鑽石舞台

In 2019, I took a 9am flight from Atlanta to New York City.I was the first person to board that day.So as I death-gripped my phone to step over that little crack that leads to the runway, I caught a glimpse of the flight attendant.Head in her hand, like this, eyes closed.The moment she heard me, she looked up.She put a smile on her face.And she said: Good morning.

2019年，我搭早上九點的班機，從亞特蘭大飛到紐約市。那天，我是第一個登機的人。當我緊緊抓着我的手機，跨過那條可以看到跑道的裂縫，我瞥見了空乘。手像這樣托着下巴，閉着雙眼。她聽到我時，馬上就抬頭看。她露出微笑，說：早上好。

This is not your first flight of the day, is it?I asked.No, she said.It had been a really early one.I made some silly sleep joke.And she laughed.And I went to go sit in my seat.She couldn't have been more than 25 years old.During the flight, we exchanged pleasantries.And at one point she came to offer me a snack.And she asked me what I was going to New York to do.

這不是你今天飛的第一趟航班吧？我問道。不，她說。更早的一班才是。我說了很蠢的睡眠笑話。她笑了。我便去我的位子上坐好。她絕對不到二十五歲。航行期間，我們會相互寒暄。有一回，她提供點心給我。她問我我去紐約要做什麼。

I said that I was going to deliver a speech.And that honestly, I was cutting it kind of close.No time for lunch?She asked.No time for lunch, I said.And I took a bag of almonds.And I tucked it into the pocket of my backpack.After the flight landed, I was on my way out of the plane.And she stopped me for a moment.And she handed me a plastic bag.It was about this big.And it was weirdly heavy.

我說我要去演講，且老實說，我的時間有點緊。沒時間吃午餐？她問。我說：沒時間吃午餐。接着拿了一包杏仁果，塞進我背包的口袋裡。飛機降落之後，我正要下飛機。她攔住我，並交給我一個塑料袋。大概這麼大，且出奇地重。

She said, I know you didn't have a lot of time today.So I packed you this.Good luck.That was nice.So as I'm walking through LaGuardia with my bag and my bag, I peer inside and there are about 30 packets of almonds inside that bag.It was a bag of bags.And when I was in the taxi on the way to the speech, I found this little note tucked inside.Ms. Grice, thank you for coming on and putting a smile on our faces with your sweet words.

她說：我知道你今天沒什麼時間。所以我幫你打包了這些。祝好運。挺好的。當我帶着大包小包穿過拉瓜地亞機場時，我看向袋子裡面，大約有三十包杏仁果。滿滿一整袋。當我坐出租車前去演講時，我發現裡面塞了一張紙條：葛萊斯女士，謝謝您來搭乘並說些甜美的話讓我們微笑。

You have been so kind.And we are very lucky to have you as a loyal Delta customer.Thank you.I know you are gluten-free so here are some almonds for the road!Thank you for your kindness!It goes a long way!Sarah, Delta flight attendant.Now reading this, my heart gave a little jolt.My day job is to help companies excavate and execute their purpose.

您真是太好了。有您這樣的忠誠客戶，我們達美航空很幸運。謝謝您。我知道您不吃麩質，所以這些杏仁果給您在路上吃！謝謝您的仁慈！很有幫助！達美空乘莎拉敬上。讀這張紙條時，我的心在砰砰跳。我的日常工作是協助企業發掘並執行它們的宗旨。

And this little note on this little napkin was purpose in action, specifically that airline's purpose.And I know because I had helped to articulate it over 15 years before.In 2003, purpose was just one element of a much larger strategic transformation that Delta Airlines undertook.It was a company still reeling from the aftereffects of 911 and one looking for a North Star to guide them through would eventually become Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

而這段寫在餐巾紙上的留言即是宗旨的實踐，正是那家航空公司的宗旨。我知道，因為我曾在十五年前協助他們闡述這項宗旨。2003年，達美航空進行了一次很大的策略性轉變，而宗旨只是其中的一個元素。當時該公司還因為911的餘波而很不穩定，在尋找一顆北極星來引導他們渡過後來的破產法第十一章。

But in 2019, for a flight attendant who was maybe in elementary school at the time that purpose was articulated,it was some almonds for a hungry customer.It may be that Sarah never saw that purpose line we articulated.But no matter, she didn't need to.Because purpose was alive and well at Delta.It had become muscle memory.It had become cultural norm.Now let me be clear in what I'm talking about here.I'm talking about embedding purpose.

但，2019年的這位空乘，在該公司宗旨被闡述出來時可能還在讀小學，對她來說，就只是提供一些杏仁果給飢餓的客人。也許，莎拉從來沒有看過我們用來闡述宗旨的句子。但無所謂，她不需要看過。因為這個宗旨就好好地活在達美航空里。它已經成了肌肉記憶。已經成為文化常態。讓我澄清一下我的意思。我在說的是將宗旨嵌入。

I'm not talking about your mission, which is what you do every day,or your vision, which is where you are headed.Both mission and vision are important corporate drivers.But they play a different role in purpose.And mission and vision will change with changes in leadership, corporate contacts, competitive landscape, merger and acquisition.They are important.But they are also temporal.In my experience, they often have a time horizon of, say, three to five years.

我不是在談你的使命，那是你每天做的事，也不是談遠景，那是你要努力的目標。使命和遠景都是企業背後重要的驅動因子。但它們扮演的角色與宗旨不同。下列因素改變都可能會造成使命和遠景改變：領導階層、企業聯絡窗口、競爭格局、合併和收購。使命與遠景很重要，但都是暫時性的。根據我的經驗，它們能持續的時間大概是三到五年。

But purpose is your why.It is found at the intersection of who you are at your very best and the role in the world that you are meant to play.It comes from your ethos.It is married to your aspiration.And because it is ethotic, it is also timeless.Now, there are plenty of data out there to say that well-embedded purpose across organizations brings immense value.

但宗旨是你的出發點。它是這兩者的交集：最好的你，及你在這世界上註定要扮演的角色。它來自你的道德觀。它和你的熱情連接在一起。而因為它和道德觀有關，所以它也不會受時間影響。外面有大量的數據指出，若能把宗旨妥善地嵌入到組織各處，就能帶來極大的價值。

Studies that will link well-embedded purpose to elevated total shareholder return over 10 years, increased employee engagement, retention,even higher levels of productivity.Because of all this data, it is rare in my work that a CEO will come to me and say: Ashley, what is purpose?Or why do I need to do it?Instead, what they will ask is: When I have my purpose, how do I embed it across my organization so well that it brings the most value,that it becomes muscle memory?

研究也發現妥善嵌入宗旨和下列現象有關聯：十年後股東總回報提升、員工投入增加、留任，甚至還有生產力提高。因為所有這些數據，我工作上很少會遇到有執行長來問我：艾許利，宗旨是什麼？或我為何需要它？他們會問我的是：當我有了我的宗旨時，我要如何把它妥善地嵌入到我的組織各處，為我帶來最大的價值，讓它成為肌肉記憶？

As I've been doing this work for almost 20 years at this point.I have a ready answer.First, I tell them it needs to be authentic.Purpose that is rooted in your ethos, distinctive to your brand, meaningful to all of your stakeholders and consistent with your values is authentic.Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, the CEO of Optus, a Sydney, Australia-based telecommunications company, can speak to her company's purpose,powering optimism with options, with conviction.

因為我做這份工作至今已經快二十年了。我有現成的答案。首先，我會告訴他們，宗旨必須是真實的。它必須要深植在你的道德觀中，是你的品牌獨有的，你所有的股東都認為它很有意義，和你的價值觀一致，那就是真實的。凱莉拜爾羅斯馬林是奧普特斯的執行長，這是一家位於澳大利亞雪黎的電信公司，當她說到她公司的宗旨——用不同選項讓樂觀更強大——她能說得很讓人信服，

Because it is authentic.Optus is, by its very nature, a challenger brand.And it is a brand synonymous with a brand platform of positivity since options breed action and optimism breeds hope.How they pull their internal relations together with their external reach-out to customers is very consistent and incredibly authentic.Now on the other end of the authenticity scale, I once worked with a CEO who really wanted purpose to be about environmental sustainability.

因為這宗旨是真實的。奧普特斯這個品牌在本質上是挑戰者，且這個品牌也等同於是一個正向品牌平台，因為選擇能促成行動，而樂觀能帶來希望。他們將內部的關係和外部與客戶的連接做了相當有一致性的整合，相當有真實感。在真實性尺度的另一端，有一名曾和我合作的執行長非常希望設定和環境持續性有關的宗旨。

That is great, I said.Except for your company struggles to even recycle in your offices.I know, I've been there.While they admire the aspiration, if we had come up with a purpose line that was solely about environmental sustainability,it would have been dead on arrival.Specifically with employees.Secondly, I tell CEOs that they must be critical in excavating purpose from the inside out.Purpose is uncomfortable.

那很棒，我說。可是你的公司連辦公室內的回收都很難做到。我知道，我有這經驗。雖然他們很欣賞這樣的願景，如果我們提出的宗旨標語僅僅談到環境永續性，它在到達時就已經死了。特別是對員工而言。第二，我告訴執行長，他們得要很吹毛求疵地從內向外去發掘出宗旨。宗旨是不舒服的。

It should be.Because you are introducing a tension between idealism and realism.Who you really want to be and who you are capable of being, today and in the future, based on competencies and ethos.And purpose can be particularly discomforting.Because even once you have it, it takes a while to implement it.In fact, you may set your purpose once and spend your entire career living up to it.

本當如此。因為你是在帶出理想和現實之間的緊繃狀況：你想要成為怎樣的人，和你能成為怎樣的人，現在和未來，以能力和道德觀為依據。宗旨有可能相當讓人不舒服，因為一旦你有了宗旨，還要花時間去導入它。事實上，你可能只要設定一次宗旨，卻要用整個職業生涯去實踐。

Now, purpose is particularly uncomfortable for companies who are on a forced evolution of change, companies in industries like oil and gas,for example, or for companies who maybe have bad behaviors they need to leave behind.Finally, I tell CEOs that purpose must apply to the whole of the organization.Purpose is not a CEO vanity project.Sure, it may help cement the legacy of the CEO who is in charge at the time it's articulated.

有些公司會覺得宗旨特別不舒服，因為它們被迫改變以求進展，比如，石油及天然氣產業的公司就是如此，或者，有些公司是得要改正一些不良行為。最後，我會告訴執行長，宗旨必須要套用到整個組織上。宗旨並不是執行長的虛榮心計劃。的確，宗旨可能可以協助主導闡述宗旨的那位執行長鞏固其地位，

But it's not about them.It's not about him or her.It's about the value the company brings.It is about the role in the world that it's meant to play.Now purpose at the C-suite level should be a unifying construct that brings together mission and vision and influences your strategic agenda.It should help CEOs think about how they redefine metrics for success, what types of topics they may want to speak with analysts about.

但重點不是執行長，重點不是他或她。重點是其給公司帶來的價值。重點是公司在世界上註定要扮演的角色。高層主管層級的宗旨應該是個帶來一致性的構面，整合使命和遠景，並影響你的策略構想。它應該能協助執行長思考要如何重新定義成功的標準、要和分析師談哪些類型的主題，

Or maybe most importantly, how the board ought to hold them accountable as managers.Purpose at the middle-management level is about much needed clarity and authority.The middle-management layer of any organization is often the most difficult to motivate.Because they have so many different stakeholders to please.But by bringing clarity with purpose-driven expectations and guardrails, it allows middle managers to understand which battles to pick.

或者，也許最重要的，董事會該如何要求他們這些經理負起責任。在中層主管階級的宗旨，重點在於非常必要的清楚度，以及權威性。任何組織的中層主管通常都是最難推動的，因為他們要取悅的利害關係人太多了。但若能用宗旨導向的期望和防護欄來提高清楚度，就能讓中層主管了解該挑哪場仗來打，

And that the micro decisions they make on a daily basis affect the company as a whole.Finally, front-line employee purpose helps employees at that level ensure that they are seen.When purpose is excavated and executed top floor to shop floor,those on the shop floor understand that their work matters and how it adds up to the overall value for the company.

以及他們每天所做的微小決策也能影響整個公司。最後，前線員工層級的宗旨能協助該層級的員工一定會被看見。如果從最高層一直到基層員工都能發掘、執行宗旨，基層員工能知道他們的工作的重要性，且積沙成塔也能對公司的價值有所貢獻。

Well-embedded front-line purpose is the tenet behind that legendary story of John F. Kennedy and the NASA janitor back in 1962.You know, the one where JFK supposedly asked the janitor: What do you do for NASA?And the janitor said: I'm putting a man on the moon.In this story, the janitor understood that his role was to prepare the building for the engineers who were going to come in and crank on the math.

妥善嵌入的前線宗旨也是某些故事背後的信條，比如約翰肯尼迪和太空總署工友1962年的傳奇故事。據說肯尼迪問工友：你為太空總署做了什麼？工友說：我把一個人送上月球。在這個故事中，工友知道他的角色是要將大樓整理好，讓工程師能來這裡好好工作。

But he also understood the importance of that role to the overall vision and objectives of NASA.That janitor understood his role in the universe, so to speak.So many iconic business stories begin on the back of a cocktail napkin.But it wasn't just this napkin or even the nuts that caused me pause that day.It was the sentiment behind it.It was the idea if you execute purpose across culture and strategy and brand consistently for years, it does become muscle memory.

但他也了解那個角色的重要性，會影響到太空總署的整體遠景和目標。可以說，那名工友知道他在宇宙中扮演的角色。有好多代表性的企業故事都始於酒巾的背面。但那天讓我停下來思考的原因不只是那張餐巾紙或堅果。還有它背後的感情。還有這樣的想法：如果你能把宗旨實踐到整個文化中、策略中，和品牌中，年復一年持續地做，它確實會變成肌肉記憶。

It becomes a cultural norm.And it is that norm that encourages an employee to make a gift, which becomes a story which then a very loyal customer tells to the world.So since I am here, Sarah, thank you for your kind words that day, and for the almonds.You helped make it a great day.Because you were right.I was hungry.

它成為一種文化規範。正是這種規範，鼓勵員工付出，講出自己的故事，而非常忠誠的客人會將這些故事告訴全世界。既然我在這裡，莎拉，謝謝你那天仁慈的留言，還有那些杏仁果。你讓那天變得更好。因為你是對的。我確實餓了。

Thank you.

謝謝你。