Purpose and the employee

Some people want to change the world. But not everyone

P1

WHAT IS THE meaning of mayonnaise? For Unilever, a consumer-goods giant whose products are all meant to stand for something, the purpose of its Hellmann’s brand is to reduce food waste by making leftovers tasty. For Terry Smith, a fund manager fed up with Unilever’s dipping share price, this is crazy. “The Hellmann’s brand has existed since 1913,” he wrote earlier this month. “So we would guess that by now consumers have figured out its purpose (spoiler alert—salads and sandwiches).”

*mayonnaise-egg yolks and oil and vinegar

*are all meant to stand for something

蛋黄酱

常用来形容有影响力的品牌和人

*reduce food waste by making leftovers tasty

-leftovers：food remaining from a previous meal

*fed up with...s dipping share price 被噎住了

*figure out its purpose

*spoiler alert

第一段来一个奇怪的脑洞类比，有点像周星驰电影凌凌漆里的"一张纸巾，一条内裤都有它的存在价值”；然后来一个奇怪的组合，蛋黄酱+基金经理？峰回路转的开头，埋梗build a hook。

P2

Mr Smith’s concern is the financial performance of Unilever (in the face of investor disquiet, the firm is now planning management cuts and an overhaul of its operating model). But his underlying point, that doing the obvious job well can be purpose enough, is one that has much wider application. For it is true of colleagues as well as condiments.

*in the face of investor disquiet

disquiet-make... not quiet

*an overhaul of its operation model

overhaul-the act of improving by renewing and restoring

The engine has been completely overhauled.

发动机已彻底检修过了。

*underlying point

underlying vs sth on the surface

*be purpose enough

*has much wider application

针对前面已经有铺垫的表面上的，潜在的，看起来的观点和看法，有更广泛的含义

*condiment-a preparation (a sauce or relish or spice) to enhance flavor or enjoyment

这里parapharse 前面的mayonnaise

第二段从基金经理的concern转到一个wider application， 啊哈，我不是说针对谁，而是说在座的每一位，都是垃圾，噢，不是，都是蛋黄酱，哦，也不是，是同僚

P3

The very idea of a purposeful employee conjures up a specific type of person. They crave a meaningful job that changes society for the better. When asked about their personal passion projects, they don’t say “huh?” or “playing Wordle”. They are concerned about their legacy and almost certainly have a weird diet.

*conjure up-summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic

When he closed his eyes, he could conjure up in exact colour almost every event of his life.

他闭上眼睛时，几乎他一生中经历的每蛋黄酱一件事情都会真切地浮现在他的脑海。

柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典

*crave: long for

*personal passion projects

*play wordle-play word games

*legacy-sth left behind

*have a weird diet

weird-strange/odd

第三段purposeful employee 概念被引入，specific type of person被讨论，

作者想讲的话题真正浮出水面-职业人格

P4

Yet this is not the only way to think about purpose-driven employees. New research from Bain, a consultancy, into the attitudes of 20,000 workers across ten countries confirms that people are motivated by different things.

*purpose-driven employee

vs 前面的purposeful employee

*new research from... into the attitude...

*people are motived by different things

第四段借力知名咨询公司的调研，从千人前面的职业人格下探，进入动机people are motivated by different things

P5

Bain identifies six different archetypes, far too few to reflect the complexity of individuals but a lot better than a single lump of employees. “Pioneers” are the people on a mission to change the world; “artisans” are interested in mastering a specific skill; “operators” derive a sense of meaning from life outside work; “strivers” are more focused on pay and status; “givers” want to do work that directly improves the lives of others; and “explorers” seek out new experiences.

*archetype-model

*far too few to reflect the complexity of

*a single lump of

lump-a compact mass‘

No sugar, I said, and Jim asked for two lumps.

“不加糖，”我说道。吉姆则要了两块。

柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典

第五段给出职业人格大致分类

*pioneers-people on a mission to change the world

*artisans-are interested in mastering a specific skill

*operators-derive a sense of meaning from life outside work

*strivers-are more focused on pay and status

*givers-want to do work that directly improves the lives of others

*explorers--seek out new experiences

P6

These archetypes are unevenly distributed across different industries and roles. Pioneers in particular are more likely to cluster in management roles. The Bain survey finds that 25% of American executives match this archetype, but only 9% of the overall US sample does so. Another survey of American workers carried out by McKinsey, a consulting firm, in 2020 found that executives were far likelier than other respondents to say that their purpose was fulfilled by their job.

*unevenly distributed across

*are more likely to cluster in

cluster-a group of similar thing

*match this archetype

*were far likelier than other respondents

第6段给出研究的profile，分布百分比，一个咨询公司Bain不够，再来一个麦肯锡

P7

This skew matters if managers blindly project their own ideas of purpose onto others. Having a purpose does not necessarily mean a desire to found a startup, head up the career ladder or log into virtual Davos. Some people are fired up by the prospect of learning new skills or of deepening their expertise.

*skew-turn or place at an angle

The book is heavily skewed towards American readers.

这本书严重倾向于美国读者。

牛津高阶英汉双解词典

*matters if...

*blindly project their own ideas of purpose onto others

心理学现象

*not necessarily mean

*head up the career ladder

*log into virtual Davos

*are fired up by the prospect of

第7段指出研究结果的解读方法，管理人员蛋黄酱不能滥用数据也不能胡乱做心理投射

P8

Others derive purpose from specific kinds of responsibility. Research by a couple of academics at NEOMA Business School and Boston University looked at the experience of employees of the Parisian metro system who had been newly promoted into managerial roles. People who had been working as station agents before their elevation were generally satisfied by their new roles. But supervisors who had previously worked as train drivers were noticeably less content: they felt their roles had less meaning when they no longer had direct responsibility for the well-being of passengers.

*derive purpose from specific kinds of responsibility-

*managerial roles

*their roles had less meaning

*the well-being of

第8段继续补充其他研究结果，特别给出一个meaningful job的例子

P9

Firms need to think more creatively about career progression than promoting people into management jobs. IBM, for example, has a fellowship programme designed to give a handful of its most gifted technical employees their own form of recognition each year.

*career progression-

*promote people into management jobs

*their own form of recognition

第9段光有研究数据不够，要来一个具体知名企业的例子。their own form of recognition in IMB

P10

Another mistake is to conflate an employee’s commitment with good performance. A recent paper from Yuna Cho of the University of Hong Kong and Winnie Jiang of INSEAD, a business school, describes an experiment in which groups of people with managerial experience listened to two actors playing the part of colleagues. One group heard an “employee” saying that he was looking forward to retirement; another group heard the employee saying that he did not want to retire at all. In all other respects the conversations were the same. The observers assigned a bigger bonus and a higher raise to the employee who appeared to have more passion.

*conflate an employees commitment with good performance

conflate-mix together different elements

Her letters conflate past and present

在她的信中过去和现在融为一体。

柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典

*assign a bigger bonus and a higher raise

*appeared to have more passions

第10段指出一个错误做法，补充新的研究案例

P11

There is some logic here. Employees with a calling could well be more dedicated. But that doesn’t necessarily make them better at the job. And teams are likelier to perform well if they blend types of employees: visionaries to inspire, specialists to deliver and all those people who want to do a job well but not think about it at weekends. Like mayonnaise, the secret is in the mixture.

*employees with a calling

*doesnt necessarily make them better at the job

*are likelier to perform well if they blend types of employees

*visioanries to inspire

*specialists to deliver

*Like mayonnaise, the secret is mixture.

总结段：

1. 提出一个归纳-with a calling could well be more decated

2. 作出一个判断but not necessarily make them better 不能因此影响评价的标准

3.给出一种可能性建议 are likelier to perform well if blend types of employees

4.保留非绝对的公允并回应开头 Like mayonnaise, the secret is in the mixture.

“小宝，这些只不过是绝世武功的总纲，我就练了30年才有今天的成就”

”高手不过一横一竖，至于横竖多少，自己领悟。“”

中文来自机翻，蛋黄酱

仅供学习参考

蛋黄酱是什么意思？联合利华是一家消费品巨头，其产品都代表着某种东西，其Hellmann品牌的目的是通过使剩菜美味来减少食物浪费。对于厌倦了联合利华股价下跌的基金经理特里·史密斯来说，这太疯狂了。“赫尔曼品牌自1913年就存在了，”他在本月早些时候写道。“所以我们猜测，现在消费者已经明白了它的用途（变质警报：沙拉和三明治）。”

史密斯先生担心的是联合利华的财务表现（面对投资者的不安，该公司目前正在计划削减管理层，并对其运营模式进行彻底改革）。但他的基本观点是，蛋黄酱把显而易见的工作做好可能就足够有目的了，这一点有着更广泛的应用。因为这不仅适用于调味品，也适用于同事。

一个有目的的员工的想法会让人联想到一个特定类型的人。他们渴望一份有意义的工作，让社会变得更好。当被问及他

们的个人激情项目时，他们不会说“哈？”或者“玩文字游戏”。他们在意自己的工作能留下什么，几乎可以肯定他们的饮食很奇怪。

然而，这并不是思考目标驱动型员工的唯一方式。咨询公司贝恩（Bain）对10个国家的2万名员工的态度进行的新研究证实，人们的动蛋黄酱机是不同的。

贝恩确定了六种不同的原型，数量太少，无法反映个人的复杂性，但比单一员工群体要好得多。“先驱者”是那些肩负着改变世界使命的人；“工匠”对掌握特定技能感兴趣；“经营者”从工作之外的生活中获得意义；“奋斗者”更注重薪酬和地位；“给予者”想要做直接改善他人生活的工作；“探险家”寻找新的体验。

这些原型在不同的行业和角色中分布不均。尤其是先驱者更有可能成为管理者。贝恩调查发现，25%的美国高管符合这一原型，但在整个美国样本中，只有9%符合这一原型。咨询公司麦肯锡（McKinsey）在2020蛋黄酱

年对美国工人进行的另一项调查发现，高管们比其他受访者更可能表示他们的工作实现了他们的目标。

如果管理者盲目地将自己的目标理念投射到他人身上，这种偏差就很重要。有一个目标并不一定意味着想要创办一家初创公司、登上职业阶梯或登录虚拟达沃斯。有些人对学习新技能或深化专业知识的前景感到兴奋。

其他人则从具体的责任中获得目的。NEOMA商学院和波士顿大学的几位学者进行了一项研究，考察了巴黎地铁系统新晋升为管理职位的员工的经历。在升职之前一直担蛋黄酱任电台工作人员的人对他们的新角色普遍感到满意。但是，以前当过火车司机的主管显然不太满意：当他们不再直接负责乘客的福利时，他们觉得自己的角色没有什么意义。

公司需要更具创造性地思考职业发展，而不是提拔员工进入管理岗位。例如，IBM有一个奖学金项目，旨在每年为其少数最有天赋的技术员工提供他们自己的认可形式。

另一个错误是将员工的承诺与良好绩效混为一谈。香港大学的Yuna Cho和商学院商学院的Winnie Jiang最近的一篇论文描述了一个实验，在这个实验中，有管理经验的人听两个演员扮演同事的角色。一组人听到一名“雇员”说他期待退休；另一组人听到该员工说他根本不想退休。在所有其他方面，对话都是一样的。观察者给似乎更有激情的员工分配了更高的奖金和加薪。

这里有一些逻辑。打电话的员工很可能会更加敬业。但这并不一定能让他们在工作中做得更好。如果团队融合了不同类型的员工，他们更有可能表现出色：有远见的人去激励，有专业的人去交付，还有那些想把工作做好但周末不去想的人。就像蛋黄酱一样，秘密就在混合物中。