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原文标题： Bartleby The lure of the family business The pros and cons of following in your parents’ footsteps 巴托比专栏 家族企业的吸引力 跟上父母步伐的利弊
FAMILY BUSINESS makes for compelling drama. Just ask anyone tuning in to the final season of “Succession”, which has recently begun airing on HBO. 家族企业会产生精彩的剧集。问问那些最近收看HBO《继承之战》最后一季的观众就知道了。 This Bartleby prefers “Buddenbrooks”, Thomas Mann’s chronicle of the decline and collapse of a German merchant family over the course of four generations. That novel, first published in 1901, drew heavily on the author’s personal experience. 本栏作者更喜欢托马斯·曼恩的《布登勃洛克一家》，这部小说记录了一家德国商人家族四代人的衰落和崩溃。这部小说于1901年首次出版，深受作者个人经历的影响。 The dilemmas of working for an organisation which an immediate family member runs or in which they own the majority sound alarming enough in fiction, never mind real life. 为一个直系亲属经营或拥有多数股份的公司工作的困境在小说中已经够惊人了，更不用说现实生活中的案例了。 And nepotism can be plenty dramatic even without the plot twists. 
These days it is frowned upon—most publicly listed companies and professional firms ban it. 如今，裙带关系受到谴责——大多数上市公司和专业公司都禁止这种关系。 Still, family businesses make up more than 90% of the world’s enterprises. Many of them, quite literally, are mom-and-pop shops. 然而，家族企业占全球企业总数的90%以上。确切地说，其中许多是小本经营的夫妻店。 Some are large-ish businesses in smallish economies, like the one in Athens where this guest Bartleby, straight out of university, was put in charge of managing relations with institutional investors. 有些是小型经济体中的大型企业，比如雅典一家企业，这位名叫巴托比的客人刚从大学毕业，就被任命负责管理与机构投资者的关系。 A handful are giant global corporations: think of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire (which allegedly inspired “Succession”) or Bernard Arnault’s $460bn luxury conglomerate, LVMH (which, as it happens, has grown by acquiring other family firms, such as Bulgari and Fendi).
Regardless of size, all family companies face common challenges. 无论规模大小，所有家族企业都面临着共同的挑战。 Filial loyalty and multi-generational thinking can morph into resistance to change, and if a firm has outside shareholders, clash with their interests. 子女忠诚和多代思维可能会演变成对变革的抵制，如果一家家族企业有外部股东，这可能会与他们的利益发生冲突。 The process of generational transition can be particularly draining and frustrating to the staff members who are not family, raising uncomfortable questions about social mobility, or the lack thereof. 代际交接的过渡过程可能会特别耗费精力，让那些非家庭成员的员工感到沮丧，还会引发社会流动性或缺乏流动性等不安问题。
For the corporate heir, meeting family expectations and continuing a legacy while achieving personal fulfilment can generate a mass of contradictions, as Mann splendidly illuminated. 对于企业继承人来说，在满足家庭期望、延续家庭与实现个人成就方面可能会产生大量矛盾，正如曼恩书中精彩描写的那样。 Even in companies that insist they are meritocratic, no amount of skill will convince all your colleagues that you have actually earned your job. 即使在坚持择优录用的公司中，你也没有任何技能能够说服你所有的同事，你实际上是靠自己的能力获得了这份工作。 Any pre-existing domestic frictions might make their way into the business. And vice versa: disagreements over the business can breed feuds, often between siblings. 任何现有的家庭矛盾都可能进入企业。反之亦然：企业上的意见分歧可能会导致家族纷争，通常是兄弟姐妹之间的纷争。 In India, the bitter dispute between Mukesh and Anil Ambani over their inherited empire, Reliance Industries, lasted for years after their father died without leaving a will.
No wonder some heirs decide to hold on to their shareholdings, perhaps a board seat, but pursue a career elsewhere. 难怪有些继承人会选择保留股份，或者留一个董事会席位，但他们会去其他地方追求职业生涯。 Not all Waltons work for Walmart; it is hard to find Hoffmanns among executives at Roche, the Swiss drugmaking giant founded by their forebear in 1896. 并非所有的沃尔顿家族成员都在沃尔玛工作；在瑞士制药巨头罗氏公司的高管中，很难找到霍夫曼家族的成员，该公司由他们的祖先于1896年创立。 They thus avoided being accused of belonging to the “lucky sperm club”, as Warren Buffett calls those who might well possess the managerial skills to lead a large organisation but never had to jump through the same hoops as everyone else. 这样，他们就避免了被指责为“富二代”。沃伦·巴菲特称呼那些可能拥有领导大型组织的管理能力，但从未像前辈一样经历过同样考验的人为“富二代”。 Hilton and Marriott, two of the world’s biggest hotel chains, as well as Lego, a toymaking giant, are examples of companies which did not produce a strong successor and eventually ended up in the hands of professional managers. 希尔顿和万豪这两家全球最大的酒店连锁企业，以及玩具巨头“乐高”都是没有产生强有力接班人最终由职业经理人接管的例子。 [Paragraph 6] For those who nevertheless decide to take an active role in the family business, it does not have to be a poison. 对于那些依旧决定在家族企业中扮演积极角色的人来说，这并不一定有害。 Some of the logic that historically made family firms de rigueur continues to stand. 历史上家族企业世袭的逻辑依旧站得住脚。 For example, designated heirs—like Mr Arnault’s five children, all of whom now run parts of LVMH—are groomed early on, so by the time they are ready to take over they have already acquired some industry knowledge by osmosis.
At the personal level, work is not solely about money but also about empowerment and prestige. Your name on the door may bestow a sense of purpose. 在个人层面上，工作不仅仅是关于金钱，还关乎赋权和声望。墙上的家族名字会赋予你一种使命感。 Preserving the legacy of an empire can be rewarding, so long as the heir displays passion and persistence. 只要继承人表现出激情和毅力，这对保护家族企业的遗产是有益的。 They can probably forget being one of the gang when it comes to office gossip, but they can earn their colleagues’ and subordinates’ respect with modesty and hard work. 当谈及到办公室八卦时，他们可能会忘记自己的身份，但他们可以通过谦虚和努力赢得同事和下属的尊重。 The serious heir knows that showing up simply because it is easier than venturing out on their own doesn’t cut it. 认真的继承人知道，仅仅因为比自己冒险更容易而出现是不够的。 [Paragraph 8] Ultimately, being entrusted with a business by people who share your DNA is something you ought to earn, not expect. 最终，被家庭成员委托经营一家企业，是你自己赢得的而不是理所当然。 As the adage goes, “A family business is not a business you inherit from your parents, it is a business you borrow from your children.” 正如谚语所说，“家族企业不是你从父母那里继承的企业，而是你从孩子那里借来的企业。” Disregard for this nugget of wisdom is what makes “Succession” such riveting television—and Waystar Royco so dysfunctional. （恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量778左右） 精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路 本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene 仅供个人英语学习交流使用。 【补充资料】（来自于网络） 《继承之战》围绕国际媒体巨头Roy一家的家庭丑闻内幕，剧中Logan Roy及他的四个孩子控制着全球最大的娱乐媒体集团之一，年迈的父亲（Brian Cox饰）开始退出公司，而他的孩子则思索如何抓紧机会继承这帝国 。2010年，阿姆斯特朗将该剧本命名为《默多克》，讲的就是默多克家族在传媒界的垄断地位以及家族内部纷争的故事，但是这一剧本一直无人敢投资。该剧本一直在过去几年中得以反复修改，直至被HBO采用，拍出了美剧《继承之战》。《继承之战》的第二季豆瓣评分高达9.3。很多人称，这是一部完全被低估的作品。 《Buddenbrooks》是一部由Thomas Mann于1901年创作的小说，讲述了一个富有的北德商人家族四代人的衰落，顺便描绘了1835年至1877年汉萨同盟资产阶级的生活方式和风俗。这部小说是Mann的第一部小说，当时他只有26岁。随着第二版在1903年出版，《Buddenbrooks》成为了一部重要的文学作品。这部作品使Mann在1929年获得了诺贝尔文学奖;尽管诺贝尔奖通常认可作者的作品，但瑞典学院为Mann颁发奖项时指出，“他伟大的小说《Buddenbrooks》”是他获奖的主要原因。 富二代“Lucky sperm club”是指那些出生在富有家庭的人。巴菲特曾在一次采访中谈到他与比尔·盖茨的关系以及他们对继承财富的共同鄙视时，直言不讳地否定了将他的大部分财富给予他的三个孩子的想法。他说：“我不相信世袭财富”，并称那些在富有环境中长大的人为“幸运精子俱乐部”的成员。 【重点句子】（4个） The dilemmas of working for an organisation which an immediate family member runs or in which they own the majority sound alarming enough in fiction, never mind real life. 为一个直系亲属经营或拥有多数股份的公司工作的困境在小说中已经够惊人了，更不用说现实生活中的案例了。 Filial loyalty and multi-generational thinking can morph into resistance to change, and if a firm has outside shareholders, clash with their interests. 子女忠诚和多代思维可能会演变成对变革的抵制，如果一家家族企业有外部股东，这可能会与他们的利益发生冲突。 Any pre-existing domestic frictions might make their way into the business. And vice versa: disagreements over the business can breed feuds, often between siblings. 任何现有的家庭矛盾都可能进入企业。反之亦然：企业上的意见分歧可能会导致家族纷争，通常是兄弟姐妹之间的纷争。 At the personal level, work is not solely about money but also about empowerment and prestige. Your name on the door may bestow a sense of purpose. 在个人层面上，工作不仅仅是关于金钱，还关乎赋权和声望。墙上的家族名字会赋予你一种使命感。  自由英语之路 |
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