經得起歲月的考驗 值得重讀的商業經典2

GillianTett, US managing editor: When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-TermCapital Management, by Roger Lowenstein (2000)

吉蓮•邰蒂(GillianTett)，美國執行主編：《賭金者：長期資本管理公司的升騰與隕落》，羅傑•洛溫斯坦(Roger Lowenstein)著，2000年

Fifteenyears ago, I spent hours scouring business classics, seeking inspiration forwhat made a good business book “work”, as I was attempting to write my own.

15年前，正在嘗試寫一本商業著作的我花了數小時搜尋經典商業圖書，尋找有關哪些要素會讓一本好的商業圖書“管用”的靈感。

Onepiece of work stood out. When Genius Failed provides a compelling account ofhow Long-Term Capital Management collapsed, drawing on painstaking research. Itturns this otherwise dry tale of derivatives into a character-filled drama. Butwhat is most impressive is Lowenstein’s ability to takecomplex topics that matter enormously to the world (but are often ignoredbecause of their geekiness) and make them easy to understand.

有一本著作脫穎而出。《賭金者》依靠艱苦的研究，扣人心絃地敘述了長期資本管理公司(LTCM)的傾覆。把一個原本可能乾巴巴的有關衍生品的故事變成了一部人物形象豐滿的戲劇。但是，讓人印象最爲深刻的是洛溫斯坦能夠深入淺出地敘述對世界極爲重要（但往往因爲其專業性而遭到忽視）的複雜話題，使其易於理解。

Betterstill, Lowenstein’s book was one of the first to illuminate a crucial truththat haunts markets today: namely that seemingly unrelated asset classes can becorrelated if they are owned by the same people. If you understand that, youunderstand the story of LTCM’s collapse —and many of the big market mysteries today.

更好的是，本書還是最早闡明困擾着當今市場的一個關鍵真相的書籍之一：看似毫無關聯的資產類別，如果所有者是同一羣人，那麼它們可能是相互關聯的。如果你理解這一點，你就會理解LTCM的傾覆——以及當今許多巨大的市場謎團。

AndrewHill, management editor: The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter thanthe Few, by James Surowiecki (2004)

安德魯•希爾(AndrewHill)，管理編輯：《羣體的智慧》(The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few)，詹姆斯•蘇羅維奇(JamesSurowecki)著，2004年

Theidea that strategy should be set from the top down by a few people, under astrong CEO or transformational leader, dominated organisational thinking at theturn of the century —and to a large extent still does.

戰略應該在一位強勢首席執行官或者變革型領導人的執掌下，由少數人進行頂層設計——這種理念在世紀之交主宰了有關組織的思考，而且至今在很大程度上依然如此。

Surowiecki’sthoughtful and thought-provoking book challenged this. Drawing on examples frompsychology, behavioural economics and popular culture, he showed that thecombined views of many independent, diverse people were often more accurate andeffective than the judgments of small, consensual groups of experts.

蘇羅維奇經過深思熟慮和發人深思的著作挑戰了這種安排。依據心理學、行爲經濟學和大衆文化方面的例子，他向我們展示了，綜合許多相互獨立、多種多樣的人的意見所形成的觀點，常常比共識型的專家小組的判斷更準確，更有效。

Thebook’s prescience has been underlined since, with the emergence of crowdfundingand crowdsourcing. The growth of social networks have allowed movements to bemeasured and marshalled. It remains a highly readable manifesto for greaterdiversity and collaboration in decision-making.

衆籌和衆包的出現突顯出這本書的先見之明。社交網絡的發展使動向能夠被衡量和調動。作爲一份呼籲提高決策多元化和協作程度的宣言，這本書依然極具可讀性。

SarahGordon, business editor: Lords of Finance, by Liaquat Ahmed

薩拉•戈登(SarahGordon)，商業編輯：《金融之王》(Lords of Finance)，亞卡特•艾哈邁德(Liaquat Ahamed)著

Asa financial journalist, I have often found historical biographies are the bestprism through which to interpret important events. High Financier, NiallFerguson’s biography of Siegmund Warburg, founder of the eponymous bank,delivers fascinating insights into why the US banking sector looks like it doestoday.

作爲一名財經記者，我發現，歷史傳記往往是解讀重大事件的最好視角。尼爾•弗格森(Niall Ferguson)爲創建了華寶銀行(S.G. Warburg & Co)的西格蒙德•瓦爾堡(SiegmundWarburg)撰寫的傳記《大金融家》(High Financier)生動地闡述了美國銀行業如何發展成今天的樣子。

Butthe book I found the most helpful in understanding the 2008-2012 financialcrisis was not written about that period at all. It was instead Lords ofFinance by Liaquat Ahmed, a biography of the four central bankers in Germany,Britain, France and the US who worked before and during the Wall Street Crashof 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression of the 1930s. It is not banks, orgovernments that create economic crises, but people, and if you ever need areminder that individuals, their personalities, and how they interact withothers, are what shape history, this book provides it. It is also a rippingread.

但我認爲，要理解從2008-12年的金融危機，最有幫助的一本書的內容其實與這段時間無關。這本書就是亞卡特•艾哈邁德的著作《金融之王》。這本書是對在1929年華爾街股災以及之後的1930年代大蕭條之前和期間任職的4名央行高官（他們分別效力於德國、英國、法國和美國的央行）的傳記。釀成金融危機的不是銀行或者政府，而是人。如果你需要提醒自己，正是個人、他們的個性，以及他們與其他人的交往塑造了歷史，這就是一本合適的書。這還是一本引人入勝的好書。