It is the world’s most tired interview question: what is your greatest weakness? And Rishi Sunak, one of the two remaining candidates in the race to become Britain’s prime minister, gave the world’s most tired answer—perfectionism—when he was asked it at an online hustings earlier this month.?

你最大的缺點(diǎn)是什么? 這是世界上最令人厭煩的面試問題。競(jìng)選英國首相的最后兩名候選人之一里?！ぬK納克在本月早些時(shí)候的一次網(wǎng)上演講集會(huì)中被問到這個(gè)問題時(shí)，給出了世界上最令人厭煩的答案——完美主義。

No interviewee would answer this question with an unambiguous negative (“stupidity”, say, or “body odour”). Like all those who have reached for it before, Mr Sunak will have intended his reply to signal that his flaws are virtues, especially compared with the shambolic style of Boris Johnson’s outgoing government.?

沒有受訪者會(huì)用明確的否定詞來回答這個(gè)問題(比如“愚蠢”或“體味”)。就像之前所有的人一樣，蘇納克先生打算在他的回復(fù)中表明，他的缺點(diǎn)也是優(yōu)點(diǎn)，尤其是與鮑里斯?約翰遜即將離任的混亂風(fēng)格相比。

But this classic response is riskier than it once was. In Mr Sunak’s case that is because the job of prime minister is largely to triage problems and make decisions at a relentless pace; even his supporters worry that his deliberative style would be a problem. More generally, perfectionism is increasingly out of step with the ways that products are developed, employees are treated and workforces are organised.?

但這種經(jīng)典的應(yīng)對(duì)方式比以往更具風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。在蘇納克先生的例子中，這是因?yàn)槭紫嗟墓ぷ骱艽蟪潭壬鲜菍?duì)問題進(jìn)行分類，并以迅速做出決定；就連他的支持者也擔(dān)心他審慎的風(fēng)格會(huì)成為一個(gè)問題。更普遍地說，完美主義與產(chǎn)品開發(fā)、員工待遇和員工組織的方式越來越不合拍。

Start with product development. Lots of digital types embrace the concept of the minimum viable product (mvp), in which companies ship prototypes that can be refined, or indeed scrapped, on the basis of feedback from early adopters. The essence of the mvp approach is anti-perfectionism: don’t procrastinate, don’t spend time sweating the tiniest details, get your product into users’ hands and see how it does. Fussing about font sizes and nice-to-have features is a waste of time; the market will hone things for you, dispensing its judgments cumulatively and dispassionately.?

先從產(chǎn)品開發(fā)開始說起。許多數(shù)字產(chǎn)品都信奉“最小化可行產(chǎn)品”的概念，在這個(gè)概念中，公司可以根據(jù)早期采用者的反饋改進(jìn)原型，甚至廢棄原型。mvp方法的本質(zhì)是反完美主義:不要拖延，不要花時(shí)間在最微小的細(xì)節(jié)上，把你的產(chǎn)品交給用戶，看看效果如何。糾結(jié)于字體大小和漂亮的功能是在浪費(fèi)時(shí)間；市場(chǎng)會(huì)為你打磨一切，并不斷地冷靜地做出判斷。

A growing emphasis on employees’ well-being is another reason why perfectionism is out of favour. The trait is on the rise: a study published in 2017 found that it had been steadily increasing among American, British and Canadian college students between 1989 and 2016 (before you blame Instagram, one big reason is rising parental expectations). The tyranny of excessively high expectations is not good for you: a big literature review in 2016 concluded that perfectionism is associated with a string of mental-health disorders, from depression and burnout to stress and self-harm.?

越來越重視員工的心理健康是完美主義不受歡迎的另一個(gè)原因。這一特征正在上升：2017年發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，1989年至2016年間，美國、英國和加拿大的大學(xué)生中，這一特征一直在穩(wěn)步上升(在你責(zé)怪Instagram之前，一個(gè)重要原因是父母的期望不斷提高)。過高的期望對(duì)你不利：2016年的一篇大型文獻(xiàn)綜述得出結(jié)論，完美主義與一系列心理健康障礙有關(guān)，從抑郁、倦怠到壓力和自殘。

It matters what kind of perfectionist someone is. Psychologists distinguish between a “self-oriented” version, in which people put pressure on themselves to perform flawlessly; an “other-oriented” type, in which people hold their colleagues to the highest of standards; and a “socially prescribed” version, in which employees think that they will only get on if they meet the impossible expectations of those around them. People in the last camp seem to be especially prone to stress. A recent Italian study found that, whereas having extremely high standards for your own performance was not a predictor of burnout, being afraid of making mistakes was.

重要的是一個(gè)人是什么樣的完美主義者。心理學(xué)家區(qū)分了“自我導(dǎo)向”型，即人們給自己施加壓力，要求自己表現(xiàn)得完美無缺；還有“以他人為導(dǎo)向”型，這種類型的人會(huì)以最高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)要求自己的同事；還有一種“社會(huì)規(guī)定”型，員工認(rèn)為只有滿足了周圍人不可能達(dá)到的期望，他們才能繼續(xù)工作。最后一種類型的人似乎特別容易受到壓力。意大利最近的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管對(duì)自己的表現(xiàn)有極高的要求并不能預(yù)示你的倦怠，但是害怕犯錯(cuò)卻能預(yù)示你的倦怠。

Perfectionists may also hurt team cohesiveness. In a study conducted in 2020, Emily Kleszewski and Kathleen Otto of Philipps-University of Marburg asked people to rate potential co-workers based on descriptions of their levels and categories of perfectionism. Perfectionists were regarded as being less socially skilled and less likeable than non-perfectionists. You don’t have to like your colleagues for them to be effective: in that same study, perfectionists were rated as more competent than non-perfectionists. But when more and more work is organised around small groups working together, it can help not to loathe each other.?

完美主義者也可能會(huì)損害團(tuán)隊(duì)凝聚力。在2020年進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究中，馬爾堡-菲利普大學(xué)的艾米麗·克萊舍夫斯基和凱瑟琳·奧托讓人們根據(jù)完美主義的程度和類別對(duì)潛在同事進(jìn)行評(píng)價(jià)。完美主義者被認(rèn)為比非完美主義者社交能力更差，更不討人喜歡。你不一定要喜歡你的同事才能讓他們有效率：在同一項(xiàng)研究中，完美主義者被認(rèn)為比非完美主義者更有能力。但是，當(dāng)越來越多的工作圍繞著小團(tuán)體一起工作時(shí)，它可以幫助人們不討厭彼此。

By now your inner curmudgeon may well be frothing at the mouth. Nit-picking micro-managers are deeply annoying but they are nowhere near as bad as people who don’t have any standards. Demanding bosses can be the difference between good products and superb ones: “that’ll do” was not the mantra that made Steve Jobs successful. Some jobs actively require perfectionism—copy editors, say, or medicines regulators. And since when did being exacting become a health risk??

【1】froth at the mouth 口吐白沫；

【2】A micromanager is a boss or manager who gives excessive supervision to employees.

【3】Nit-picking 吹毛求疵的

到現(xiàn)在為止，你內(nèi)心的壞脾氣可能已經(jīng)氣死了。吹毛求疵的微觀管理者非常令人討厭，但他們遠(yuǎn)不如那些沒有任何標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的人糟糕。苛刻的老板可能是好產(chǎn)品和一流產(chǎn)品的區(qū)別：“那就行了”并不是讓史蒂夫?喬布斯成功的咒語。有些工作要求完美主義，比如文案編輯或藥品監(jiān)管人員。什么時(shí)候“嚴(yán)格要求”成為一種健康風(fēng)險(xiǎn)了?

Fortunately, discouraging perfectionism does not mean sacrificing high standards. In a paper published last year, three academics at the University of Ottawa found that people who strove for excellence did better on tests of creative thinking than people who sought perfection. Managers can explicitly define what counts as high-quality work. Deadlines can prevent endless procrastination. Mr Sunak’s call not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good came as he sat in front of a poster that misspelled the word “campaign”. That took things too far.

幸運(yùn)的是，阻止完美主義并不意味著犧牲高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。在去年發(fā)表的一篇論文中，渥太華大學(xué)的三位學(xué)者發(fā)現(xiàn)，追求卓越的人在創(chuàng)造性思維測(cè)試中比追求完美的人表現(xiàn)得更好。管理者可以明確定義什么是高質(zhì)量的工作。最后期限可以防止無休止的拖延。當(dāng)蘇納克坐在一張拼錯(cuò)了“campaign”(競(jìng)選)一詞的海報(bào)前時(shí)，他呼吁不要讓完美成為很好的敵人。這太過分了。