身边老板是否患有“错爱综合症”

你也许对这种桥段并不陌生：某个平庸员工不知何故被精明干练、不怒自威的老板相中，认为他“才华卓著”，不顾周遭反对坚持予以重用。其实，老板主观上并非一意孤行、固执己见，他只是患上了“老板错爱综合征”。

Boss crush refers to the situation when an executive falls for someone, loses all judgment, refuses to listen and ensures that trouble will follow.

“老板错爱综合症”是指当一个高管迷上某个员工时，失去所有判断力，拒绝听取旁人意见，然后麻烦肯定随之而来。

The syndrome, which is a major character flaw of some of the world's finest managers.

这种综合征是一种性格缺陷，在全世界最优秀的一些经理人身上也很严重。

A version of this was played out recently between David Cameron and Camila Batmanghelidjh. The prime minister developed a crush on the mesmerising, rainbow-turbaned head of Kids Company; large quantities of cash were shovelled into her charity; civil servants asked questions, but nothing happened — until things went so spectacularly wrong the plug had to be pulled.

最近戴维•卡梅伦与卡米拉•巴特曼海利迪之间就上演了这么一出“老板错爱综合症”。我们的英国首相迷上了这位魅力四射、包着五彩头巾的慈善团体“儿童公司”负责人，为她的慈善机构提供了大量政府拨款。公务员们对此提出质疑，但一点儿都不管用，直到这家慈善机构问题严重到不可收拾的境地，政府才停止对其拨款。

Like real love, the boss crush is blind. Worse than that, once the boss has publicly singled out the love-object as worthy of promotion, his pride is on the line. The crush object simply has to be good; nothing else will do. All warning signs are ignored, the truth only outs when it is too late. Then the after-effects of the crush are brutal — the former loved one is treated to rage and disdain and usually in the end is fired.

像真正的爱恋一样，老板的迷恋也是盲目的。更糟糕的是，一旦老板公开对自己喜爱的对象另眼相待，声称其值得提拔，他就搭上了自己的自尊。他喜爱的对象必须优秀；否则就不行。一切预警信号都被无视，真相只有在为时已晚的时候才会暴露出来。之后，这种迷恋的后续影响十分残酷——此前被迷恋的人会领教暴怒和蔑视，通常最终还会被炒鱿鱼。

The most troubling thing about this phenomenon is that there isn't an answer. You can't ban executives from crushes any more than you can ban teenagers. All you can do is notice the sorts of people who are prone to them, and be warned.

这种现象最麻烦的地方是它无解。你无法禁止高管们陷入迷恋，就像你无法禁止早恋一样。你唯一能做的就是注意到有这种倾向的人，并保持警惕。