预算（Budgets）

Jack Welch hates budgets. He feels they should never have been invented: “The budget is the bane of Corporate America,” he says. If companies shouldn’t have budgets, what should they have? Welch believes in setting “Stretch” goals, meaning targets and goals that border on the unrealistic. He believes it is much better to reach for the unthinkable and come close than simply to make another hohum marginal budget.Welch says that budgets bring out the worst in people. He called budgets an exercise in “minimization,” because they never force people to do more than simply reach for mediocrity. Stretch became one of Welch’s signature concepts, and it was his disdain for budgets that played a role in its formulation (see Stretch and Stretch Goals).

杰克·韦尔奇厌恨预算，觉得根本就不该发明这东西，他说：“预算是美国企业界的苦难。”如果企业不该做预算，那它们该干什么呢？韦尔奇认为，企业应该设立“延展的”目标，也就是说设定近乎不现实的目标和指标。他认为就是异想天开、然后不断靠近目标，也比只是不断拿出令人厌倦的利润预算要好得多。韦尔奇说预算勾引人们做出最坏的表现。他称预算是在实施“最小化”，因为它只让人们庸碌无为、不思进取。“延展”成为韦尔奇的标志概念之一，而正是韦尔奇对预算的鄙视为这一概念的形成发挥了作用（参见 “‘延展’及‘延展目标’”）。

 

BUDGETS AND WELCH’S STRETCH STRATEGY

预算与韦尔奇的延展策略

 

In the early 1990s, Welch spoke of the importance of reaching for the stars. He said he was “bored” by decimal points and urged managers not to simply aim for incremental increases in budgets. By doing that, Welch argued, you were aiming for mediocrity, instead of finding out what the company was really capable of. Rather than focusing on budgets and other arbitrary financial measures, Welch has always preferred talking about his key initiatives or other “soft value” topics that inspired him, such as the GE values.

20世纪90年代初，韦尔奇时常说起敢于摘星揽月的重要性。他说他被小数点 “弄烦了”，并敦促管理人员不要只是两眼盯着预算的渐进式增加。韦尔奇说，如果这样做，你就是在自求庸碌，而不是发挥公司的真实能力。韦尔奇并不重视预算和其它武断的财务量度标准，而总是更喜欢谈论他主要的倡导行动，或是鼓舞他的其它“软价值”话题，比如通用电气公司的价值观。

 

Budgeting lessons

关于预算的经验教训

 

1. Don’t settle for mediocrity: Welch hates budgets because they only ask people to do slightly better. He preferred asking employees,“How good can you be?” and felt that Stretch targets rather than traditional budgets helped promote more boundaryless performance.

1、不要自甘平庸：韦尔奇厌恨预算是因为它只要求人们做得稍好一点。他更喜欢这么问员工：“你能有多棒？”他还认为，有助于促进人们的绩效不断再上层楼的是延展性指标，而不是传统的预算。

 

2. Work with other managers to come up with Stretch goals for the organization, and then break those down to the unit or segment level: In a high involvement, learning type of culture, everyone needs to share in the responsibility for reaching for the unattainable.Make sure that you have “buy-in” from every level.

2、与其他管理人员一同订立组织的延展性目标，然后将它们细分到各个单位或部门：在参与程度较高的学习型文化中，每个人都需要为敢于摘星揽月而分担责任。要确保各个层级都广泛参与。

 

3. Don’t get caught up in the pitfalls of budgeting: Welch felt that the budgeting process was an “exercise in minimization,” and that the process could consume the organization. There are far more important things for the company to focus on, such as encouraging new ideas, improving quality, pursuing Best Practices, etc.

3、别落入预算的陷阱中：韦尔奇认为预算过程是“实施最小化”，而且觉得它会耗费组织的精力。公司需要去关注其它远更重要的事，比如鼓励新的创意、改善质量、学习“最佳做法”等等。