职场英语：Do You Really Want To Be A Leader? 你真想当领导吗？
Too many leadership scholars and executives are obsessed by a pointless question: Are leaders born, or are they made?很多研究领导力问题的学者和管理者往往都过份沉湎于一个毫无意义的问题：领导者究竟是天生的，还是后天磨练出来的？
[font=Verdana][size=3]The answer is irrelevant.
答案是这个问题其实毫不相干。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]The truth is, you do not know what you are born with until you try very hard to express it.
事实是，你并不知道自己与生俱来的才能，直到你非常努力地尝试把它们表现出来。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]Aspiring executives who wish to gauge their ultimate potential, or that of others, should ask instead: What level of leadership do they aspire to? And are they willing to invest the effort and make the sacrifices required to take on the responsibilities of the position?
志向远大的管理者总是希望评估自己或者其他人的潜能到底有多大，他们倒是应该这样问：他们希望走到多高的领导位置？他们愿意投入必要的精力、做出必要的牺牲，承担那个职位所赋予的责任吗？[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]The most senior jobs present tasks that are massive, complex and full of conflict. The playing field and rules become less certain. Indeed, part of a leader's job is to shape these things.
级别很高的领导位置往往会面对大量的、复杂的和相互矛盾的工作。游戏的领域和规则也会模糊不定。而一个领导者的工作的一部分就是让这些事情变得有规可循。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]Also, the further an executive rises, the more he or she must deal with high-caliber people who know how to get what they want, are difficult, strong-willed and have a sharp appetite for power.
此外，管理者升迁到越高的位置，他/她就必须越多地与更有才干的人打交道，这些人知道如何得到自己想要的，他们往往难以相处，意志坚定，有更强的权力欲。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]Here are three questions that executives should ask themselves to assess their own leadership potential.
以下是管理者在评估自己领导潜力的时候必须自省的三个问题。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]How far do you want to go?
你希望自己走得多远？[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]To reach higher office and to fulfill its obligations, you must continuously make choices that will affect other people's money and lives. And you will be doing this in a context where other people will want your position or will be competing with you for the next higher position.
为了升迁到高位并履行相应的义务，你必须不断做出选择，这些选择将会影响到其他人的收入和生活。而在你做出此类选择的同时，其他人也会希望得到你目前的职位，或者在与你竞争下一次升职机会。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]It is easy to criticize the competence of those with greater responsibilities than ourselves, and even easier to fantasize about how we would do the job better.
对那些责任比我们更大的管理者的能力说三道四很容易，幻想自己在那个位置上肯定会做得更好更是不费吹灰之力。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]A useful exercise: Look at your immediate boss's job and ask yourself if you could do it as well, or better -- honestly. Then, stretch even further and consider the most senior leader in your line of sight -- perhaps the chief executive. Learn about what that person must deal with. Get a feel for the time, energy and capabilities required to do those jobs. What would those jobs require you to do that you can't do now, or that you don't enjoy doing? What do you enjoy now, but would have to give up?
这里有一个有用的小实验：看看你直属上司的工作，问问自己你是否会做得一样好，甚至更好──一定要诚实。然后更进一步，考虑你视线所及的职位最高的领导者──或许是首席执行官。了解那个人必须处理的事务。感觉一下他/她那些工作所需的时间、精力和能力。你现在做不了、或者你不喜欢做的职责有哪些？你现在喜欢、但是必须放弃的东西有哪些？[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]We see too many executives who set themselves up to fail because they don't realistically assess the role they are pursuing in comparison to their true capabilities.
我们看到过太多的管理者走上失败的不归路，原因是他们并没有根据自己真正的能力，实实在在地评估他们所追求的职位是否真的适合自己。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]What are you willing to invest?
你愿意投入什么？[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]Admitting to yourself what your limitations are can be difficult. But if you want to lead, you face tough choices about how much effort you must put in and in which areas you need to grow.
承认自己的能力局限可能是非常困难的一件事。但是，如果你想成为领导者，你就会面临艰难的选择，比如你必须投入多少精力，你在哪些方面还需要成长等等。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]Leadership certainly requires business smarts, technical capabilities and cultural sensibilities, but above all, it is about power. While this point is upsetting to some people, the brutal reality is that whatever else a leader must do, a leader must gain, exercise and retain power. We meet too many 'high potentials' who aspire to high leadership but are used to receiving rewards for being bright and creative. This breeds a sense of entitlement that is incompatible with the necessity to fight for leadership power.
领导力当然需要商业智慧，技术能力，以及对文化的敏感度，但领导力首先关乎权力。虽然这一点对于某些人来说着实令人苦恼，但是残酷的现实就是，无论一位领导者在其他方面有些什么职责，他/她都必须获得、运用和保留权力。我们遇到过太多的希望成为高级领导者的高潜质人才，但是他们都习惯于凭自己的聪明才智和创新能力获得回报。这会滋生一种优越感，而它与为领导权力而争斗的必要性是极不相容的。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]While it has bad connotations for some people, the appetite for power is a necessary condition for reaching posts of high responsibility.
虽然在一些人看来这种阐释具有不好的隐含意义，但是对权力的欲望是达到责任重大的高位的必要条件。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]There will be pleasures that you must give up. Certainly, there will be implications for your personal life -- raising questions not so much about balancing work and family in the short term, but about finding a sustainable mix for the long term.
你还必须放弃某些乐趣。当然，你的个人生活也会受到影响──身居高位带来的问题不光是短时间内实现工作和家庭的平衡，还要找到长期的可持续的解决方案。[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=3]Ability to lead is also about overcoming old beliefs that limit one's capacity to see in a new way and adopt new behaviors. As a leader you must take people where they have never been before -- in thought and action -- often against their initial preferences. Personal obstacles must be overcome as well.
领导能力还意味着克服局限自身能力的旧有观念，开创新思维，接受新行为。作为一个领导者，你必须带领属下在思想上和行为上达到新境界，这经常会背离人们最初的习惯。个人的障碍也必须克服。[/size][/font] How will you keep it up?
你将如何坚持下去？
Over several decades, you need ways to keep yourself going when you are not being recognized and rewarded for your performance -- and to deal with criticism, resistance, setbacks and people disliking you or what you are asking them to do.
几十年来，你需要各种方式敦促自己坚持下去，尤其是当你的工作业绩不被认可、得不到相应的回报时，你还必须应对各种批评、阻力、挫折，还有讨厌你或是你所分派的工作的人。
If you envision another 10, 20 or even 30 years of leadership work, then you must find effective methods for maintaining your physical vitality, your emotional flexibility and your intellectual reach and freshness.
如果你希望未来十年、二十年、甚至三十年都从事领导工作，那么你必须找到有效的方法，维持自己充沛的体力、稳定的情绪、以及广博且不断更新的知识面。
Many who rise to positions of leadership become more closed and set in the ways that have brought them success so far. So periodically, senior executives must create timeouts to review where they are investing their time and energy, to ensure that they remain capable of generating new behaviors to deal with new challenges.
许多升上领导职位的管理者往往会变得更加封闭，固守在帮助他们取得已有成就的方式当中。因此高级管理者必需定期留出时间，审视自己的时间和精力用在了哪些方面，以此确保他们有能力开创新的行事方法，应对新挑战。
Leadership might be learnable. But instead of taking comfort in the idea that you can develop, wake up to the sobering realization of how difficult it will be to manage novel situations continuously and under often-extreme circumstances.
领导力或许是学得来的。但是，不要安慰自己说你会不断进步，而应当清醒地认识到：持续管理不断变化的新状况、处于经常十分极端的环境中将是多么困难的挑战。 :qq51] Thanks.
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