預算（Budgets）

Jack Welch hates budgets. He feels they should never have been invented: “The budget is the bane of Corporate America,” he says. If companies shouldn’t have budgets, what should they have? Welch believes in setting “Stretch” goals, meaning targets and goals that border on the unrealistic. He believes it is much better to reach for the unthinkable and come close than simply to make another hohum marginal budget.Welch says that budgets bring out the worst in people. He called budgets an exercise in “minimization,” because they never force people to do more than simply reach for mediocrity. Stretch became one of Welch’s signature concepts, and it was his disdain for budgets that played a role in its formulation (see Stretch and Stretch Goals).

杰克·韋爾奇厭恨預算，覺得根本就不該發(fā)明這東西，他說：“預算是美國企業(yè)界的苦難。”如果企業(yè)不該做預算，那它們該干什么呢？韋爾奇認為，企業(yè)應該設(shè)立“延展的”目標，也就是說設(shè)定近乎不現(xiàn)實的目標和指標。他認為就是異想天開、然后不斷靠近目標，也比只是不斷拿出令人厭倦的利潤預算要好得多。韋爾奇說預算勾引人們做出最壞的表現(xiàn)。他稱預算是在實施“最小化”，因為它只讓人們庸碌無為、不思進取。“延展”成為韋爾奇的標志概念之一，而正是韋爾奇對預算的鄙視為這一概念的形成發(fā)揮了作用（參見 “‘延展’及‘延展目標’”）。

 

BUDGETS AND WELCH’S STRETCH STRATEGY

預算與韋爾奇的延展策略

 

In the early 1990s, Welch spoke of the importance of reaching for the stars. He said he was “bored” by decimal points and urged managers not to simply aim for incremental increases in budgets. By doing that, Welch argued, you were aiming for mediocrity, instead of finding out what the company was really capable of. Rather than focusing on budgets and other arbitrary financial measures, Welch has always preferred talking about his key initiatives or other “soft value” topics that inspired him, such as the GE values.

20世紀90年代初，韋爾奇時常說起敢于摘星攬月的重要性。他說他被小數(shù)點 “弄煩了”，并敦促管理人員不要只是兩眼盯著預算的漸進式增加。韋爾奇說，如果這樣做，你就是在自求庸碌，而不是發(fā)揮公司的真實能力。韋爾奇并不重視預算和其它武斷的財務量度標準，而總是更喜歡談論他主要的倡導行動，或是鼓舞他的其它“軟價值”話題，比如通用電氣公司的價值觀。

 

Budgeting lessons

關(guān)于預算的經(jīng)驗教訓

 

1. Don’t settle for mediocrity: Welch hates budgets because they only ask people to do slightly better. He preferred asking employees,“How good can you be?” and felt that Stretch targets rather than traditional budgets helped promote more boundaryless performance.

1、不要自甘平庸：韋爾奇厭恨預算是因為它只要求人們做得稍好一點。他更喜歡這么問員工：“你能有多棒？”他還認為，有助于促進人們的績效不斷再上層樓的是延展性指標，而不是傳統(tǒng)的預算。

 

2. Work with other managers to come up with Stretch goals for the organization, and then break those down to the unit or segment level: In a high involvement, learning type of culture, everyone needs to share in the responsibility for reaching for the unattainable.Make sure that you have “buy-in” from every level.

2、與其他管理人員一同訂立組織的延展性目標，然后將它們細分到各個單位或部門：在參與程度較高的學習型文化中，每個人都需要為敢于摘星攬月而分擔責任。要確保各個層級都廣泛參與。

 

3. Don’t get caught up in the pitfalls of budgeting: Welch felt that the budgeting process was an “exercise in minimization,” and that the process could consume the organization. There are far more important things for the company to focus on, such as encouraging new ideas, improving quality, pursuing Best Practices, etc.

3、別落入預算的陷阱中：韋爾奇認為預算過程是“實施最小化”，而且覺得它會耗費組織的精力。公司需要去關(guān)注其它遠更重要的事，比如鼓勵新的創(chuàng)意、改善質(zhì)量、學習“最佳做法”等等。