EconomistとTimeの立ち位置が分かる記事比較

このブログでDiversityを取り上げてきた関連もあり、今週のEconomistのWhy CEOs are pale, tall and maleという記事に目がいきました。pale/tall/maleと韻を踏んでキャッチーにしていますが、白人で背の高い男性がCEOの大半を占めている現状を指摘しているものです。

Diversityなんて流行の考えに安易に飛びつかずに、冷静に現状を分析し、シニカルで突き放した見方をするのは、Ecnomistらしい感じがします。ゴリラと人間の序列社会の類似性から始めていますからね（苦笑）

Schumpeter
The look of a leader
Getting to the top is as much to do with how you look as what you achieve
Sep 27th 2014 | From the print edition

もちろんEconomistだって状況が変わってきていることは把握しています。そうはいっても、白人で、背が高く、声が低く、姿勢もいい、「できる男」がCEOであることが多いのが現状のようです。

The big difference between gorillas and humans is, of course, that human society changes rapidly. The past few decades have seen a striking change in the distribution of power—between men and women, the West and the emerging world and geeks and non-geeks. Women run some of America’s largest firms, such as General Motors (Mary Barra) and IBM (Virginia Rometty). More than half of the world’s biggest 2,500 public companies have their headquarters outside the West. Geeks barely out of short trousers run some of the world’s most dynamic businesses. Peter Thiel, one of Silicon Valley’s leading investors, has introduced a blanket rule: never invest in a CEO who wears a suit.

Yet it is remarkable, in this supposed age of diversity, how many bosses still conform to the stereotype. First, they are tall: in research for his 2005 book, “Blink”, Malcolm Gladwell found that 30% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are 6 feet 2 inches or taller, compared with 3.9% of the American population.

given a plethora of candidates, all with perfect CVs, selection committees continue to look for the “X” factor and find, strangely enough, that it resides in people who look remarkably like themselves.と同じ実力の候補者なら、自分たちと見かけが同じ人を選んでしまうだろうとしています。

Posing for power
Can anything be done about this predisposition for promoting people of a certain type? Ideally, those selecting a new boss would conscientiously set aside all the stereotypes, and judge candidates purely on their merits. However, given a plethora of candidates, all with perfect CVs, selection committees continue to look for the “X” factor and find, strangely enough, that it resides in people who look remarkably like themselves. Another solution is to introduce quotas for CEOs and board members. But the risk is that this ends in tokenism rather than a genuine equalising of opportunity. So, some management experts suggest we just accept that stereotypes and prejudices cannot be wished away, and simply help those born outside the magic genetic circle project a sense of power and self-confidence.

Ms Cuddy gave a talk on “power poses” to the 2012 TED Global conference which has since become TED’s second most downloaded talk. In her recent book, “Executive Presence”, Sylvia Anne Hewlett of the Centre for Talent Innovation in New York urges young women to lower the register of their voices, as Margaret Thatcher did, eliminate uptalking and other vocal tics, and look people in the eye when giving presentations. She advises every would-be manager to work out regularly and look as fit as possible. This may sound like a bit of a cop-out. But the evidence is strong that candidates for top jobs can still be undermined by superficial things like posture and tone of voice. More than a century ago, Oscar Wilde quipped: “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.” Unfortunately those who choose leaders still seem to think this way.

最後までthe evidence is strong that candidates for top jobs can still be undermined by superficial things like posture and tone of voice.と「見かけ」の重要性を伝えていますが、まあ、だからこそDiversityのような考えが必要なのかもしれませんが。。。



多少強引なところがあるかもしれませんが、流行をシニカルに見るのがEconomistだとすれば、素直に特集を組むのがTimeかもしれません。Women run some of America’s largest firms, such as General Motors (Mary Barra) and IBM (Virginia Rometty).とEconomistでも紹介されていたGMのMary Barraさんが今週のカバーストーリーです。といってもTIMEの特集は女性CEOというよりも、GM再建がメイントピックのようですが。。。



といってもCEOが女性ということは避けては通れないトピックですから以下のような部分で触れられています。

BUSINESS NATION
Mary Barra’s Bumpy Ride at the Wheel of GM
Rana Foroohar @RanaForoohar Sept. 25, 2014

An engineer at heart, she’s stylish but practical. At one point, I compliment her on her killer black suede heels. “Manolos?” I ask. “Yeah, I have a shoe thing,” she says, wrinkling her nose with a bit of guilt. “And they are really comfortable!” Later, when a Time reporter tries to verify Barra’s shoe brand, GM tells us that “Mary is a very private person and has requested that you don’t name the brand of her shoes.” Perhaps she’s concerned that we’ll emphasize her style over her substance, but I’ve asked plenty of male CEOs sartorial questions. How much they care (or not) can be quite telling.

It soon becomes clear that she is, like many working women, an expert in balancing the public and the private. She shifts gears effortlessly in one meeting from an analysis of the switch crisis to the geopolitics of China to a refreshingly candid discussion of work-life balance. “Any company will take 24/7 from you and not even feel bad,” she says. “You’ve just got to keep balancing, learning and adjusting, and kind of not sweat it.” I soon realize this is part of what explains her phenomenal popularity inside the company; she isn’t “leaning in” or sitting for Vogue spreads or using her position as the world’s highest-profile female CEO to make any particular statement. She’s just running a 219,000-person company that brings in $150 billion in revenue annually with more emotional intelligence and better communication skills than many of the men who came before her.

ここでshe isn’t “leaning in” or sitting for Vogue spreads or using her position as the world’s highest-profile female CEO to make any particular statementという表現があります。こういうのも辞書や構文だけでは読み取れない部分ですね。”leaning in”はFacebookのサンドバーグCOOを、sitting for Vogue spreadsは昨年Vogue9月号でグラビアデビューしたYahooのマリッさマイヤーを暗示しているのでしょう。using her position as the world’s highest-profile female CEO to make any particular statementは、例えばDiversityの時に取り上げたXeroxのCEOアーシュラ・バーンズあたりが当てはまりそうです。こういうのがあるから、浅く広く、または、日本の新聞の国際面でもいいので、触れているようにしないと英文メディアは読めるようにならないんですよね。

先ほど紹介したCNNの動画は早口ですが、プレゼンではゆっくり目に話しています。こういうところは英語学習者のわれわれも学んでいきたいです。