美国商界可以填补特朗普的领导力真空

Are we entering a new era of the statesman chief executive? It’s a question worth asking after the disbanding of President Donald Trump’s two major business councils last week.

我们正在步入一个政治家CEO的新时代吗？这是一个值得问的问题，尤其是在上周唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)总统的两个主要商界顾问委员会解散之后。

Many of the chiefs involved, who harboured mixed feelings about engaging with the president, did so because they hoped to push through a business friendly agenda that included tax and educational reform as well as major infrastructure projects and stay in the good graces of the White House, historically a net positive for corporate prospects.

许多怀着复杂感情与特朗普打交道的首席执行官之所以参加这两个委员会，是因为他们希望推动通过一项包括税改、教育改革以及重大基础设施项目的商业友好型议程，同时博得白宫欢心——历史上这样做对企业前景只有好处。

What has become clear over the past few days is that being close to this “business friendly” president is not necessarily good for business.

过去几天时间，显而易见的是，靠近这位“对商业友好的”总统未必对企业有利。

Share prices have taken a hit from the White House chaos, and some corporate leaders have faced criticism from their own staff for getting involved in the White House and not speaking out earlier. Some are calling on the private sector to take up the mantle of American leadership.

白宫乱象导致股价受到冲击，一些商界大佬因参加特朗普的顾问团且事先未作声明而受到了自家员工的批评。一些人呼吁私营部门举起美国领导力的大旗。

“This is a time in the history of our country when every business leader needs to demonstrate the moral courage to stand up for what this country is all about,” says Howard Schultz, who did not sit on either of the president’s business councils but did hold a company-wide meeting last week to address “fears, anxieties and concerns” about Mr Trump’s handling of Charlottesville.

“我们国家正处于这样一个历史时刻，每一位商界领袖都需要展现出道德勇气，坚决捍卫这个国家的根本，”星巴克(Starbucks)首席执行官霍华德?舒尔茨(Howard Schultz)说。他没有参加特朗普的这两个商界顾问委员会，但上周召开了一次全公司范围的会议，以应对特朗普处理夏洛茨维尔(Charlottesville)事件造成的“恐惧、焦虑和担忧”。

“We all feel unsettled. I feel I have an even bigger responsibility as a business leader now to step into the political discussion,” says the head of Starbucks, who has been whispered about as a possible presidential candidate for 2020.

“我们都感到不安。我觉得，作为一名商界领袖，我现在有更大的责任要介入政治讨论，”舒尔茨说。有传言称他有可能在2020年竞选总统。

He is not alone. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan chief, was one of many executives to send a strongly worded memo to employees; he criticised the president’s handling of the “evil” perpetrated in Charlottesville, noting that “constructive economic and regulatory policies” were insufficient to get the country back on track given the “divisions in our country. It’s a leader’s role, in business or government, to bring people together, not tear them apart.”

这样做的不只舒尔茨一人。摩根大通(JPMorgan)首席执行官杰米?戴蒙(Jamie Dimon)等许多高管向员工发出了措辞严厉的备忘录。戴蒙批评了特朗普对夏洛茨维尔发生的“恶行”的处理方式，并指出，鉴于“我们国家的种种分歧”，“建设性的经济和监管政策”不足以让这个国家回到正轨。“在商界或者政府中，领袖的作用是把人们团结起来，而非将他们撕裂。”

Arne Sorensen of Marriott, which has run a pointed “golden rule” ad over the past few days, told me that a more political role for chief executives today is “unavoidable and essential. You can say it shouldn’t exist, or try to hide from it, but neither approach works. There is enormous anxiety right now among our guests, and our community all over the world. They want to hear a voice that is welcoming, and affirming.”

万豪(Marriott)在过去几天推出了一条针对性的“黄金法则”广告。万豪首席执行官苏安励(Arne Sorenson)对我说，首席执行官如今发挥更大的政治作用是“不可避免和不可或缺的。你可以说这种责任不应该存在，或者试图回避，但两种方式都行不通。现在，我们的宾客以及世界各地的社区都存在巨大的焦虑。他们希望听到一种欢迎和肯定的声音。”

This means that they want to hear the best American values articulated. That is a role that business used to play. In the 1950s, ’60s and into the ’70s, as US businesses exported global capitalism, they were expected to export American ideas of liberal democracy and inclusiveness. Business leaders pushed through things like the Employment Act of 1946, and the Marshall Plan, which many Americans at the time were against.

这意味着他们希望听到最优秀的美国价值观得到明确表达。这正是商界过去所发挥的作用。上世纪50年代至70年代，随着美国企业向全球输出资本主义，它们被寄予输出美国自由民主和包容理念的希望。商界领袖推动通过了《1946年就业法案》(Employment Act of 1946)和当时许多美国人反对的马歇尔计划(Marshall Plan)。

Not to be too romantic — their first priority was certainly to make a buck — but the best leaders were not just considered great businessmen, but great Americans; people who could move the needle on political and social agendas, as well as economic ones.

不要抱太多幻想——他们的首要任务当然是多赚钱——但最优秀的领导者不仅被认为是伟大的商人，而且是伟大的美国人；是那些既能够在政治和社会议程，也能在经济议程上有所建树的人。

Chief executives over the past decades have moved away from that role. The 1990s were defined in large part by self-interested “celebrity” corporate leaders. Following the 2008 financial crisis, many felt the safest bet was to keep their heads down and share prices high. The fact that economic globalisation has run so far ahead of political globalisation means that, in many ways, today’s chiefs are less ambassadors of “American” values than transnational leaders who have to adjust to what ever form of capitalism they find on the ground: from the laissez-faire Anglo-American styles to the more regulated European brand to the state models of many emerging markets.

过去几十年，首席执行官们已远离了这样的角色。塑造上世纪90年代的主要是利己的“名人”企业领袖。2008年金融危机爆发后，许多首席执行官认为最安全的做法是，个人保持低姿态，股价保持高企。经济全球化发展的程度远超政治全球化这一事实意味着，在许多方面，与跨国公司领袖相比，如今的首席执行官不再是“美国”价值观的大使，而前者不得不适应他们实际面对的任何形式的资本主义：从自由放任主义的美国模式、更多监管的欧洲模式到许多新兴市场的国家主导模式。

Yet in each of those milieus there is a role for corporate leaders who think about more than share prices. Indeed, a 2012 survey by the US consulting firm FTI found that, by a three-to-one margin, institutional investors want them to speak out on a broad variety of issues.

然而，在每一种模式下，那些不只关心股价的企业领袖都可以发挥作用。实际上，美国咨询公司FTI 2012年的一项调查发现，四分之三的机构投资者希望首席执行官在各种各样的问题上发表意见。

As Marc Benioff, head of Salesforce, put it: “CEOs have to be responsible for something more than their own profitability. You have to serve a broader group of stakeholders — from employees to the environment — and when politicians don’t get things right, corporate leaders have to act. That’s a big shift.”

正如Salesforce的掌门人马克?贝尼奥夫(Marc Benioff)所言：“首席执行官们必须不仅仅对企业盈利能力负责。你必须服务于更广泛的利益相关者群体——从员工到环境——当政客们做得不对时，企业领袖必须有所行动。这是一个巨大转变。”

It is one that is making a difference. Mr Benioff, for example, recently led a charge to change a proposed law in Indiana that would have discriminated against the LGBT community.

企业领袖的行动正在带来变化。例如，贝尼奥夫最近领导了一场诉讼，要求修改印第安纳州一项对LGBT群体存在歧视的拟议法案。

“I called up Mike Pence, [then governor], reminded him that we were the biggest tech employer there and let him know that we couldn’t discriminate against our workforce.” The law was modified, as similar proposals in other states have been thanks to calls from chief executives.

“我打电话给（时任州长）迈克?彭斯(Mike Pence)，提醒他，我们是该州最大的科技雇主，让他知道我们不能歧视自己的员工。”由于首席执行官们的呼吁，那部法案以及其他州类似的提案都得到了修改。

The business community is likewise moving ahead, with or without the White House, on issues such as climate change and immigration. In an era in which the richest 2,000 companies have more money (and arguably power) than two-thirds of countries, it is crucial that their actions balance the dearth of moral and economic leadership coming out of this White House.

无论白宫参与与否，商界都在推进气候变化、移民等问题。在一个美国最富有的2000家企业拥有的财富（可以说还有权力）超过三分之二的国家的时代，用企业的行动来平衡白宫道德和经济领导力的不足至关重要。