What’s Your Leadership Language? | Rosita Najmi | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

As an Iranian refugee who grew up in rural east Tennessee,

我是個在田納西州東部 鄉村長大的伊朗難民，

曾在三十多個國家 求學、生活、工作，

and someone who studied,

lived and worked in over 30 countries,

I thought I knew how to navigate across cultures and languages.

我以為我知道如何適應 不同文化及語言。

I was wrong.

我錯了。

There I was, day one of business school,

我到商學院的第一天，

getting my bearings and hearing an alien language.

一邊認識新環境， 一邊聽著陌生的語言。

It wasn't English, French, or my native Persian.

那不是英語、法語， 或我的母語波斯語。

是個語言大雜燴，

It was a bouillabaisse of languages,

jargon from across the organizational multiverse:

來自組織多元宇宙的行業術語：

the corporate world,

企業界、

the nonprofit sphere,

非營利圈、

international development

國際發展，以及公部門。

and the public sector.

It was weird.

那很奇怪。

In business school, I thought I'd learn about leadership styles.

我以為我在商學院會學到領導風格。

What I found were leadership languages.

我發現的卻是領導語言。

And I learned that by becoming conversant in these languages

我學到，若能精通這些語言，

that I could communicate with and contribute to all of these worlds.

我就可以和所有這些世界 交流並做出貢獻。

那麼，要如何成為會說多語的人？

So how does one become multilingual?

Here's my story.

這是我的故事。

In college, I went to West Africa to study microfinance

大學時，我到西非

去學小額信貸和經濟賦權。

and economic empowerment.

Seeing a large public health need,

因為看到龐大的公共衛生需求，

I cofounded and led a nonprofit

我共同創立了一間 非營利組織並擔任領導者，

collecting medical supplies and money.

募集醫療補給品和資金。

We saw what collective action could yield,

我們見識到集體行動 能產生什麼結果，

and we were creative with our advocacy and our fundraising,

我們在倡導和募資方面都很有創意，

with campaigns like "Band Aids for Benin."

推行的活動包括 「給貝南的 OK 繃」。

Along the way, I studied different leadership styles:

過程中，我研究了不同的領導風格：

autocratic, democratic,

獨裁式、民主式、

laissez faire, servant, collaborative, transformational and more.

自由放任式、僕人式、協作式、

轉變式等等。

I read books, attended trainings

我讀書，參加培訓，

and I even had the privilege to study with some of the greats

我甚至有榮幸和一些 偉大的人一起學習，

and to work with General Colin Powell and Dr. Maya Angelou.

並和柯林‧鮑爾將軍 及馬雅‧安傑洛共事。

After all of this,

經過這些之後，我深信

I became convinced that there's no best type of leadership.

沒有哪一種領導類型是最好的。

So many of us just default to one style or another,

許多人只是先預設了某一種風格，

similar to how we're born with our native tongue.

就像我們出生時就設定了母語一樣。

But this default style doesn't work in every situation.

但這種預設風格並不見得 在每種情況下都有用。

Many leaders obsess over leadership style

許多領導者沉迷於領導風格，

when really they just need to get over themselves.

實際上他們只需要治好大頭症。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Sorry, leader, it's not about you.

抱歉，領導者， 世界不是繞著你轉的。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

What's more useful is to adapt and personalize your leadership

更有用的，是把你的領導方式 做適當調整並做個人化，

成為該情況以及相關涉入者 所需要的那種領導人。

to be the leader the situation and the people involved need.

It's not so much style as language,

這不僅是風格，更是語言，

the living vernacular of each discrete community and culture.

每個個別社區和文化 自己活生生的方言。

The successful leader will aspire to be multilingual,

成功的領導者會渴望能說多種語言，

to speak fluently with all groups and to translate among them.

能在各種族群中流利地說話，

並為不同族群做翻譯。

In 2012, while working at the Omidyar Network,

2012 年，我在奧米迪亞網路工作時，

I was one of the sponsors of a two-year study

我贊助了一項為期兩年的研究，

of 12 impact investing funds.

研究對象是十二個影響力投資基金。

這個專案計畫的大悟之一

One of the "ahas" of this project

was that the most successful funds were those led by multilingual leaders,

是最成功的基金

都是由多語言領導者所領導的基金，

people that could communicate across the corporate, nonprofit, philanthropic

這些領導者的溝通能橫跨

企業、非營利組織、慈善機構，

and public policy perspectives.

以及公共政策角度。

These leaders also made sure

這些領導者也有確保自己 團隊的成員也會說多種語言。

that others on their team were multilingual.

This came to me as a bit of a surprise.

這讓我有點驚訝。

I expected the secret sauce to be in sophisticated financial modeling

我本來預期秘技在於 建立精密的財務模型，

or some other type of complex analysis.

或者別種複雜的分析。

According to this study,

根據這項研究，

the multilingual leader will describe their work

會說多語言的領導者 是這樣描述他們的工作：

as being unremittingly financially driven -- business speak,

持續不斷由財務動因 驅使前進——商業說法，

針對社會及環境挑戰做出變革——

moving the needle on social and environmental challenges --

nonprofit and philanthropic speak,

非營利及慈善的說法，

while addressing systemic market failures --

同時解決體制上的市場失靈——

public policy speak.

公共政策說法。

The study further found

該研究進一步發現，

the need to be conversant into four industry languages.

這四種產業語言是需要精通的：

Those are finance, nonprofit, government and international development.

財務、非營利、政府， 及國際發展語言。

The multilingual leader

會說多語言的領導者

was something that seemed very familiar to me.

是我非常熟悉的。

This really rang true

這聽起來真的有道理，

based on my own experience of patchworks across these sectors,

我自己在這些部門間得來的 拼湊經驗也支持這個說法，

and it took me back to that first weird day in business school.

而這將我帶回到了 我在商學院奇特的第一天。

Now that we've described the how, let us turn to the what.

我們已經講完了「如何」， 現在來談談「什麼」。

Where should leaders focus?

領導者該把焦點放在哪裡？

I will modestly propose three topics that cut across issues,

讓我謙虛地提出 跨各種問題的三個主題，

and together we'll double-click on one of them.

我們再一起雙擊其中一個。

Data, climate, power.

資料、氣候、權力。

How each of these sectors measure the impact and even the timing,

這些部門測量影響的方式

就連時機、步調，和它們所用的工具

the tempo and the tools that they use for each

could not be more different.

可能都非常不同。

Say you're the private sector at one end.

假設你是私部門。

You have accounting on a daily, a weekly,

你會有每日、每週、每月、 每季增額的會計資料。

a monthly and quarterly increments.

The public sector.

在公部門，你工作的循環 是根據多年一次的選舉。

You're working on multi-year election cycles.

The nonprofit and philanthropic sector,

在非營利和慈善部門，

well, you may give yourself 15 years or even a generation to reach a goal.

你可能要給自己十五年 或甚至一個世代來達成目標。

Yet all of these sectors must come together

但所有這些部門都得結合起來，

to reach these outcomes.

來達成這些結果。

To make it real,

為了更有真實感，

let's look together about how these sectors can come together

咱們一起來看看這些部門 如何同心協力處理權力問題，

to address power

with the focus on gender equality.

針對性別平等的問題。

Say you're a public sector leader.

假設你是公部門的領導者，

You have the unique ability to create equity, a level playing field,

你有獨特的能力可以創造平等，

公平的競爭環境，

so everyone has a fair shot.

讓每個人都有同等的機會。

You can create regulations and incentives

你可以設立規定和獎勵

to increase the use of gender data.

來增加性別資料的使用。

You can set goals for women on boards and in public office.

你可以設定董事會和公職中 要有多少女性的目標。

你可以做性別預算， 你可以強制實施有薪照護。

You can practice gender budgeting and you can mandate paid care.

Say you're a leader in the business sector.

如果你是商業部門的領導者，

You can design products and services that unleash the economic power

你可以設計產品及服務 來釋放女性客戶的經濟力量。

of the female customer.

你可以透過女性擁有的企業 來讓你的供應鏈

You can fortify and diversify your supply chain

with women-owned businesses,

更強化和多樣化。

and you can invest in your female talent pipeline

你可以投資培養女性人才，

with pay equity and leadership opportunities

提供平等的工資和領導的機會，

so that your corporate decisions are more inclusive.

這麼一來你的企業決策 也會更有包容性。

Or maybe you work in philanthropy or international development.

或者，也許你在慈善 或國際發展部門工作，

You can help remove the barriers, whether formal or informal,

你可以協助除去正式 和非正式的障礙，

that influence how power is distributed.

不要讓它們影響到權力的分配。

You can fund the research and training

針對公、私部門做好它們的 工作所必要的研究和培訓，

that both the public and the private sector need to do their part.

你可以提供資助。

You can fund campaigns and grassroots efforts

你可以資助活動和基層的努力，

that influence social and cultural norms.

協助它們影響社會和文化標準。

And you can help get women in decision-making roles

你可以協助女性擔任決策角色，

in their households, in their communities,

也許是在她們的家庭裡、 在她們的社區裡、

in their countries and in economies.

在她們的國家裡，或在經濟體系裡。

The multilingual leader can be conversant

會說多種語言的領導者

可以精通和運用 所有這些部門的語言，

and use the languages of all of these sectors

to identify the root causes,

去找出源頭的成因，

接著共同協作，

and then collaborate together

to find the solutions to these complex issues.

為這些複雜的議題找出解決方案。

So here is over 20 years of experience distilled into one sentence.

讓我把二十多年的經驗 化為一句精華：

Don't fret over your leadership styles,

別為你的領導風格苦惱，

focus on your leadership languages.

專注於你的領導語言。

So over to you, leader.

再來交給你了，領導者。

Which languages are you going to learn next?

你接下來要學哪些語言？

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）