MISSION AND VALUES

  This chapter opened with the observation that people in business talk a lot about mission and values, but too often the result is more hot air than real action. No one wants it that way, but the loftiness and the imprecision inherent in both terms always seem to make it end up like that.
  第一章从观察从事商业活动的人们注重使命感和价值观的方面开始，但事实却是大话多于实际行动，没有人希望这样，但是这两个术语显得既高深又含糊却总让我们有这样的感觉。
  But there is too much to lose by not getting your mission straight and by not making your values concrete. I’m not saying your company will collapse in flames the way Arthur Andersen and Enron did—they are extreme examples of a mission-and-values meltdown. But I am saying your company will not reach anywhere near its full potential if all that is guiding it is a list of pleasant platitudes hanging on the lobby wall.
  但是，如果不能为企业确定正确的使命，不能树立明确的价值观将会带来很大的损失。并不是说你们企业将顷刻之间就土崩瓦解，如安达信或安然，他们只是一个因为企业使命和价值观的矛盾而彻底坍塌的极端例子。但我要说，假如你们的公司除了悬挂在大厅上的中看不中用的标语之外，并没有真正指导自己前进的目标，那就永远不能充分发挥企业的潜力。
  Look, I realize that defining a good mission and developing the values that support it takes time and enormous commitment. There will be long, contentious meetings when you would rather go home. There will be e-mail debates when you wish you could just go do real work. There will be painful times when you have to say good-bye to people you really like who just do not get the mission or live its values. On days like those, you might wish your mission and values were vague and generic.
  如我们所看到，要明确一个好的企业使命，并建立支撑它的价值观，离不开时间和艰苦的努力。你会碰到漫长的、争执不休的会议，让人真想立刻起身回家；在你打算投入实际工作的时候，却有人发邮件来同你讨论。还有一些会令人痛苦的时候，有的员工你明明很喜欢，但他们恰好没能肩负公司的使命感，或者遵循既定的价值观，因此不得不跟他们说再见。如果真有这样的一天，你可能希望你的使命和价值都很普通平庸。
  They can’t be.
  但现实却是不能。
  Take the time. Spend the energy.
  那就付出自己的时间和精力。
  Make them real.
  让企业的使命和价值观变得真实起来。