经济学人下载:现实比电影好得多

All this fuss suggests, not that bosses are growing more horrible, but that employees expect them to be more agreeable. Laws ban discrimination, the internet allows people to air their complaints and the prevailing management culture emphasises sensitivity.

所有这些小题大做的抱怨表明，老板们并没有变得更加糟糕，而是员工们希望他们变得更加讨人喜欢。法律禁止歧视，因特网允许人们发布怨言，而当前盛行的管理文化则强调关爱体贴。

The monsters of the past knew no such checks. John Henry Patterson, who founded the National Cash Register Company in 1884, would set the desks of inept employees on fire. To find similarly forceful bosses today, one must look East. When Zhang Ruimin took over Haier, a Chinese white-goods company, in 1984, he smashed one of the company’s products to pieces with a sledgehammer to show what he thought of its quality. Hollywood could use a few bosses like Mr Zhang.

过去的恐怖老板不懂得这样对待员工。1884年一手创立美国计算机服务公司的John Henry Patterson会放火把无所作为的员工的桌子烧掉。今天要想再找出同样强有力的老板，必须把目光投向东方。当1984年张瑞敏接管中国白色家电公司海尔之时，他用一把大锤子把公司的一件产品砸成碎片，以表明他对公司产品质量的看法。好莱坞可以用些像张先生这样的老板。