Source text in English | Translation by Huijun Suo (#8861) |
I remember reading once that some fellows use language to conceal thought, but it's been my experience that a good many more use it instead of thought. A businessman's conversation should be regulated by fewer and simpler rules than any other function of the human animal. They are: Have something to say. Say it. Stop talking. Beginning before you know what you want to say and keeping on after you have said it lands a merchant in a lawsuit or the poorhouse, and the first is a short cut to the second. I maintain a legal department here, and it costs a lot of money, but it's to keep me from going to law. It's all right when you are calling on a girl or talking with friends after dinner to run a conversation like a Sunday-school excursion, with stops to pick flowers; but in the office your sentences should be the shortest distance possible between periods. Cut out the introduction and the peroration, and stop before you get to secondly. You've got to preach short sermons to catch sinners; and deacons won't believe they need long ones themselves. Give fools the first and women the last word. The meat's always in the middle of the sandwich. Of course, a light butter on either side of it doesn't do any harm if it's intended for a man who likes butter. Remember, too, that it's easier to look wise than to talk wisdom. Say less than the other fellow and listen more than you talk; for when a man's listening he isn't telling on himself and he's flattering the fellow who is. Give most men a good listener and most women enough note-paper and they'll tell all they know. Money talks -- but not unless its owner has a loose tongue, and then its remarks are always offensive. Poverty talks, too, but nobody wants to hear what it has to say. | 记得在书上看过,一些人会用语言来掩盖思想,然而经验告诉我,更多的人是用语言代替思想,比前一类人多得多。 与人类的其他官能相比,商人的言谈准则应该更加简单明了,那就是: 有事说。 直接说。 不再说。 商人信口开河、喋喋不休的后果不是吃官司,就是破产进济贫院,前者是通向后者的一条捷径。我之所以花大钱为公司供养一个法律部,就是为了避免打官司。 如果你是去拜会一位姑娘,或者与朋友饭后聊天,这些场合说话随意一些是可以接受的,就像主日学校组织的郊游一样,大家且走且停,采花拾草,悠闲自在。但是在办公室,你的发言则要尽可能直接了当,言简意赅。砍掉开场白和结束语,事情说完及时打住,不要节外生枝。想像自己是在布道,要学会用简短精悍的语言感化那些犯诫的灵魂,相信神父们自己也不会认为长篇大论的说教有什么必要。两头的套话废话就留给傻瓜和女人去说吧,肉总是夹在三明治的中间,当然如果有人爱吃黄油,也不妨给他抹一点。 还要记住,学智者一脸深沉比当大师口吐莲花更容易。让对方多说,自己少说多听,因为倾听既不暴露自己,又能迎合对方的倾诉欲。大多数男人只要对他们洗耳恭听,大多数女人只要供给她们充足的信纸,都会毫无保留地向你吐露心底的秘密。金钱会说话,但还要主人有一张呱呱嘴,而且话里总少不了几分盛气凌人。贫穷也会说话,可没人愿意听。 |