體育到商場?從體育賽場看商場競爭

You can learn a lot about an entrepreneur's approach to business by playing them at sport.

在體育運動中運用一名企業家的經營方法，可以讓你很好地瞭解這種方法。

In tennis I adopt the strategy espoused by Simon Ramo. He realised that amateur tennis is lost by the player who makes the most unforced errors –not by their opponent playing winning shots.

打網球時，我採用西蒙•拉莫(Simon Ramo)所推崇的策略。拉莫發現，在業餘比賽中，決定輸贏的是哪一邊自己失誤的次數更多，而非哪一邊打出好球的次數更多。

Charles Ellis, in his brilliant book Winning The Loser's Game, explains that investing is similar – investors defeat themselves by thinking they understand more than they do, taking overambitious risks.

查爾斯•埃利斯(Charles Ellis)在其精彩著作《贏得輸家的遊戲》(Winning The Loser's Game)中解釋道，投資與此類似：投資者以爲自己懂得的比自己實際上懂得的更多，冒過高的風險，從而一手造就自己的失敗。

By its nature sport is competitive, and so are entrepreneurs. Tycoons typically choose those sports where their wealth can help them win. The most obvious example is yachting, where only the exceedingly rich can participate in the big contests.

體育的本質是競爭，這也是企業家的天性。商界大亨通常選擇那些自己的財富可以幫助他們取勝的運動。最明顯的例子是賽艇——只有超級富豪纔有能力參與這項運動中的大型賽事。

The America's Cup might be the oldest sporting trophy in the world, but money and technology still make all the difference: perhaps that is why Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, is drawn to it. Indeed, combat between plutocrats does not get much fiercer than the rivalry between Mr Ellison and fellow billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli over the 2010 event. The Oracle boss is known to be litigious in business, and so he proved in sport with his arcane, lengthy lawsuit that enabled him to gain admission to the race. Meanwhile, sponsors pulled out, not wishing to endorse a battle between two strong-willed industrialists.

美洲盃帆船賽(America's Cup)或許是全世界最古老的體育賽事了，但這項比賽的結果至今依然全由金錢和技術決定：這或許正是這項比賽吸引甲骨文(Oracle)創始人拉里•埃裏森(Larry Ellison)參加的理由。事實上，在2010年那場比賽中，埃裏森與同爲億萬富翁的埃內斯托•貝爾塔雷利(Ernesto Bertarelli)之間競爭之激烈，並不比富豪們之間的爭鬥遜色多少。甲骨文老闆以愛打官司而著稱，他在體育方面的表現也印證了這一點：爲取得參賽權，他打了場晦澀冗長的官司。與此同時，贊助商紛紛退出，因爲不願意支持兩位意志堅強的工業家展開大戰。

A number of captains of industry enjoy poker or bridge–psychological games that require the player to read players and calculate probabilities. The legendary financier Jim Slater and the television magnate Michael Green both used to belong to the same bridge club, while Warren Buffett enjoys playing with fellow billionaire Bill Gates. As the Sage of Omaha says, "Bridge has got to be the best intellectual exercise out there."

很多行業巨頭喜歡打撲克或者橋牌。這兩個遊戲玩的都是心理——要求玩家能夠讀懂其他玩家的心理，計算各種情況發生的概率。傳奇金融家吉姆•斯萊特(Jim Slater)和電視巨頭邁克爾•格林(Michael Green)曾同屬同一家橋牌俱樂部，而沃倫•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)則喜歡跟同爲億萬富翁的比爾•蓋茨(Bill Gates)做牌搭子。正如這位奧瑪哈的聖人(Sage of Omaha)所言："橋牌絕對是迄今爲止最好的智力訓練。"

The traditional sports for top male executives were golf and shooting game. Both appealed because they tend to be expensive and exclusive, and each permits long conversations about wheeler-dealing, in between bursts of activity. But I suspect their popularity is waning in the era of diverse boardrooms, austerity and the Bribery Act.

頂級男性高管的傳統體育項目曾是高爾夫球和射擊。這兩項運動對這一人羣的共同吸引力在於，參與這兩項運動的費用和門檻往往較高，運動中有較長的間隔時間，可以談些"非常規"的生意。但現今董事會構成更加多樣化，節儉成風，《反賄賂法案》(Bribery Act)已經頒佈，我懷疑這兩種運動的流行程度正在下降。

Instead, depressingly, football has come to dominate everything. Of course, almost no bosses actually play the game – they simply watch and talk about it endlessly. To me, sport is about activity and participation – being a sports fan watching professionals play is as frustrating as just discussing deals, rather than actually doing them.

令人沮喪的是，足球已經取代這兩項運動，主導了一切。當然，沒有哪位老闆會真正上場踢球，他們只是沒完沒了地看足球、談論足球。在我看來，運動就要動起來，重在參與。一個體育迷只在一旁看那些職業選手玩而不親自上場，這就跟討論交易而不實際操作一樣不過癮。

The really big shots own their own clubs, of course. This allows them to control matters without being athletic, thus appealing to their megalomania and vanity. At least 40 members of the Sunday Times Rich List own Premier League or Championship clubs – mostly, one assumes, as toys rather than business undertakings.

當然，真正的大人物擁有自己的俱樂部。這讓他們不必成爲運動員就能夠控制體育事務，愈發覺得自己了不起，虛榮心也得到極大滿足。《星期日泰晤士報》富豪榜(Sunday Times Rich List)上榜者中，至少有40人擁有英格蘭足球超級聯賽(Premier League)或者英格蘭冠軍聯賽(Championship)俱樂部。可想而知，對這些人而言，這些俱樂部基本上是玩物，而非生意。

I've played entrepreneurs at sports and games ranging from table tennis to cricket, snooker to squash. Annoyingly, I've lost rather more often than I care to reveal. Typically, many entrepreneurs are loners and possess an obsessive desire to win. These characteristics militate against their cherishing two vital elements of any worthy sportsman or woman: team spirit and fair play. Thus I've heard anecdotes about the FTSE chief executive who cheats on the cricket pitch, and I've been thrashed by a billionaire retailer at Monopoly, who epitomised the saying "It is not enough that I should win: everybody else must lose".

我在各種體育運動和遊戲中跟企業家做過對手，從乒乓球到板球、從斯諾克到壁球。讓我惱火的是，我輸的次數多得我都不好意思說。很多企業家往往自行其是，對取勝有一種執念。這令他們無法具備任何優秀運動員都必不可少的兩項品質：團隊精神和公平競爭精神。正因如此，我曾聽說有富時指數(FTSE)成分股公司首席執行官在板球場上作弊。我也曾在"地產大亨"遊戲(Monopoly)中被一名億萬富翁打得落花流水。此人用實際行動實踐了一句話："光是我要贏還不夠：其他所有人必須輸。"

It is a myth that victory in the sporting arena is a sure indicator of commercial acumen. Running a business requires a different set of qualities – flexibility, patience, numeracy, strategic thinking, sales ability and organisational skills. Most great entrepreneurs are at heart promoters or inventors, while sports stars are athletes. This might account for the fact that very few of the latter have ever founded great companies, despite many trying.

有一種說法：運動場上的勝利者必然具有商業頭腦。這是瞎說。企業經營者必須具備另外一些特質——靈活、耐心、善於計算、能夠進行戰略思考、善於推銷和組織。大多數偉大的企業家本質上是創造者或發明家，而體育明星是運動員。或許正因如此，很少體育明星曾創立偉大的企業，儘管他們中許多人還在做這樣的嘗試。

Entrepreneurs who have made fortunes from sport are an interesting breed. Formula One offers case studies such as Ron Dennis, the principal behind the McLaren Grand Prix team. His obsessive behaviour is as legendary as the performance of his racing cars. About his management style, he states: "There are people in this organisation, and I don't say this with any pride, who are frightened of me."

那些靠體育發了財的企業家是很有意思的一羣人。一級方程式(F1)比賽爲我們提供了一些例子，比如邁凱輪車隊（McLaren，F1大獎賽(Grand Prix)獲勝車隊）經理羅恩•丹尼斯(Ron Dennis)。丹尼斯的偏執與車隊的輝煌賽績一樣富有傳奇性。關於自己的管理方式，丹尼斯說："車隊裏有人怕我，對此我絕不感到自豪。"

I greatly admire his achievements – but I'm not sure I'd like to work for the man.

我非常欣賞丹尼斯的成就，但我不確定自己是否願意爲此人工作。

The writer runs Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and is chairman of StartUp Britain

本文作者管理着私人股本公司Risk Capital Partners，並擔任StartUp Britain主席