Women Lead Differently

　　女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的與眾不同

　　Recently， I was asked by my boss to form a small group to work on a project.

　　As the first meeting drew near， I found myself thinking hard about， no， not the topics that would be discussed， but what type of food we should eat. The meeting was to be held during the lunch hour and， given these cost-cutting times， there was no budget for lunch.

　　最近，老板要我為開展新項目成立一個工作小組。

　　第一次小組會臨近時，我苦苦思考的卻不是在會上將要討論的課題，而是我們的午餐形式。會議將一直開到中午，為了降低成本，所以沒有午餐的預(yù)算。

　　But I thought it would be nice to have some snacks， and I spent quite a bit of time —— at work and even in bed at night —— tossing ideas in my head.

　　When my boss gave me the assignment， I'm sure he didn't foresee me exercising my brain cells over something as trivial as food. I mean， if it were a man， his mind would have been focused， strictly， on the task at hand.

　　But food and women bosses almost always come together. In my many years of working life， I've had my share of female bosses who were always bringing food to the office， urging everyone to gather round and eat.

　　但我想比較好的形式是吃些點心，為此我很是花了一點時間——工作時甚至晚上躺在床上——腦子里晃動著各種想法。

　　當(dāng)老板把任務(wù)指派給我時，他一定想不到我會動腦筋考慮吃飯這樣的瑣事，我的意思是，男性通常將精力集中在手頭的任務(wù)上。

　　食品通常只與女性老板聯(lián)系在一起，在我多年的工作生涯中，我的女老板經(jīng)常把食品帶到辦公室里，極力邀請每個員工坐下來一起分享。

　　Conditioned by thousands of years of the woman as homemaker and prepareer of family meals， the modern working woman still can't help but regard food as a means of bonding and creating goodwill. So， in the office， women use food as a form of celebration， a sign of thanks and a way of saying sorry.As an employee， I've always welcomed the food， of course， but I've sometimes questioned the motives. Is she trying to buy my acceptance and to get me to like her？ Does she think I'll overlook her professional shortcomings just because she's offering me free cake？

　　Now that I'm what is termed a“ supervisor，” I realize that I'm doing exactly what my previous women bosses did. And， I wonder， what are my colleagues thinking？

　　幾千年沿襲的習(xí)慣是女性負(fù)責(zé)做家務(wù)、準(zhǔn)備全家人的三餐?，F(xiàn)代職業(yè)女性也自然地把食品當(dāng)作一種粘合劑以此創(chuàng)造一個友善的環(huán)境。所以，在辦公室里，女性借助分享食品來作為一種慶祝方式表達感謝和歉意。作為一名雇員，我當(dāng)然喜歡受到招待，但有時我會懷疑她們這樣做的動機，她是想收買我的認(rèn)可并讓我喜歡她嗎？她送蛋糕是認(rèn)為我可能會僅僅因為這些免費發(fā)送的蛋糕而對她工作中的不足睜一只眼閉一只眼嗎？

　　我現(xiàn)在的職位是“主管”，我意識到我正在重復(fù)著我以前的女老板所做的一切，并且很想知道同事對我的看法。

　　The workplace is a ruthless and hostile world. It has also been the natural habitat of men， who are taught from an early age to value power and achievement.When women， who generally place more value on the“ softer” aspects of life， like communication and relationships， enter this world， many are filled with fear. This is even more the case when they reach positions of power where they can influence what goes on around them.

　　They are always asking themselves questions which don't even appear in the minds of men.

　　工作場所是個冷酷的、充滿敵意的地方，這本來是男性的生存空間，因為他們從小就被灌輸權(quán)力和成就的價值。而對于女性來說，她們通常更重視生活的“軟性”方面，如聯(lián)絡(luò)和交流，所以進入工作場所時許多女性會有一種恐懼感，尤其是當(dāng)她們掌握一定權(quán)力能影響周圍很多人時，這種情緒更強烈。

　　她們經(jīng)常會問自己一些從不曾在男性腦中出現(xiàn)過的問題。

　　How can you be assertive and not aggressive？ How do you pursue your inclination towards creating a pleasant， stress-free work environment and not be taken for granted or bullied？ Most of all， how do you assert your authority over men and not hurt their egos？ How do you tell off someone who is old enough to be your father？It's not an easy path to tread， and I don't know of many female bosses who have succeeded and who have avoided earning a bad reputation.

　　I asked a few colleagues —— men and women —— what they thought of female bosses and this was the consensus：

　　例如：你怎么會如此自負(fù)而不再進取？你怎樣按自己的想法創(chuàng)造一個愉快、寬松的工作環(huán)境而不要被別人認(rèn)為你總是想當(dāng)然或為人蠻橫，最主要的是你采取何種方式與部下共事？你如何在男性面前既施展你的權(quán)威又不傷他的自尊？你如何調(diào)遣那些年齡足以做你父親的人？這不是一條輕松的路，據(jù)我所知既能取得成功又能避免使自己的名聲受到損害的女老板為數(shù)不多。

　　我請教了一些同事——男女都有——他們怎樣看待女性老板，以下是他們的共同感受：

　　They like to be liked； they are welfare-oriented； they are demanding； they are unpredictable； they are insecure； they have a harder time dealing with fellow women.All relationships， though， boil down to chemistry ultimately. They are dependent on the person， not the gender.

　　When I think of my favourite bosses， past and present， I realize I judge them not only by how competent they are， but， more importantly， also what they are like as human beings.

　　I know I will make efforts for those who have been decent， fair， good and kind to me. At the end of the day， those attributes， I think， are really what matter in a boss， man or woman.

　　她們愿意別人喜歡她；她們重視員工福利；她們不停地發(fā)號施令；她們不可捉摸；她們情緒化；她們更難與其他女性交往。其實所有的行為都基于化學(xué)反應(yīng)，但我認(rèn)為她們依靠的是個人素質(zhì)，而不是性別。

　　我想到一些我喜愛的老板，過去的、現(xiàn)在的，我對他們的評價不僅看他們的能力如何，更重要的是看他們是怎樣做人的。

　　我明白要想成為一個正派、公平、可靠、善良的人要付出很多努力。直到今天，我認(rèn)為這些品質(zhì)對一位老板，不管是男是女，都是重要的。