简•朱伯特:走上MBA课堂的前兵王(2)

“You build such a strong connection with the country and with the people and your last 10 years of hard work . . . you become really passionate about it,” he says. “You want to see it through, you want to see it work.”

朱伯特说：“一旦你与这个国家、这个民族和你过去10年艰苦工作的成果建立了如此强大的联系……你就会深深地爱上它们。你希望看着它们发展，看着它们成功。”

Although Mr Joubert has long since swapped fatigues for a suit and tie, he still draws on his military training for everything from filing to finance.

尽管朱伯特早已脱下军服、换上西装和领带，但在从归档到理财的一切事情上，他依然在从过去所受的军事训练中汲取营养。

“I use the military principles even today in a lot of my management systems, processes and policy procedures,” he says of his disciplined approach.

在谈到他严格纪律化的生活方式时，朱伯特说：“即便是在如今，我依然在我的许多管理体制、流程和政策程序中运用军事原则。

“The military has, over the centuries, developed systems that work for big organisations and they can scale it up or down. The administrative system that applies to a section also applies on a brigade level.”

“几百年来，部队发展出了一些对管理大机构行之有效的管理体系，这些体系的适用范围也可大可小。对一个部门适用的管理体制，也适用于一个旅。”

Mr Joubert had no doubt about the MBA’s potential worth when he signed up to it. He first undertook a management diploma via distance learning in 1996, even as war in Sierra Leone raged around him. Three years later he began a long-distance MBA, via Henley’s South African campus, but abandoned it due to work pressures.

报名MBA课程时，朱伯特对MBA的潜在价值毫无怀疑。1996年，尽管当时的塞拉利昂还战火隆隆，他还是第一次通过远程学习攻读了一个管理学位。三年后，他开始远程学习亨利商学院南非分校的一个远程MBA课程，但后因工作压力中途放弃了。

“The fact that I didn’t complete the MBA always bothered me so in 2009 I decided to take a sabbatical.”

“没学完MBA这件事一直让我很焦虑，因此在2009年，我决定给自己放个长假。”

His year-long MBA proved the ideal place to develop his dream to expand production at the mine and two nearby sites. His thesis analysed how best to unlock their full economic potential over the next 30 years.

事实证明，这个一年期的MBA课程为朱伯特实现提高Koidu和附近两家矿山产量的梦想，提供了十分理想的场所。在学位论文中，他分析了如何在今后30年中最好地发挥这几座矿山的全部经济潜力。

On his return, he put the first part of the plan into action, building a new plant and increasing the workforce from 300 to 1,500. “The economic optimisation road map for Koidu . . . enabled us to raise about $200m [from banks and Tiffany].”

从MBA课堂重返公司之后，朱伯特就开始将计划中的第一部分付诸实施。为此他新建了一家工厂，并将员工数从300人增加至1500人。“Koidu的经济最优化路线图……让我们得以（从银行和蒂芙尼）筹集到大约2亿美元资金。”

This year, for the first time, the mine should produce more than 500,000 carats, up from the 120,000 carats it produced before Mr Joubert studied for his MBA.

今年，Kuido矿的钻石产量应该能首次突破50万克拉，而在朱伯特参加MBA学习之前，该矿的钻石年产量只有12万克拉。

“I think had I not done the MBA or the thesis, we would have been reliant on consultants –- and consultants don’t always give you an objective analysis or solution,” he says. He believes studying for his MBA saved time, money and mistakes and only regrets not doing it sooner.

朱伯特说：“我想，如果我没有念这个MBA，或没有写这篇论文，我们可能会依赖咨询师的意见。而咨询师并不总能为你提供客观的分析或解决方案。”他相信念MBA帮他省去了不少时间、金钱和错误，他只后悔没有早点开始念。

“I should have done the MBA 10 years earlier when I had a lot less experience and I could learn more from others. But I also think that everybody who wants to move into very senior management positions in the corporate world must do an MBA.”

“我10年前就应该念MBA，那时候我的经验要少得多，也可以从别人那里学到更多东西。但我还认为，若有志于进入商界顶级管理层，念MBA是必须的。”

He’s so sold on its effect he has sent one of his Sierra Leonean staff to the UK for the same programme. “That guy has got a huge future,” says Mr Joubert. “You don’t see the change [immediately]. It’s as projects or as problems arise; how you find solutions.”

MBA课程的效果令朱伯特如此满意，以至于他又派了手下一名塞拉利昂员工去英国，念了同样的MBA项目。朱伯特说：“那家伙前程远大。你不会（立刻）看到改变。在面对项目或遇到问题的时候，你就会发现自己寻找解决方案的方式变了。”

While the focus on communal discussion initially rankled, it soon became the most important element of what he eventually found to be “an unbelievably powerful course”.

MBA课程把重点放在集体讨论上。这种授课方式最初让朱伯特痛苦不堪，但他最终认定，MBA课程是“极其有用的课程”，而促使他得出这个结论的首要原因，就是这种集体讨论的授课方式。

“What I learnt the most . . . is the power of different views and opinions from different people, each one coming with his own perspective . . . that is, I think, the biggest power of doing an MBA.”

“我体会最深的一点……是不同人的不同观点和看法蕴含力量，每个人都有自己的视角……我认为这是MBA课程最大的魅力所在。”

One different perspective came from a 50-year-old graphic designer on the course, whose approach was initially anathema to Mr Joubert.

其中一个不同的视角来自课程中一名50岁的平面设计师，而起初他的思维方式令朱伯特深恶痛绝。

“His thought process [was] just completely all over the place; where I would like to see structure . . . he would just start vomiting ideas. I just couldn’t cope with that.”

“他的思维过程完全是天马行空，而我则喜欢条理化思考……他会一股脑吐出各种想法。我根本无法招架。”

It was only after the fifth week he began to realise alternative views turned up “extremely valuable and powerful” ideas. They are still “very close friends” today.

直到5个星期后，他才开始意识到，转换视角能够产生“极有价值、极为有力”的想法。如今他们仍是“非常亲密的朋友”。

“He writes emails that are very soppy and emotional and I will send him a one-liner or two words back . . .  He tells all his friends about this blunt, rude South African who helped him through his MBA and I tell everybody about my dreamer friend that did the MBA with me.

“他会写非常伤感和煽情的电子邮件给我。而我会回复他一封只有一句话或两个单词的邮件……他跟他所有的朋友说，他认识一个直言不讳、大大咧咧的南非人，帮助他完成了整个MBA课程。而我则告诉所有人，我认识一个跟我一起念MBA的梦想家朋友。

“He’s a bit more structured now because of the MBA and I’m a little bit more open to creative thinking.”

“由于这个MBA课程，他现在变得有条理一点了。而我对创造性思考的态度更开放一点了。”

Mr Joubert, who plans to stay in mining, says the MBA has changed the way he communicates and views others’ opinions for good.

朱伯特打算继续从事采矿业。他说，MBA课程永久性改变了他与别人交流的方式、以及对别人意见的看法。

“Previously, if I felt confident that I’ve thought about something enough, and I’ve given an instruction, then I would expect people to follow that instruction. Now, I realise that you can never know everything.”

“过去，如果我信心十足地认为我已充分考虑好某件事，并且已发出指令，我就会希望别人能遵循这一指令。如今，我意识到，人永远无法知晓一切。”