瑞·达利欧:优秀的领导一般不是表面上看起来那么简单

这种传统意义上的“领导者”与“追随者”的关系，与我所认为的有效关系相去甚远，而发挥出最大的有效性，则是“领导者”最需要做的事。坦承自己的不确定、错误和弱点，比试图掩藏要务实得多。更重要的是，拥有好的挑战者胜过拥有好的追随者。理性的讨论和分歧是务实的，因为这可以对领导者进行压力测试，让其重视那些被其忽视的事物。

我认为，领导者有一件事不应该做，那就是操纵。

有时候领导者会操纵员工情绪来促使员工做事，而如果员工明白过来，他一般是不会做的。在创意择优的环境下，你是在与聪明人打交道，你一定要按理性思维行事，而非基于本能和情绪。

最有效的领导者的目标在于：

（1）开明地寻找最佳答案；

（2）带领他人一道进行寻找。

这就实现了一起学习、求取共识的局面。一个真正伟大的领导者难免会对一些事情拿不准，但可以通过开明的探索来应对这种不确定性。在其他方面不变的情况下，像技艺超群的忍者一样的领导，就总能胜过像动作片里孔武有力的英雄一样的领导。

I don’t use the word “leadership” to describe what I do or what I think is good because I don’t believe that what most people think of as “good leadership” is effective. Most people think a good leader is a strong person who engenders confidence in others and motivates them to follow them, with the emphasis on “follow.” The stereo-typical leader often sees questioning and disagreement as threatening and prefers people do what they’re told. As an extension of this paradigm, the leader bears the main burden of decision making. But because such leaders are never as all-knowing as they try to appear, disenchantment and even anger tends to set in. That’s why people who once loved their charismatic leaders often want to get rid of them. 

This traditional relationship between “leaders” and “followers” is the opposite of what I believe is needed to be most effective, and being maximally effective is the most important thing a “leader” must do. It is more practical to be honest about one’s uncertainties, mistakes, and weaknesses than to pretend they don’t exist. It is also more important to have good challengers than good followers. Thoughtful discussion and disagreement is practical because it stress-tests leaders and brings what they are missing to their attention. 

One thing that leaders should not do, in my opinion, is be manipulative. Sometimes leaders will use emotions to motivate people to do things that they would not do after reflecting clearly. When dealing with intelligent people in an idea meritocracy, it is essential that one always appeal to their reason rather than their base emotions. 

The most effective leaders work to 1) open-mindedly seek out the best answers and 2) bring others along as part of that discovery process. That is how learning and getting in sync occurs. A truly great leader is appropriately uncertain but well equipped to deal with that uncertainty through open-minded exploration. All else being equal, I think the kind of leader who looks and acts like a skilled ninja will beat the kind of leader who looks and acts like a muscular action hero every time.