Malcolm Gladwell & Mad Men

[Knowing]

永生太难了，不如我隆重推出：信K偶，去皱纹！

[笑嘻嘻]

这个好，这个一定有市场。

[tiffany]

真的能祛皱的话，我就勉强偶你一下儿吧。

[豪情]

永生无法证伪, 比去皱容易.
对了, 没信仰的话, 安慰剂不就无效了么? 还有中国一直执行的重病不告诉本人, 是不是有安慰剂效果?

[Jun]

另一篇几乎好笑的文章： The Talent Myth: Are Smart People Overrated?

原文在： http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm

让我觉得好笑的是开头两段：

Five years ago, several executives at McKinsey & Company, America's largest and most prestigious management-consulting firm, launched what they called the War for Talent. Thousands of questionnaires were sent to managers across the country. Eighteen companies were singled out for special attention, and the consultants spent up to three days at each firm, interviewing everyone from the C.E.O. down to the human-resources staff. McKinsey wanted to document how the top-performing companies in America differed from other firms in the way they handle matters like hiring and promotion. But, as the consultants sifted through the piles of reports and questionnaires and interview transcripts, they grew convinced that the difference between winners and losers was more profound than they had realized. "We looked at one another and suddenly the light bulb blinked on," the three consultants who headed the project--Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod--write in their new book, also called "The War for Talent." The very best companies, they concluded, had leaders who were obsessed with the talent issue. They recruited ceaselessly, finding and hiring as many top performers as possible. They singled out and segregated their stars, rewarding them disproportionately, and pushing them into ever more senior positions. "Bet on the natural athletes, the ones with the strongest intrinsic skills," the authors approvingly quote one senior General Electric executive as saying. "Don't be afraid to promote stars without specifically relevant experience, seemingly over their heads." Success in the modern economy, according to Michaels, Handfield-Jones, and Axelrod, requires "the talent mind-set": the "deep-seated belief that having better talent at all levels is how you outperform your competitors."

This "talent mind-set" is the new orthodoxy of American management. It is the intellectual justification for why such a high premium is placed on degrees from first-tier business schools, and why the compensation packages for top executives have become so lavish. In the modern corporation, the system is considered only as strong as its stars, and, in the past few years, this message has been preached by consultants and management gurus all over the world. None, however, have spread the word quite so ardently as McKinsey, and, of all its clients, one firm took the talent mind-set closest to heart. It was a company where McKinsey conducted twenty separate projects, where McKinsey's billings topped ten million dollars a year, where a McKinsey director regularly attended board meetings, and where the C.E.O. himself was a former McKinsey partner. The company, of course, was Enron.

为啥觉得好笑呢？它让我想起几年前在北加州拜访亲戚的时候遇见表妹的男友：一个小男生，二十四五。我妈告诉我，表妹的父母很不喜欢女儿的男友，年纪轻轻就口气好大，颐指气使的，对长辈一点没礼貌，而且脾气甚坏，跟表妹动不动就大吵起来。作为一个平时也很没礼貌的小辈，我还真没先入为主的恶感，不过接触了几次就明白了我表妹的父母为什么嫌他，他很爱摆架子，显得很有学问很有见识，更重要的是，话里话外都要显示自己很有钱。他动辄提起兄弟我在新加坡的时候，兄弟我在阿姆斯特丹工作的时候，别人都听我的指挥如何如何。因为年纪甚轻，娃娃脸，听他口气很大地说这说那，说不出的逗。其实很明显性格还很儿童，而表妹的性格也很儿童，两个人经常当着大家的面儿就拌嘴吵架，旁人看着都觉得很好笑，只有她父母比较心焦。据说他俩分了合合了分闹了两年，最后还是吹了，表妹父母大大松口气。

当然，我提这件事的就是因为，这个男生在 McKinsey 做事。

Disclaimer: 我没有抹黑 McKinsey 雇员的意思哈，相信在那里工作的人大多数都是正常人，只是觉得这个巧合很好笑。

[Knowing]

麦肯锡作为一个公司的确有这个名声，不过我的感觉是people hire people like themselves, 他们倾向于雇用这种气场强大的人。但是去这个公司工作前不那么NB哄哄的人，去了之后也不会那样。同样管理咨询的行业，波士顿咨询公司就没这么aggressive.
管理咨询现在还那么流行嘛？我觉得迷行管理‘科学’MBA 那一套非常80s. 都是jack welch 那时代的时髦事情，一堆外人跑进来迅速分析一下，下达一堆指标，那那那应该削减百分之十五什么的，管用不管用，长期效果如何，很难定性衡量。
不过我年龄见长，看见的dodgy 行当越来越多，觉得管理咨询那套东西也不算最糟。

[CAVA]

总会受点影响的。周围的人都在胡吹大气，NB哄哄，独你一个低调诚恳，即使本人自信很强不至于自卑自我怀疑，也免不了被他人当怪物。在飞机上有时被迫旁听这种人吹牛，忍得特辛苦。

如果一个公司自己找不对路子，让咨询公司来下点儿药也是有的。然而这药是统一配方，难得对症。说起来，Accenture给我的印象比麦肯锡差多了。

[IF NOT]

也许管理咨询就需要这样的自信or自大撑着吧，否则几个星期的调研就得到executive board去指点江山，很难不心虚吧。
我觉得，不管多有名的公司，只要进到内部一看都是怨声载道，到处是无意义的劳作，所以骂老板才是被地球人都接受的出气口嘛。
Accenture比 Mckinsey也便宜多了，通常Mckinsey会宣称自己和Accenture不是一个层次的，more strategic etc.

[Knowing]

accenture 前身是Arthur Andersen 里的咨询分部。Arthur Andersen 就是enron 的会计公司，enron 倒台的时候他们也一起下来了。

说起来，有人看到前几天出台的lehman 调查报告了么？他们最后两个季度的财政报告做了不少手脚，主要是在季报前几天，把资产暂时倒成现款，好在季报里降低杠杆率，非常dodgy的会计花招. 美国律师所顾问看了半天说不能这么干。但是全球性企业就是有优越性！英国律师所的顾问研究了番说，根据某某条英国法律可以。于是repo 105 诞生了。Ernst & Young 作为会计审核公司不但没指出这个问题，而且对lehman 内部人员的检举直接忽略，没对董事会报告，非常失职。这报告一出来lehman 苦主们要爽死了，终于抓住一个又可以sue, 又还有钱可以挤出来的家伙！

[CAVA]

Accenture比 Mckinsey也便宜多了，通常Mckinsey会宣称自己和Accenture不是一个层次的，more strategic etc.

他们是说，Mckinsey指出方向 ，Accenture接着进驻贯彻执行。Accenture更象是外包的project management。

[IF NOT]

我的印象里Accenture擅长的是以流程管理、外包为主的consulting，其中大量使用IT技术来实现他们的建议。而management/strategy consulting方面虽然也做，但牌子就比McKinsey, BCG, Bain等等差了一层。

[CAVA]

前面谁说得对，每个企业里都有靠谱和不那么靠谱的人。管理咨询行业既然存在着，必有其用处。我还有朋友是做咨询的，他们也没觉得入错了行

[putaopi]

想起我的一位朋友，刚入行时在Arthur Anderson做审计。后来我们聊起什么事，我开玩笑说你为什么不如何如何钻制度的漏洞，她大叫说"Integrity! " 我不禁笑她，看看，Arthur Anderson出身的人还好谈Integrity？想想那帮高层真是不地道，公司名声扫地关门大吉，害了多少手下人。