別想靠一封郵件留住人才 Goldman boss's marathon memo starts well but runs off course

For the first time since I started taking an interest in such things, an internal motivational memo has been doing the rounds online not because it is deemed bad, but because it is deemed good.

自從我開始對內部激勵備忘錄感興趣以來，這是頭一次一份這樣的備忘錄不是因爲被認爲槽點太多、而是因爲被認爲寫得很好而在網上走紅。

It was written by Joseph Mauro, head of fixed income at Goldman Sachs in London, and sent out to the bank’s demoralised young associates in an attempt to stop them quitting to join internet start-ups. “Every young person in finance should read it,” gushed the headline on Business Insider, which reproduced the email last week.

它是高盛(Goldman Sachs)駐倫敦固定收益主管約瑟夫•莫羅(Joseph Mauro)所寫的，發給了士氣低落的年輕下屬，目的是阻止他們跳槽到互聯網初創公司。“金融業所有年輕人都應該讀一讀，”財經網站Business Insider不久前刊登這封郵件時的標題寫道。

I turned to the email and found that superficially, at least, it had a couple of things going for it. “Based on the number of you reaching out to get on my calendar or grab a coffee … there is clearly angst across the floor,” it began.

我閱讀了這封郵件，發現至少從表面上看有一些道理。“從你們當中特意跑來和我約談或者來喝一杯咖啡的人數來看……整層樓明顯瀰漫着一種焦慮氣氛，”郵件開頭寫道。

Mr Mauro has evidently mastered the first lesson in how to communicate with young reports: when morale is bad, say so. The only shame is how he puts it — the “reaching out” and the “grabbing” a coffee are at odds in their cheesy jauntiness with the reality of a career discussion with a Goldman partner.

莫羅明顯已經掌握了與年輕下屬交流的第一課：如果士氣很低，那就直接說出來。唯一遺憾之處在於他的表達方式——“特意跑來”和“喝一杯咖啡”的感覺輕鬆愉悅，而實際上他們是要與高盛合夥人嚴肅地討論事業，二者格格不入。

Mr Mauro then promises to desist from offering advice: “I know you will discount my opinions as biased and out of touch”. He’s right there — they will. Until he later screws up by offering opinions anyway it seems he has also learnt lesson two: youthful charges tend not to believe or agree with a word you say.

接着，莫羅在郵件中承諾不再提供建議：“我知道你們會覺得我的意見有失公允、不切實際而予以忽視”。他說的沒錯——他們會的。他似乎學到了第二課：年輕的後生往往不會相信、也不會同意你說的任何一句話——結果他後來還是忍不住給出了建議，把這一課搞砸了。

Instead, he chronicles the wrong turns he took in his own career, and repeats the duff advice he was given along the way. In 2000, he quit Goldman after only a year to join a start-up just as the internet bubble burst. The stupidity of the timing (along with the suggestion that leaving Goldman now for a start-up would be equally dumb) he neatly illustrates with a series of charts.

他開始在郵件中細數自己職業生涯中走的彎路，並且重複着那些他一路來聽到的無用建議。2000年，他曾在加入高盛後僅一年就辭職，加入一家初創企業，而那時恰逢互聯網泡沫破裂。他用一系列圖表巧妙地展示了自己對時機的愚蠢選擇（同時建議道，現在離開高盛加入初創公司將同樣愚蠢）。

This shows he has learnt lesson number three: young people have had it with words. An email composed largely of Bloomberg screen shots (or pictures or video clips) has a much greater chance of being absorbed than frumpy old paragraphs of text.

這表明他學到了第三課：年輕人受夠了枯燥的文字。一封主要由彭博(Bloomberg)系統截屏（或圖片和視頻片段）構成的郵件，被接納的可能性比老土的大段文字大得多。

He then repeats the advice given by a trader who said Fulham football club season tickets were a better bet than Chelsea, and Citi a better bet than Goldman. “He is now in sales,” Mr Mauro gleefully reports. Here is lesson four: to get your audience on your side, try laughing at a stupid third party. This is a low trick but always works — I know because I’ve built a career on it.

他之後重複了一名交易員的建議，後者聲稱富勒姆(Fulham)足球俱樂部的季票比切爾西(Chelsea)更值、花旗(Citi)的前景比高盛更好。“他如今在做銷售，”莫羅幸災樂禍道。這就引出了第四課：爲了讓你的聽衆站在你這邊，試着嘲笑愚蠢的第三方。這招不太光彩，但是總能奏效——我知道這點是因爲我就是用這招建立了自己的職業生涯。

In his life so far, the only advice Mr Mauro has heeded came from the founder of the internet start-up who told him in 2000: “This business is a marathon. You are back at the beginning. Start running.”

莫羅至今唯一接受的建議是那家互聯網初創企業的創始人2000年告訴他的話：“這一行就是一場馬拉松。你回到了起點。開始跑吧。”

In turn, this is the advice that he is now passing on to his associates: “Keep running”. He ends the email: “This will give you some context … when every so often … you get a one-liner from me that simply asks “What mile are you on?”

他如今也在向他的下屬給出這條建議：“繼續奔跑。”他在郵件結尾寫道：“現在你們應該瞭解到了一些背景原因……知道爲什麼時不時地……我會開玩笑地簡單問你一句‘你跑到幾公里了？’”

Reading this, I asked myself a related question: what planet is he on? The answer must be that he’s on planet Goldman, where all the metaphors are male and sporty and about endurance. And where, despite the assertion that there will be nothing handed down from on high, there is facile advice, offered with the fond expectation that it will be followed.

讀了這封郵件，我問了自己一個相關問題：他生活在哪個星球？答案肯定是他生活在高盛星球，那裏所有的比喻都和男人、運動以及耐力有關。而且，在那個星球上，儘管某人信誓旦旦絕不會傳授什麼前輩經驗，結果建議還是會脫口而出，而且還自以爲會得到採納。

If I were a young Goldman banker I’d be both unmoved and baffled by the edict to keep running. At what speed ought I to run? In what direction? Is it OK to rest sometimes and have some water? How long must I go on? Why do I need to run a marathon anyway?

如果我是高盛的年輕員工，繼續奔跑的大話不但不會打動我，還會讓我感到困惑。我應該以什麼速度奔跑？朝着什麼方向？能偶爾休息喝些水嗎？我得跑多久？我到底爲什麼要跑馬拉松？

I dare say what Mr Mauro was trying to say was that it’s a long game. Markets go up — and down. Morale goes up — and down. Bubbles inflate — and burst. Things that affect a decision now don’t endure.

我敢說莫羅試圖表達的是這是一場持久戰。市場起起伏伏。士氣有漲有落。泡沫會膨脹會破裂。影響當前決定的事瞬息萬變。

It’s all true. And it is the same thing I sometimes say to my children as they start on their careers — but they don’t take any notice. Not because I’ve failed to pepper the message with Bloomberg screen shots, but because if you are in your 20s there are no obvious benefits of playing a long game, and lots from playing a shorter one. A satisfying career, to extend the tiresome metaphor, is less a marathon than a series of sprints.

這些都沒錯。這也正是我在我的孩子開始職業生涯時有時會對他們說的話——但是他們不放在心上。不是因爲我沒有用彭博式的截屏點綴我的忠告，而是因爲，如果你二十多歲，玩長線遊戲沒有明顯好處，而玩短線遊戲的好處則有很多。擴展一下那個煩人的比喻，與其說一份令人滿意的事業是一場馬拉松，倒不如說是一連串的衝刺跑。

Yet this isn’t the main reason Mr Mauro’s memo is hopeless. Its biggest problem is that it fails to heed the most important lesson of all. This states that there is an inverse relationship between how many people an email is addressed to and its power to motivate. When aimed at a mass audience, the power of a memo will always be zero.

不過，這並非莫羅的備忘錄毫無用處的主要原因。最大的問題是它沒有遵守最重要的一課：郵件收件人的數量和它的激勵效果呈反相關。當大面積羣發時，備忘錄的效力總是爲零。

My advice to the Goldman boss goes like this. Forget emails. Reach out individually to any associates you want to keep and grab a coffee. Tell them they are brilliant. Offer them more money. Then you will get them to keep running — but only for so long as it suits them to do so.

我給這位高盛老闆的意見是這樣的。放棄郵件吧。單獨找到每位你想留住的下屬，一起喝杯咖啡。告訴他們你認爲他們有多棒。加薪。然後你就能讓他們繼續奔跑——不過跑多久要看他們覺得多久合適。