ジャンル: 経済・ビジネス
英語難易度: ★☆☆
オススメ度: ★★★☆☆
とある IT企業の創設者であったかつてのCEOの実体験談です。 単純にノウハウを伝えようとするビジネス本ではありません。 経営者の心構えを説く本としては、その辺の経営書よりもよほど役に立つでしょうね。 なにせ人を首にして組織を縮小し会社を存続させようと、まさに地獄を見てきたトップの生の実体験が凝縮して著されてますから。 著者の本意ではないかも知れませんが、この本読んでるいると、自らビジネスを起こしてCEOになろうとする者はいなくなる気がします。大概のことはかすり傷に思えてくるぐらいのヒリヒリとした焦躁感。 著者の凄まじいCEO経験からもたらされる警句にはうなづきしかありませんでした。
英語は簡単めです。
(2014年発刊)
メモポイント
- このStruggle の繰り返し、圧巻です。 それにしても、この文章はトップ経営者の孤独と悩みを良く表している。「なぜビジネスを続けているのか分からない、食べ物の味が分からなくなる、気晴らしに休みを取っても余計に疲れる、従業員に嘘つきと思われ、その通りだと思う…」等々
The Struggle is when you wonder why you started the company in the first place.
The Struggle is when people ask you why you don’t quit and you don’t know the answer.
The Struggle is when your employees think you are lying and you think they may be right.
The Struggle is when food loses its taste.
The Struggle is when you don’t believe you should be CEO of your company.
The Struggle is when you know that you are in over your head and you know that you cannot be replaced.
The Struggle is when everybody thinks you are an idiot, but nobody will fire you.
The Struggle is where self-doubt becomes self-hatred.
The Struggle is when you are having a conversation with someone and you can’t hear a word that they are saying because all you can hear is the Struggle.
The Struggle is when you want the pain to stop.
The Struggle is unhappiness.
The Struggle is when you go on vacation to feel better and you feel worse.
The Struggle is when you are surrounded by people and you are all alone.
The Struggle has no mercy.
The Struggle is the land of broken promises and crushed dreams.
The Struggle is a cold sweat.
The Struggle is where your guts boil so much that you feel like you are going to spit blood.
The Struggle is not failure, but it causes failure.
Especially if you are weak. Always if you are weak. Most people are not strong enough. Every great entrepreneur from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg went through the Struggle and struggle they did, so you are not alone. But that does not mean that you will make it. You may not make it. That is why it is the Struggle. The Struggle is where greatness comes from.
- 経営者が思っているほど、従業員は経営者の事を何とも思っていない。従業員はバカじゃない。 上辺だけのポジティブなことを言っても見透かされている。
At the time, Cartheu worked for AT&T as a telephone lineman (he is one of those guys who climb the poles). I had just met a senior executive at AT&T, whom I’ll call Fred, and I was excited to find out if Cartheu knew him. Cartheu said, “Yeah, I know Fred. He comes by about once a quarter to blow a little sunshine up my ass.” At that moment, I knew that I’d been screwing up my company by being too positive.
In my mind, I was keeping everyone in high spirits by accentuating the positive and ignoring the negative. But my team knew that reality was more nuanced than I was describing it.
- ネガティブな情報を知らせてくれる者ほど、重用しなければならない。 「解決案なしにトラブルを報告するな」と言うトップがいるがそれは間違っている。 解決案を見出せないまま、悪い報告は放置されてしまうのだ
A healthy company culture encourages people to share bad news. A company that discusses its problems freely and openly can quickly solve them. A company that covers up its problems frustrates everyone involved. The resulting action item for CEOs: Build a culture that rewards—not punishes—people for getting problems into the open where they can be solved.
(中略)
“Don’t bring me a problem without bringing me a solution.” What if the employee cannot solve an important problem? For example, what if an engineer identifies a serious flaw in the way the product is being marketed? Do you really want him to bury that information? Management truisms like these may be good for employees to aspire to in the abstract, but they can also be the enemy of free-flowing information—which may be critical for the health of the company.
- レイオフ(首切り)について。 レイオフは会社のカルチャーを崩壊させる。残った者についても会社に貢献しようというモチベーションが下がるのだ。 レイオフについて「ビジネスをシンプルにして更に機会を最大化できるキッカケとなる」などと分かったような分かんないようなことを言って丸く収めようとする役員もいる。しかしこれは違う。レイオフとはハッキリ言って「ビジネスに失敗したから」に他ならない。 それを認めなきゃ。
He replied that the layoffs inevitably broke the company’s culture. After seeing their friends laid off, employees were no longer willing to make the requisite sacrifices needed to build a company.
(中略)
Going into a layoff, board members will sometimes try to make you feel better by putting a positive spin on things. They might say, “This gives us a great opportunity to deal with some performance issues and simplify the business.” That may be true, but do not let that cloud your thinking or your message to the company. You are laying people off because the company failed to hit its plan.
- 本当に優れた会社のトップは自分のことは後回しにする。そうして初めて人はついてくる。 そしてその思いは従業員の間にも伝播して、やがて会社の貴重なカルチャーとなるのだ。
Truly great leaders create an environment where the employees feel that the CEO cares more about the employees than she cares about herself. In this kind of environment, an amazing thing happens: A huge number of employees believe it’s their company and behave accordingly. As the company grows large, these employees become quality control for the entire organization. They set the work standard that all future employees must live up to. As in, “Hey, you need to do a better job on that data sheet—you are screwing up my company.”
- 決して人前で部下のことをバカにしたり茶化してはいけない。 同僚の前で恥をかかせてはいけないのだ。 偉い人がやりがち。
Don’t clown people in front of their peers. While it’s okay to give certain kinds of feedback in a group setting, you should strive never to embarrass someone in front of their peers.
- トップは自身の意見を持ち伝えなければダメだ。 あらゆることに対して明確な意見を持つ必要があり、そしてそれをはっきりと他者に伝えなければならない。 自身が間違うことがあるのは認めつつ、それ以前に自分の見解を持たなければいけない。
As CEO, you should have an opinion on absolutely everything. You should have an opinion on every forecast, every product plan, every presentation, and even every comment. Let people know what you think. If you like someone’s comment, give her the feedback. If you disagree, give her the feedback. Say what you think. Express yourself.
こんなに重い労苦を背負っても、それでもまだ経営者になりたい、トップとして会社を引っ張って行きたい、という方々には必読の書でしょう。 まずはこの本を読んでみて、覚悟の程をはかってみることが良いですね。 「Too Big To Fail (リーマン・ショック・コンフィデンシャル)」(236冊目)を読んだ時にも感じましたが、企業の経営トップは強烈な自負心と達成欲がある人、つまり常人では務まらないとの思いを強くした一冊でした。
