿景。
05:16
and their view of the future.
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05:19
Actually, they have no choice
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事实上,他们别无选择。
05:20
because to be a miniature version of the incumbent would not be viable.
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因为他们的规模实在太小了, 不这么做的话,他们早晚会被淘汰。
05:24
Now, it’s easy not to notice them --
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我们会很容易忽视这些公司,
05:26
many of them are small companies.
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因为他们很多都是小公司,
05:28
It's easy to deliberately overlook them with some justification.
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所以我们很容易带着偏见去忽略他们。
05:32
Many startups disappear fairly quickly after being founded.
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许多创业公司成立没多久就倒闭了。
05:37
And it’s very, very tempting,
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你也很容易,
05:38
given all of your experience in the business,
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用你的商业经验去检视这些公司。
05:41
to judge them.
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05:43
Do they know what they’re doing?
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他们究竟知不知道自己在干什么?
05:44
Does their business model make sense?
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他们的商业模型究竟行不行得通?
05:46
Will they ever make any money?
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他们究竟有没有盈利?
05:48
But instead of judging them from the comfort
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与其站在舒适区内评价他们,
05:51
and the confidence of your position,
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05:53
try assuming that it’s they that have the right bet on the future.
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倒不如假设他们对未来的预测是准确的。
05:58
Think about the consequences of that for your business model.
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设想一下,假如这是你的商业模型 它的结果会是怎么样。
06:01
Try making the best case for their idea.
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尝试找到能运用他们模式的最佳领域
06:07
Supposing, for example,
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比如说,你是一家公司的总裁。
06:09
that you are the CEO of a company
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06:11
that makes equipment that makes semiconductors.
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你的公司主要生产 用于制造半导体的设备,
06:15
Naturally, you’d probably spend most of your time and attention
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你自然会关注你的主要客户的行业: 电子工业。
06:18
on your main customer industry,
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06:20
the electronics industry.
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06:22
And if it so happened,
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你应该会注意到, 有一些特立独行的半导体公司
06:24
that a couple of maverick bioscience companies
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06:26
were tinkering with your patents and your technologies,
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尝试对你的专利和技术 做出一些细微的改变。
06:29
you might overlook that as a distraction,
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你很可能并不会把这件事放在心上。
06:31
an irrelevance.
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06:33
But actually, Brooks Automation,
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但现实生活中的行业领头羊 金唯智母公司 (Brooks Automation)
06:36
a leader in the field,
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06:37
decided to take a close-up look at such a group of mavericks
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就决定认真关注这些公司,
06:41
to see whether it could learn anything.
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并打算从他们的研究中学习。
06:43
And what it realized
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当他们从这些公司的角度去看待事情时,
06:44
by looking at the world through the eyes of these mavericks
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06:48
was that, actually, the same techniques
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他们发现, 用来制造精密半导体的技术,
06:50
and technologies which can be used to handle delicate semiconductors
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06:55
can also be applied to other fragile and easily contaminated materials,
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也能用来处理一些容易被污染的原材料,
07:01
like biological samples.
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例如生物样本。
07:04
And puzzling on the significance of this,
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他们并不确定这项技术有多重要,
07:07
they reimagined how to handle and store and transport
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但他们想象了一下, 如何去利用它来储存、运输、
07:11
and label and identify biological samples.
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标签以及识别生物样本。
07:15
In fact, they became a successful pioneer
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事实上,他们已经成为自助生物银行
07:18
in the new industry of automated biobanking.
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这一新行业的领导者了。
07:22
So successful, in fact, that just a couple of days ago,
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这一项目如此成功, 以至于几天前,
07:25
they announced that this was now their core business moving forwards.
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他们刚宣布这个项目 将成为他们的主营业务。
07:30
It’s only by focusing on these anomalous mavericks
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只有关注了这些与众不同的公司,
07:34
that they could see their own path to renewed success and growth.
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才能找到通向成功的新道路。
07:40
Now, not everything in business goes according to plan.
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经营公司的时候, 不是所有的事都会照着计划走。
07:45
In fact, sometimes the plans go horribly awry.
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现实是,计划甚至会严重走偏。
07:48
But you know what?
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但你知道吗?
07:49
That can be a source of inspiration, too.
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这也可以是你灵感的来源。
07:52
To find out how,
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为了说明这一点, 我们来玩一个叫“事前分析”的游戏。
07:54
let’s play the “Pre-Mortem Game.”
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07:58
So your role in this game is to write ...
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你的任务是, 给你的公司写一份破产声明。
08:02
the obituary for your company,
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08:05
which is going to fail with 100 percent certainty
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写出那些一定能让你的公司 在五年内破产的事情。
08:08
in five years’ time.
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08:11
What is the cause of death?
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直接导致破产的原因是什么?
08:13
What will have been the point of failure?
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破产的那一刻会发生什么?
08:17
Why will it have failed?
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为什么会失败?
08:18
How will it have failed?
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公司是怎么走向失败的?
08:22
The challenge here is that it’s easy to be seduced into the baseline fallacy.
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但这很容易会导致基线谬误。
08:27
The baseline fallacy is the idea
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基线谬误就是会让你觉得, 目前的商业模型的风险是最低的。
08:28
that it’s the current business model which is the low-risk bet.
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08:32
And of course that tends to be true
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这在当时听起来好像不错,
08:35
until it isn’t true,
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直到它开始出问题。
08:37
at which point it’s probably too late to do anything about it.
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而这时你再想去修正 已经来不及了。
08:42
Now, your employees are an early-warning indicator.
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你的员工其实就是早期的预警信号,
08:44
They will have intuitions if the model begins to slip,
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他们会很早就察觉到 公司的商业模型开始出问题,
08:48
but it’s very hard for them to speak up.
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但他们很难发声。
08:49
And it’s even taboo for them to speak up
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而且当公司经历坎坷的时候, 指出问题会让他们受到责难。
08:52
when the business model is under pressure.
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08:55
But when executives create playgrounds --
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但假如公司的高管能给出一个
08:59
spaces for the safe exploration of alternatives
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能让员工畅所欲言的环境,
09:02
and alternative scenarios --
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09:04
then you get to tap into your employees’ considerable experience
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那你就能利用员工宝贵的经验,
09:07
about the vulnerabilities
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看到公司的弱点、
09:09
and the weak spots
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存在的缺陷
09:10
and the blind spots of your company.
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以及公司高管忽视的事情。
09:14
Does anyone remember visiting recently one of these gorgeous marble palaces?
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你们有谁记得最近参观过这样的 富丽堂皇的大理石宫殿吗?
09:20
No?
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不记得了?
09:21
It’s probably been a while since we visited the local banking branch.
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确实,距离人们上次踏足这些银行 地方分行的大厅已经有一段时间了。
09:25
Had bricks-and-mortar banks played the “Pre-Mortem Game,”
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假如这些实体银行有玩过 这个“事前分析游戏”的话,
09:30
perhaps they would have heard their employees expressing some concerns
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他们很可能会知道他的员工
09:34
about the gradually dwindling flow of customers to local branches.
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对支行客流量减少的担忧,
09:39
And perhaps they would have been slightly less taken by surprise
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这样的话, 当像 NewBank 这种数字银行
09:43
when companies like NewBank,
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迅速抓住机会,
说服了至今有超过四千万名的 拉丁美洲的客户
09:46
a digital native,
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09:47
seized, very rapidly indeed, on that opportunity
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09:50
to convince, to date, more than 40 million Latin Americans
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抛弃过时的传统银行交易的时候,
09:55
that in-person transactions in real buildings
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09:57
were a quaint but obsolete relic of the past.
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他们应该就不会如此惊讶了。
10:02
It’s only when you bring your vulnerabilities into full view
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只有当你清楚看到自己的弱点的时候,
10:04
in this way
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10:05
that you may be motivated to reimagine your business
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你才会认真地想改善你的公司。
10:08
and to do so in a robust manner.
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10:11
It’s why the Roman Catholic Church invented the role,
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这也是为什么罗马天主教廷
10:14
the position of the Devil’s advocate in the 16th century
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在十六世纪设立了魔鬼代言人 (Devil’s advocate)这一个职位,
10:18
to test the future consequences of its decisions to appoint new saints.
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去预测任命不同圣徒 所可能产生的结果,
10:24
They did that by imagining
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他们的预测是通过 在领会上帝的旨意之外,
10:26
what would Satan say
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10:28
or propose
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10:29
or counterpropose,
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想象魔鬼可能说的话、
10:30
in addition to the normal procedure of thinking about the big man upstairs.
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提的建议或反对的意见来实现的。
10:36
Now, any human being, any employee, any team
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所有人、员工、团队
10:40
and therefore any company can harness human imagination.
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以及所有公司都能尽情利用自己的想象力。
10:42
It’s a defining trait of our species.
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这是人类独有的一个能力。
10:46
Failures to imagine in business are really failures of leadership.
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在商业中没办法发挥想象力, 就意味着在领导上的失败。
10:50
Business is a serious matter, but it should not exclude play.
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商业是一件非常严肃的事, 但这并不意味着就不能玩耍。
10:54
When leaders embrace play and imagination games,
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当领导者能接受玩耍 以及想象力游戏的时候,
10:58
they can unlock the imagination of their employees,
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那他们就能成功激发员工的想象力,
11:01
uncover disruptive new strategies
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提出颠覆性的新策略,
11:03
and renew their lease on the future.
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以及保住他们未来的工作。
11:06
Thank you.
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谢谢。
11:07
(Applause)
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(掌声)
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