足球教练与企业老板哪个更难做?

Howard Wilkinson, former manager of Leeds United, knows about pressure: “No offence to captains of industry but even a FTSE 100 chairman can postpone a board meeting. A manager can’t postpone a football match and every match is a shareholder meeting, [sometimes] in front of 88,000 people.”
利兹联队(Leeds United)前主教练霍华德•威尔金森(Howard Wilkinson)明白什么是压力：“我无意冒犯企业界的领袖们，但即便是富时100指数(FTSE 100)成分股企业的董事长，也能推迟董事会会议。而足球俱乐部的主教练是不能推迟比赛的。每场比赛都是一次股东大会，（有时）要面对8.8万人。”

Mr Wilkinson’s comment also underlines what plenty of corporate executives – dazzled by insights imparted by their sporting idols – tend to forget. Leading a business is not like leading a sports team.
威尔金森的话还着重指出了很多企业高管（这些高管为其体育偶像传授的深刻见解所倾倒）往往会忽视的东西：领导一家企业与领导一支球队是不同的。

In fact, it is much harder.
实际上，前者的难度要大的多。

It is certainly tough at the top of both worlds. Mr Wilkinson was speaking at the launch of The Manager, a book of management insights from top football coaches such as Chelsea’s José Mourinho.
处在这两个领域的最顶端肯定都很艰难。威尔金森是在《主教练》(The Manager)一书的发布会上发表上述言论的。这本书讲述了一些最优秀足球主教练的管理见解，切尔西队(Chelsea)的若泽•穆里尼奥(José Mourinho)就是其中之一。

In England, professional managers last on average 16 months. More than half never get a second chance. Their short tenure is lived under a spotlight controlled by voracious media, obsessive fans, capricious owners and overpaid and sometimes unruly players.
在英格兰，职业足球主教练的平均任期为16个月。其中逾一半的人永远不会有第二次机会出任主教练。他们短暂的任期是在聚光灯下度过的，无孔不入的媒体、狂热的球迷、反复无常的老板、以及薪资过高且有时不服管教的球员，都会让他们成为公众关注的焦点。

But there is a purity and focus to the football manager’s role that is rare in business. Few jobs are (literally) as goal-oriented, as bounded by rules and as divorced from the profit motive. Companies built by the owners of football clubs often turn over far more money than the clubs themselves. Coaches sometimes win broader responsibility – Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United was one – but that is the exception in football, the rule at companies.
但足球主教练角色的纯粹性和专注性在企业界是不多见的。很少有什么工作（真的）像这样足球主教练这样以目标为导向、受规则约束且不必考虑利润。足球俱乐部老板创办的企业所赚的钱，通常会比俱乐部本身赚的钱多得多。主教练有时会承担更广泛的职责，曼彻斯特联队(Manchester United)的亚历克斯•弗格森爵士(Sir Alex Ferguson)就是这样一位主教练，但这种情况在足球界属于例外，在企业界则属于常规。

Anita Elberse, co-author of a Harvard Business School case study about Sir Alex, has written that his success and staying power “demand study” but that companies should not push the application of his approach to business too hard. Even football-mad consultant Mike Carson, author of The Manager, writes that lessons taught by Mr Mourinho and his peers are more about leadership than management.
哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)针对亚历克斯爵士的情况编写了一项案例研究。该研究的一位作者阿妮塔•埃尔贝斯(Anita Elberse)写道，亚历克斯爵士的成功和长期掌权“值得研究”，但企业不应强行采用他的方式。就连酷爱足球的咨询师、《主教练》一书作者迈克•卡森(Mike Carson)也写道，穆里尼奥及其同行传授给我们的经验，更多的是关于领导力而非管理。

Such lessons are valid only at the highest level, though, where they risk being mere truisms. Football and business leaders all need to handle human beings. All take up arms in a “war for talent”. All are repaid for hard work and determination.
不过，这些经验只在最高层级才适用，而在那个层级，它们可能只能算是一些不言而喻的道理。足球主教练和企业领导人都需要与人打交道，都需要应对“人才大战”，他们的辛勤工作和坚定决心都会得到回报。