如何控制自恋型领导人

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人一旦当上领导，就会变得不一样。有些人会蜕变为真正的领袖，而有些人却会成为自恋的狂人。

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- 对于全球的金融业从业人员来说，阅读《金融时报》是每天必须进行的修炼。要想把握金融业的趋势，提高自己的“金融智慧”，和全球的金融业者站在同一高度，《金融时报》是你的首选。
为什么要训练阅读速度？
- 在信息爆炸的今天，能够迅速地阅读和理解大量资料，已成为金融业者必不可少的技能。著名的投资家股神巴菲特曾表示，他每天都会阅读大量报刊和年报，这也是他多年来始终能做出正确的投资决策的基础。
训练阅读速度的小工具
- 自动滚屏助你提高速度。点击该按钮后，屏幕就开始滚动，迫使你改掉向回看的习惯，加快速度。默认为每分钟140字（朗读速度）。随着你的技能提升，你可以挑战更高的速度，直到达到1000。

速度：+ -

阅读以下文章

<b>Narcissistic leaders need external controls</b>

By Michael Skapinker

Published: April 27 2009 19:16 | Last updated: April 27 2009 19:16

What sort of president will Jacob Zuma be? Genial and conciliatory, or a threat to South African democracy and community relations? There is evidence on both sides.

The evidence of geniality comes from many who have met Mr Zuma. He showed his conciliatory powers in the early 1990s when he helped stem the bloodletting in KwaZulu-Natal.

The evidence against Mr Zuma is substantial too. Prosecutors have dropped corruption and fraud charges against him, but an associate convicted of soliciting bribes for Mr Zuma was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. Mr Zuma was also acquitted of rape, but the details that emerged in the trial – that he had had unprotected sex with the HIV-positive daughter of one of his best friends – did him no credit.

Uncertainty about how leaders are going to behave is not unique to South Africa, or to politics. Appointing business leaders ought to be more predictable than a nationwide election. Those doing the appointing often know the successful candidate and have observed his or her progress through several managerial jobs. Yet people are often surprised by top executives’ behaviour.

Those who had watched John Thain’s career at Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange thought they knew him. One senior official at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York described him as a “stone-cold killer”. The same official observed Mr Thain when, as head of Merrill Lynch, he saved the company only by selling it to Bank of America. The official could not believe the difference. The stone-cold killer was gone, replaced by a man shaken by events. “He had lost his confidence,” the official told the Financial Times.

People change as they do top jobs. Some gain confidence, admitting mistakes and listening more. Others have a few successes, believe they know more than anyone else and then make catastrophic mistakes.

Manfred Kets de Vries, professor at the Insead business school in France, who has written extensively about leadership psychology, says an error people make is they expect executives to behave rationally. But “irrational behaviour is common in organisational life”, he told the Harvard Business Review in 2004.

Prof Kets de Vries believes that “many executives are trying to compensate for narcissistic wounds to their self-esteem that were inflicted in childhood by parents who were either too distant or too indulgent”. Many regard this sort of talk as psychobabble but, whatever the cause, the narcissism of many leaders is pretty evident.

It is also, as Prof Kets de Vries observes, necessary. “All people, especially leaders, need a healthy dose of narcissism in order to survive. It’s the engine that drives leadership. Assertiveness, self-confidence, tenacity and creativity just can’t exist without it.”

Their underlings often idealise their leaders in this early stage. As the narcissism becomes more evident, employees can become disenchanted, particularly those who are not the leader’s favourites. But top executives usually carry on believing their own propaganda, as do their board colleagues, who are often the last to lose their illusions.

Why? Because, as US law professor Jayne Barnard pointed out in an article, “directors may fail to recognise CEO pathologies because they share them”. Or they may recognise them, but believe that “these pathologies reflect healthy, competitive, successful behaviour”.

But mostly, because they have selected the chief executive, “directors become highly invested in their selection; they want their CEOs to do well. Psychologically, they believe he or she will do well. And, oftentimes they cannot bear for the CEO to fail”.

Prof Barnard has a solution: a “pathology audit”. As well as setting pay and discussing succession, directors should at least once a year look at the chief executive’s pathology. “Is the CEO a narcissist and, if so, is that a subject that needs to be addressed through executive coaching or other intervention?”

How would that idea go down? I can imagine many chief executives responding with a rendition of Mr Zuma’s favourite song, “Bring me my machine gun”.

The healthiest democracies understand that controls on political leaders have to come from outside their circle – from an independent judiciary, for example. Any attempt by Mr Zuma to undermine judges’ independence would prove the pessimists right.

Company leaders and corporate boards are less subject to outside control. It is left to shareholders and the media to keep them in check and, because we do not know everything that is happening inside companies, we often fall short.

There are no easy answers to this. When chief executives over-reach, companies fail, causing damage to employees, pensioners and shareholders. It is painful, but at least nothing like as painful as when countries fail.

michael.skapinker@ft.com

选择正确答案

What's the purpose of using the example of John Thain in the article?

"Those who had watched John Thain’s career at Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange thought they knew him..."

To show how people can behave differently in the leading role.
To argue that John Thain is not responsible for screwing up Merill.
To show how people can lose their confidence under great pressure.
To show how the board of directors can choose the wrong CEO.

选择正确答案

Which of the following best describes the author's attitude toward Jacob Zuma?

"Uncertainty about how leaders are going to behave is not unique to South Africa, or to politics. "

Concerned
Confused
Supportive
Uncerntain

选择正确答案

Which of the following do people tend to do when being put on a leading role, according to the author?

"People change as they do top jobs. Some gain confidence, admitting mistakes and listening more. Others have a few successes, believe they know more than anyone else and then make catastrophic mistakes."

Lose confidence
Be more attentive
Act irrationally
All of the above

选择正确答案

Which of the following would the author agree?

"It is painful, but at least nothing like as painful as when countries fail."

Choosing the wrong political leader is more damaging than choosing the wrong corporate leader.
Shareholders should take the responsibility to fire imcompetent CEOs like John Thain.
Narcissism is bad for leadership.
Pathology audit is a practical way of making sure CEOs have the right pathology.

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您的正确率太低，在目前这个阶段，对你来说最重要的是提高英文水平和金融专业水平，而不是速度。请您点击后退仔细查看您答错的题目，并和原文对照。对原文中所有不懂的句子和知识点，也请一一查明。建议您：
1. 在进行下一次训练的时候，将滚屏速度保持在100以下。
2. 您可以找一些有声读物，如《经济学人》的audio edition，帮助你提高英文水平。

看得出你是非常认真来进行这次训练的，如果你坚持的话，你会获得非常大的提高。目前你的阅读速度偏低，可能是因为英文不是你的母语。不过，请不要放慢阅读速度。研究表明，阅读速度越快的人，其理解的正确率反而越高。因此，您可以同时提高您的阅读速度和理解能力。给你一点建议：
1. 一定要改掉默念的习惯
2. 不要一个词一个词的看，要学会把一个语义群当作一个整体来看。比如“an emergency $180bn injection of dollar”这个语义群，你要学会把他当作一个整体来看。
3. 看DVD的时候，切换到英文字幕。

用正常语速来朗读一篇文章，平均速度是每分钟140词。这说明你的阅读速度比朗读还要慢。建议您：1. 每一段的第一句话往往是最重要的。
2. “速读”最忌讳的就是“读”，不要一边看一边默念。
3. 在下一个训练中将滚屏速度设为140，迫使自己不能回头去看已经读过的部分。

您的阅读速度已经超过了正常语速，说明你已经开始有些速读的感觉了。美国大学生的最低阅读速度为每分钟250词，加把劲你就可以赶上了。建议您：
1. 养成习惯，读过的部分不要回头去看，这样会影响速读。
2. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目一行”。

您的阅读速度已经达到了美国大学生的水平，可喜可贺。不过作为金融从业人员，每天需要阅读数不清的中英文研究报告、公司年报、报刊杂志等，您还需要向每分钟350字进军。建议您：
1. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目两行”。
2. 对中英文的数字，尤其是大数字(million, billion)的转换进行总结和练习。

厉害，您的阅读速度已经超过了美国大学生的水平。不过，要成为巴菲特那样的金融专家，您需要锻炼出“一目十行”的火眼金睛。建议您在每次的训练中注意三个要点：
1. 您已经学会了将文章分成语义群，而非词来阅读，现在，你需要扩大每一个语义群中的词数。
2. 加快阅读每个语义群的速度。
3. 看过的内容尽量不要回看。

这就是传说中的“一目十行”吗？难以置信！

世界纪录才每分钟416,250字，居然被你破了！无语...