领导者应多大程度上坦诚或欺骗? 领导者, 坦诚, 欺骗

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How Frank or Deceptive(adj.欺骗性的) Should Leaders Be?

People raise questions about the appropriate posture for leaders under conditions in which they themselves may harbor(v.持有) pessimism(n.悲观) about the future. And they call out for more attention to ways in which economics intersects with psychology.

How frank should leaders be? Jim Collins emphasizes the importance of organizations facing "the brutal(adj.残酷的) facts" about causes of mediocre(adj.普普通通的) performance. On the other hand, there may be reasons why good leaders have to have an optimistic bias. As one CEO put it in a meeting last week, "I can't lead from a position of pessimism." Even though CEOs may harbor doubts about the future performance of their organization, how candid(adj.无偏见的，公正的) can they be in expressing those doubts? The ability of a naturally pessimistic (or perhaps more realistic) CEO to adversely affect everything from market reactions to employee morale and motivation may be substantial, thereby creating the wrong kind of self-fulfilling prophecy(一种直接或间接造成它本身成真的预言) .

That is why we might ask whether, when President Franklin Roosevelt said at a particularly dark point during the Great Depression that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," did he really believe that or was he trying to exercise good leadership by creating a positive prophecy by means of some comforting words? We applaud candor(n.坦白) while sometimes penalizing those who pursue it. Exhibit A is President Barack Obama, whose candor (assuming he really believes what he is saying about the potential length and depth of the current downturn) has been rewarded with further deterioration in a number of indicators, not the least of which(最重要的) is the stock market.

What's the fine line that leaders have to walk between transparency and candor on the one hand and the need to create self-fulfilling prophecies and confidence through stories on the other? To what degree do leaders owe it to others in their organizations to mask personal negative feelings in an effort to inspire good performance? How frank or deceptive should leaders be? What do you think?

当领导者本身对本来持有悲观态度，他们应保持怎样的合适姿态——人们对此提出了疑问，并且呼吁更多地关注经济学与心理学交叉的方法。

领导者应当坦白到什么程度？Jim Collins强调组织面对导致平庸业绩的“残酷事实”的重要性。在另一方面，这就是为什么一个好的领导者必须拥有乐观倾向。正如一个CEO在上周的一次会议上所说：“我无法以悲观角度领导。”即使CEO们对于他们组织的未来业绩心存疑虑，他们能多大程度上忠实地表达他们的疑虑呢？从市场反应到员工的士气和激励，一个本性悲观的（或者说是更现实的）CEO对事物所带来的逆向效果是巨大的，因而创造了错误的心理暗示直接或间接地造成预言成真了。

这就是为什么我们可能要问，当富兰克林.罗斯福总统在大衰退的一个特别黑暗时刻说“我们唯一需要恐惧的是恐惧本身”时，他确实如此相信，还是他是以一些安慰性话语的方式来创造一个积极的预言以努力实行好的领导呢？我们欢迎坦诚，但有时却惩罚那些这么做的人。最好的例子是巴拉克.奥巴马总统，他的坦率（假设他确实相信他所说的关于当前衰退的可能期限和深度）已经在一些经济指标的进一步恶化上获得了回报，特别是在股市上。

一方面需要透明度和坦率，另一方面需要通过故事来创造自我实现的预言和信心，这二方面之间，什么是领导者应该走的路呢？在多大程度上，领导者为了组织中的其他人，需要掩盖自己个人的消极感觉以激励优良业绩呢？领导者应多大程度地坦诚或者欺骗呢？你的看法呢？