(本文选自《经济学人》20191012期)
背景介绍：
决定一家公司能否长足发展的因素有很多，其中之一便是员工是否敢于表达自己的观点和想法。最新的研究发现，让人们能够发出不同的声音是团队和公司成功的关键。
In praise of dissenters
赞扬那些持不同意见的人
It pays companies to encourage a variety of opinions
鼓励员工发出不同的声音有利于公司的发展
The story of the emperor’s new clothes is one of Hans Christian Andersen’s best-known fables. Conmen fool the monarch into believing they have made him a fabulous suit that the unworthy will be unable to see. Courtiers dare not say that the emperor is naked; it takes a child to point out the obvious.
《皇帝的新装》是安徒生最著名的寓言之一。骗子欺骗国王，让国王相信他们为其做了一件愚人看不见的精美的服装。大臣们不敢说国王是赤裸着身体的；只有一个小孩说出了显而易见的事实。
The moral is that people are often too hidebound by social convention to state their views. How many companies have ploughed ahead with expensive projects that were favoured by the chief executive, even when other managers have had doubts?
这则寓言的寓意是，人们往往过于墨守成规，而不愿意说出自己的观点。有多少公司会奋力推行首席执行官所青睐的成本高昂的项目，即使有其他管理者对该项目表示怀疑？
In his new book “Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking”, Matthew Syed, a sportsman-turned-journalist, argues that the key to dealing with this problem is “cognitive diversity”. In other words, assembling a team of people with different perspectives and intellectual backgrounds.
运动员出身的记者马修·施雅德在其新书《反叛思想：多元化思维的力量》中认为，解决这一问题的关键在于“认知多样性”。换言之就是组建一支有着不同观点和知识背景的团队。
People from different backgrounds approach problems from different angles—that much should be blindingly obvious. It is not just about selecting people for teams from both sexes and various ethnicities (though that, too).
来自不同背景的人会从不同的角度看待问题，这应该是显而易见的。当然，不仅仅是根据不同性别和不同种族来挑选团队成员（尽管实际如此）。
Hire only Cambridge politics graduates (or Harvard MBAs or Stanford software engineers) and they will have studied under the same professors and absorbed similar world views, regardless of their gender or skin colour.
如果一家公司只聘用剑桥大学政治系毕业生（或哈佛大学工商管理硕士、或斯坦福大学软件工程师），虽然他们有着不同的性别和肤色，但他们将在相同的教授的指导下学习，并将有着相似的世界观。
In the modern world, with all its complexity, co-operation is essential if breakthroughs are to be made. In science and engineering, 90% of papers are now written by teams rather than individuals. Analysis of American patent filings since 1975 showed teams dominate in every one of the 36 defined categories.
在这个复杂的现代世界，如果想要取得突破，合作是必不可少的。在科学和工程领域，90%的论文是由团队而非个人完成的。对1975年以来美国专利申请的分析显示，在36个已被定义的类别中，团队申请的专利在每个类别中都占据着主导地位。
There are two elements to selecting a good team. First, assemble people with diverse viewpoints. Second, ensure that those viewpoints are heard and respected. That may not happen if those in charge are overbearing.
选择一个好的团队有两点要素。首先，召集有着不同观点的人。其次，确保这些观点能够得到倾听和尊重。如果负责人专横跋扈，这一点或许就无法实现。
A study of over 300 projects by the Rotterdam School of Management found that those led by junior managers were more likely to succeed than those led by senior managers—maybe because other team members were less intimidated about pointing out potential pitfalls to someone lower down the pecking order.
鹿特丹管理学院对300多个项目开展的一项研究发现，由初级管理人员领导的项目比由高级管理人员领导的项目更有可能成功，这也许是因为团队其他成员不会那么害怕向地位较低的人指出潜在的问题。
The ability to speak up within an organisation, without fear of sanction, is known as “psychological safety” and was described by Amy Edmondson of the Harvard Business School in a book on the issue. Mr Syed cites a study of teams at Google, which found that self-reported psychological safety was by far the most important factor behind successful teamwork at the technology giant.
在哈佛商学院的艾米·埃德蒙森的一本谈到了该问题的书中，他将一个组织内部的成员能够畅所欲言、而不用担心受到制裁的状态称为“心理安全”。施雅德引用了一项关于谷歌团队的研究，该研究发现，员工自述的心理安全是这家科技巨头团队合作得以成功的最重要的因素。
重难点词汇：
dissenter [dɪˈsentər] n. 持异议者；反对者
hidebound [ˈhaɪdbaʊnd] adj. 死板的；保守的；顽固的；墨守成规的
assemble [əˈsembl] vt. 集合，聚集；装配；收集 vi. 集合，聚集
perspective [pərˈspektɪv] n. 观点；远景；透视图 adj. 透视的
intimidate [ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt] vt. 恐吓，威胁；胁迫
本文转自：每日双语经济学人
