经得起岁月的考验 值得重读的商业经典2

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

吉莲•邰蒂(GillianTett)，美国执行主编：《赌金者：长期资本管理公司的升腾与陨落》，罗杰•洛温斯坦(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，正在尝试写一本商业著作的我花了数小时搜寻经典商业图书，寻找有关哪些要素会让一本好的商业图书“管用”的灵感。

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.

有一本著作脱颖而出。《赌金者》依靠艰苦的研究，扣人心弦地叙述了长期资本管理公司(LTCM)的倾覆。把一个原本可能干巴巴的有关衍生品的故事变成了一部人物形象丰满的戏剧。但是，让人印象最为深刻的是洛温斯坦能够深入浅出地叙述对世界极为重要（但往往因为其专业性而遭到忽视）的复杂话题，使其易于理解。

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，本书还是最早阐明困扰着当今市场的一个关键真相的书籍之一：看似毫无关联的资产类别，如果所有者是同一群人，那么它们可能是相互关联的。如果你理解这一点，你就会理解LTCM的倾覆——以及当今许多巨大的市场谜团。

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

安德鲁•希尔(AndrewHill)，管理编辑：《群体的智慧》(The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few)，詹姆斯•苏罗维奇(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.

战略应该在一位强势首席执行官或者变革型领导人的执掌下，由少数人进行顶层设计——这种理念在世纪之交主宰了有关组织的思考，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.

苏罗维奇经过深思熟虑和发人深思的著作挑战了这种安排。依据心理学、行为经济学和大众文化方面的例子，他向我们展示了，综合许多相互独立、多种多样的人的意见所形成的观点，常常比共识型的专家小组的判断更准确，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.

众筹和众包的出现突显出这本书的先见之明。社交网络的发展使动向能够被衡量和调动。作为一份呼吁提高决策多元化和协作程度的宣言，这本书依然极具可读性。

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

萨拉•戈登(SarahGordon)，商业编辑：《金融之王》(Lords of Finance)，亚卡特•艾哈迈德(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.

作为一名财经记者，我发现，历史传记往往是解读重大事件的最好视角。尼尔•弗格森(Niall Ferguson)为创建了华宝银行(S.G. Warburg & Co)的西格蒙德•瓦尔堡(SiegmundWarburg)撰写的传记《大金融家》(High Financier)生动地阐述了美国银行业如何发展成今天的样子。

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.

但我认为，要理解从2008-12年的金融危机，最有帮助的一本书的内容其实与这段时间无关。这本书就是亚卡特•艾哈迈德的著作《金融之王》。这本书是对在1929年华尔街股灾以及之后的1930年代大萧条之前和期间任职的4名央行高官（他们分别效力于德国、英国、法国和美国的央行）的传记。酿成金融危机的不是银行或者政府，而是人。如果你需要提醒自己，正是个人、他们的个性，以及他们与其他人的交往塑造了历史，这就是一本合适的书。这还是一本引人入胜的好书。