ＬＥＡＤＥＲＳＨＩＰ ＩＳ Ａ ＭＵＳＣＬＥ越練越強壯的領導力？

How is your attitude about your abilities affecting your success?

你對自己能力的態度將影響你的成功

In the business world， we're schizophrenic about leadership. We instinctively prize innate leadership. And although companies are clearly in the leader-creation business， how far does the tolerance for believing that you can grow your skills go?

在商業世界里 ， 人們對領導力的看法總是反復無常甚至有些自相矛盾。我們直覺地認為領導力是天生的。盡管企業確實是培養領導的好地方 ， 但這要取決于公司對能通過工作增長領導力的看法的忍耐程度。

Bobby Fischer was playing chess at age 6. Mozart wrote his first symphony at 8. Could it be that Jack Welch was firing direct reports at 9? There's a long-standing debate about whether leaders are born or made.

Butlet'snotrevisitnatureversusnurture.Instead， let's ask a weirder question: Could it be that your point of view on this issue is what actually makes you a better or worse leader? And if so， is nature or nurture the more career-enhancing POV?

This psychological puzzle starts with the research of Stanford's Carol Dweck.Her latest book， Mind-set:The New Psychology of Success， should be on every business manager's bookshelf. Dweck has found that individuals succeed or fail based on how they think about intelligence. She says people have one of two mind-sets on the matter.

People with a fixed mind-set believe that intelligence is static. Your behavior provides a sample of your true underlying intelligence， like a taster spoon from a tub of ice cream. And because people will judge your intelligence by the samples you provide， you'll definitely scoop out an Oreo chunk whenever you havethechance.Theconsequence:You'llavoid challenges. (If you fail， others will see that as a taste of your true ability.) You'll be threatened by negative feedback. (Isn't your critic just claiming to be smarter than you?)You'll exert less effort.(Really smart people don't need to try hard.)

The second group， Dweck says， are those with a growth mind-set. These people believe intelligence canbedeveloped，likemuscles.If you're in this camp， her research shows， you'll test yourself more， despite the risk. (After all， if you try to bench-press more weight and fail， no one will mock you as a \"born weakling.\")You're more inclined to accept criticism-ultimately， it makes you better. You perceive hard work as the path to mastery， not as a sign of insufficient genius.

Tiger Woods is an athlete with a growth mind-set， someone who obsesses about his game and makes incremental improvements. Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox appears to have a fixed mind-set， relying on his enormous natural gifts to succeed (but not as keen on things like attending spring training). All of us blend the mind-sets in our heads. We might say， \"I can't draw.\" But few of us would say， \"I was born without the ability to ride a bike.\"

Now the puzzle deepens: Dweck has begun to explore whether we can intervene and change people's mind-sets， and if so， will that make them more successful? Earlier this year， Dweck and two colleagues， Kali Trzes #8218;niewsi of Stanford and Lisa S. Blackwell of Columbia， ran an experiment on junior high schoolers. If they trained the students to have a growth mind-set， would the kids' math grades improve? In less than two hours over eight weeks， they taught the students concepts such as: Your brain is like a muscle that can be developed with exercise; just as a baby gets smarter as it learns， so can you; everything is hard before it gets easy-never give up because you don't master something immediately.

How you think about your skills-as fixed or growing-affects your success， no matter whether it's in sports or business.

1 | Bob Nardelli

Hedidn'tadapthisGE-bredstyleforthe more laid-back Home Depot and ultimately paid the price.

2 | Manny Ramirez

He's a brilliant hitter， but his cavalier attitude about spring training and practice keep him from being an immortal.

3| Anne Mulcahy

She never intended to be a CEO， but her on-the-job learning helped her turn around Xerox quickly.

4| Tiger Woods

His obsessive approach to bettering his game makes him without peer on the golf course.

5 | David Neeleman

The JetBlue founder is a true learning leader， but he may have cost himself his CEOship when he admitted his mistakes.

The results were astonishing. The brain-is-a-muscle students significantly outperformed their peers in math， many showing dramatic turnarounds， such as the student who went from a failing grade to an 84 on her next exam. Dweck's work shows that a pure idea intervention can have a substantial effect. \"The brain is a muscle\" is an idea that stuck.

So， is leadership like intelligence? (Please， no oxymoron jokes.)No one has run a comparable study on corporate leaders. But the notion of born leaders still permeates the business world. Marty Linsky， a faculty member at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University， puts it well:\"I've never met anyone who thinks that leadership is inherited who doesn't think they have it.\"Yet consider the military， another domain where leadership is critical. We might expect West Point to be focused on attracting born leaders. Not so. \"The whole point is to develop leaders，\" says Colonel Tom Kolditz， head of behavioral sciences and leadership at the school and the author of In Extremis Leadership， a study of leadership in life- and-death situations. What West Point does is create leaders， over the course of a strenuous 47-month curriculum. Kolditz says the cadets are taught， \"You weren't born a leader . . . I don't think that idea is a very American one.\"

In the business world， we're schizophrenic on this issue. We instinctively prize innate leadership. When Home Depot recruits a superstar like Bob Nardelli from GE， it creates the same sensation as when the Yankees nabbed Roger Clemens: We've landed the natural talent! Conversely， companies are also clearly in the leader-creation business-through rotation programs， training， and executive coaches.

But how far does the tolerance for the growth mind-set go in the business world? Our concept of a leader doesn't allow for them to say things such as， \"I don't know，\" or \"Man， did we screw that oneup.\"(Exhibit A， perhaps: David Neeleman's quick dethroning as CEO of JetBlue after such an admission.)

What if the leaders in your company were compeled to receive a few hours' training like those junior-high students? How would your business be different? You might put more dollars into training and less into selection. You might see more performance reviews that were really about coaching and development rather than sorting and evaluation. You might see leaders wiling to take on riskier projects， in the spirit of a heavier bench press.

It would be fascinating to see whether a few hours of training in a powerful idea might move the needle on corporate income statements. If nothing else， it might create leaders with better math scores.

Chip Heath and Dan Heath are the best-selling authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

(C) 2007 MANSUETO VENTURES LLC， AS FIRST PUBLISHED IN FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE.

DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES.

LANGUAGE TIPS

Schizophrenic 精神分裂的

Weirder 奇異的

Weakling 懦夫

Obsesses 常在 ( 某人 ) 腦海中縈繞

Dethrone 廢立 ( 君王 )

Bobby Fischer ( 前國際象棋世界冠軍)6歲開始接觸象棋 ， 莫扎特8歲時就寫下了他的第一部交響樂作品。但這是否意味著杰克 · 韋爾奇在9歲就可以做出開除他直接下屬的舉止?

關于領導者是否是天生的爭論由來已久。這次我們不再糾纏于這個老問題 ， 而是換個角度。讓我們來問問這樣一個問題 ， 到底是什么讓你成為一個好的領導抑或是壞的領導?

斯坦福大學的教授 Carol Dweck 對此進行了專門的研究 ，并將結論寫成了一本名為《思維定式 : 新成功心理學》的書。Dweck 教授發現個人的成功與否很大程度上取決于他們怎么看待自己的智力。一般來說 ， 人們對他們的智力有不變派和發展派兩種看法 ， 而這兩種看法決定了他們是否成功。

不變派往往是頭腦僵化的人 ， 他們認為智力是不變的。通常來說 ， 我們會通過某人的行為舉止來判斷他 / 她的智力 ， 因此保守的人常常選擇逃避挑戰 ( 因為如果失敗了 ， 別人會據此來判斷他 / 她的能力 )。這樣的人害怕潛在的負面反饋 ， 他們寧愿少做努力 ( 不過聰明人往往不太用功倒是真的 )。

相反 ， 另外一類人 ， 發展派則對智力持變化的態度。這些人相信人的智力就像肌肉一樣 ， 是可以發展并加強的。這類人更愿意承受風險做出嘗試。他們相信如果對批評持更開放的態度 ， 會使他們變得更棒。這些人把勤奮看成是通向成功的路徑而不是缺乏天才基因的信號。

泰格 · 伍茲就是一名發展派。他癡迷于高爾夫運動并持續改善。相反 ， 波士頓紅襪隊的 Manny Ramirez 是保守派 ， 他過分依賴于他的天賦取得成功。所有人的頭腦都摻雜了保守和發展兩種觀念。比如 ，我們會說 ， 我可不會畫畫。但很少有人會說我天生就沒有騎自行車的能力。

Dweck 教授和她的兩位同事想知道有沒有辦法來改變人們固有的思考模式 ， 并且這種改變是否能幫助人們更加成功 ? 今年早期 ， 他們在一所中學進行了一項試驗 ， 試驗目的是想探究如果幫助學生擁有積極的發展派思維模式 ， 那么他們的數學成績是否能有所改善。

在總共 8 周的時間里 ， 他們總共用了不到兩個小時的時間 ， 教給學生這樣的概念 : 你的大腦就像肌肉一樣 ， 是可以通過練習加強的 ， 就像嬰兒就是通過不斷學習變聰明的。

試驗結果驚人。接受試驗的學生們的數學成績提高很快。有名學生居然還從第一次考試不及格提高到第二次的 84 分。這說明人的思維是可以被改變的。

現在的問題是領導力能不能像智力一樣 ， 通過練習而得到加強。目前還沒有人做過類似的試驗 ， 但在商業世界里 ， 領導者是天生似乎還是主流論調。 軍隊是我們觀察領導力的最佳場所 ， 行為科學和領導力的專家Colonel Tom Kolditz 研究了西點軍校。他認為西點軍校并不是依靠吸引天生的領導者 ， 而是通過 47 個月的課程培養出真正的領導者。

商業社會對發展論觀點能接受多少還不得而知 ， 畢竟人們心目中的領袖不能說 :“我不知道 ; 或者 ， 嘿 ， 是我們把它搞砸了的。”

如果訓練能提升領導力 ， 也許企業將把資源更多投入在培訓而不是挑選候選人上。關于績效表現也更多地放在教練和發展而不是選擇和打分上。在訓練的幫助下 ， 我們也許會看到領導者更愿意承擔風險。

想想看 ， 幾個小時的培訓也許能改變公司的收入報表 ， 這將是一個多么有意思的話題。即使改變不了 ， 至少領導們的數學成績可以提高。

編譯：馬飛欄目編輯： 馬飛mafei@cbnet.com.cn

Bob Nardelli

Fixed mind-set 不變派

Growth mind-set 發展派

Manny Ramirez

Fixed mind-set 不變派

Growth mind-set 發展派

Anne Mulcahy

Fixed mind-set 不變派

Growth mind-set 發展派

Tiger Woods

Fixed mind-set 不變派

Growth mind-set 發展派

David Neeleman

Fixed mind-set 不變派

Growth mind-set 發展派