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🤔️小作业：

1. According to the article, what was one major consequence of the Newton failure for John Sculley?

A. He was promoted to a more influential position within Apple.

B. He left Apple after the product's failure and the company's near-bankruptcy.

C. He immediately started his own technology company.

D. He became a renowned expert in mobile-phone networks.

无注释原文：

Why failure isn't always a bad thing

From: BBC

John Sculley has had some failures, but there's one in particular that might always define his career.

Back when Sculley was CEO of Apple in the late 1980s, he gave the go-ahead to an idea called the Apple Newton. It was an early iPad, basically, with a personal assistant that would pave the way for today's Siri. Seeing it as the future, Sculley dropped more than $100 million into the project.

But with no available mobile-phone networks and limited internet access, there was little that the Newton could actually do. The Newton was ahead of its time. Apple expected to sell one million Newtons in its first year. Instead, it sold just 50,000. In 1993, a near-bankrupt Apple forced Sculley out.

“At the time it happens, it's very embarrassing and it hurts,” Sculley recalled recently from New York City. “It took years to overcome, and it really knocked the wind out of me.”

In time, though, Sculley saw this failure as something else entirely. The flop was something he could learn from, and in the technology and healthcare businesses he owns now, he uses Newton as a litmus test to help determine the right timing to jump into new technology.

Sculley's ability to admit failure and use it as a way to shape future decisions is a concept that's pretty new to business. A generation ago, top managers were expected to be infallible, at least on the surface, says Gerard Seijts, professor of organisational behaviour at Ivey Business School in London, Ontario. When they did nose dive, they shifted blame, moved on, and hopefully never spoke of the problem again.

Of course, it's still like that in some companies.“Let's not kid ourselves. In some organisations, failure is a career-ending event,” said Seijts, executive director of the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership. “It's man overboard and time to look for whom to blame.”

But at better-managed companies, Seijts said, failure is an accepted part of taking a risk. Failure means taking time to reflect on what went wrong, what can be learned, and to actually reward your staff for the willingness to take risks.

How to react to failure

The first step, Seijts said, is to take ownership and responsibility for the failure. Don't look for an employee to sack when things go wrong. Consider it the team's collective loss, and be willing to admit that you made the call — or at least OK'd the call — that led down the wrong road.

“Maybe the most important step is to reflect on what went wrong,” Seijts said.

It's the review of the failure that can be most crucial to making sure your team learns from the setback, said Lynn Wooten, associate dean and professor at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. “You have to get out from behind your desk and meet with your team,” she said. “This is a job that can't be done by email.”

Be sure your staff is comfortable with the post-failure review. They need to know this isn't a process of searching for a person to blame, and they need to know it's OK to tell the boss what you did to contribute to the problem. “It's about not being a bully but a colleague. They need to know you're not going to attack them,” Wooten said.

Through all of this review, project confidence that things are going to get better. Maybe you don't have the next plan designed yet – that might be something that comes out of meetings with your staff – but your team needs to know that you're the leader to get them headed in the right direction.

“As a manager, you need to admit failure but still seem in charge, and that's going to be difficult,” Wooten said.

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为BBC官方译文，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Why failure isn't always a bad thing

From: BBC

John Sculley has had some failures, but there's one in particular that might always define his career.

约翰·斯卡利（John Sculley）经历过不少失败，但有一次失败却在他的职业生涯中打下了永久的烙印。

Back when Sculley was CEO of Apple in the late 1980s, he gave the go-ahead to an idea called the Apple Newton. It was an early iPad, basically, with a personal assistant that would pave the way for today's Siri. Seeing it as the future, Sculley dropped more than $100 million into the project.

20世纪80年代末，时任苹果首席执行官的斯卡利批准了一个名为“牛顿”（Newton）的项目。从本质上讲，那应该算是早期的iPad，它配备的个人助理功能还将为如今的Siri开辟道路。由于看好这款产品的未来前景，斯卡利向这个项目投入了1亿多美元。

表示“（为…）铺平道路，（为…）创造条件”，英文解释为“If something paves the way for/to something else, it makes the other thing possible.”举个🌰：Scientists hope that data from the probe will pave the way for a more detailed exploration of Mars. 科学家们希望探测飞船发回的数据会为更深入地探索火星提供条件。

But with no available mobile-phone networks and limited internet access, there was little that the Newton could actually do. The Newton was ahead of its time. Apple expected to sell one million Newtons in its first year. Instead, it sold just 50,000. In 1993, a near-bankrupt Apple forced Sculley out.

但由于当时没有手机网络，上网渠道也非常有限，所以“牛顿”的实际用途很少。换句话说，“牛顿”是个超前的项目。苹果原计划在上市第一年卖出100万台“牛顿”，但实际销量仅为5万台。1993年，濒临破产的苹果将斯卡利扫地出门。

“At the time it happens, it's very embarrassing and it hurts,” Sculley recalled recently from New York City. “It took years to overcome, and it really knocked the wind out of me.”

“当时真的很难堪，我内心极度受挫。”斯卡利最近在纽约回忆起那段往事时说，“我花了好几年时间才走出那段阴影，这的确对我打击很大。”

knock the wind out of sb = knock the wind out of sb's sails = take the wind out of sb's sails 表示“使（某人）泄气；使（某人）不坚定”，英文解释为“to make someone feel less confident or less determined to do something, usually by saying or doing something that they are not expecting”举个🌰：I was all ready to tell her that the relationship was over when she greeted me with a big bunch of flowers - that took the wind out of my sails. 我已经准备好要告诉她我们分手吧，可她捧着一大束花向我迎来——这让我的心又软了下来。

In time, though, Sculley saw this failure as something else entirely. The flop was something he could learn from, and in the technology and healthcare businesses he owns now, he uses Newton as a litmus test to help determine the right timing to jump into new technology.

但经过一段时间以后，斯卡利却从全新的视角来看待那次失败。那是一次让他可以吸取教训的失败，而在他如今拥有的科技和医疗保健企业里，斯卡利已经学会利用“牛顿”的失败经验来帮助他判断采纳新技术的时机。

作动词，flop /flɒp/ 表示“重重地落下（或掉下）”，英文解释为“to fall or drop heavily”举个🌰：His hair keeps flopping over/into his eyes. 他的头发老是垂下来遮住眼睛/垂进眼睛里。

作名词，表示“（产品、戏剧、想法等因无人喜欢而）失败，砸锅”，英文解释为“if something such as a product, play, or idea flops, it is not successful because people do not like it”。

litmus test /ˈlɪt.məs ˌtest/ 表示“石蕊测试，酸碱测试”，英文解释为“a test to find out if a substance is acid or alkaline”

📍litmus test 石蕊测试，酸碱测试，用于检验物质的酸碱性。引申义上，它指衡量某事物或某人是否符合特定标准的关键性测试（试金石），通常用于政治、道德或决策场景。

Sculley's ability to admit failure and use it as a way to shape future decisions is a concept that's pretty new to business. A generation ago, top managers were expected to be infallible, at least on the surface, says Gerard Seijts, professor of organisational behaviour at Ivey Business School in London, Ontario. When they did nose dive, they shifted blame, moved on, and hopefully never spoke of the problem again.

斯卡利这种承认错误、并利用错误来修正未来决策的能力，成为了商业领域的全新概念。加拿大毅伟商学院（Ivey Business School）组织行为学教授杰拉德·赛基斯（Gerard Seijts）表示，一代人以前，人们都希望最高管理者是绝对正确的——至少表面如此。当他们犯错时，都会把责任转嫁给他人，然后继续工作，希望别人不要再提及此事。

infallible /ɪnˈfæl.ə.bəl/ 表示“不可能错误的；永无过失的；不会犯错误的”，英文解释为“never wrong, failing, or making a mistake”举个🌰：Even the experts are not infallible. 即便是专家也会犯错。

nosedive /ˈnəʊz.daɪv/ 1）表示“俯冲”，英文解释为“to suddenly fall to the ground with the front pointing down”举个🌰：Spectators in the crowd watched in horror as the plane nosedived. 观众惊恐地看着飞机俯冲下来。

2）表示“（价格等的）猛跌，骤降”，英文解释为“to suddenly fall in value, quickly and by a large amount”举个🌰：House prices nosedived without warning. 事先没有任何预警房价突然暴跌。

📍常用来形容某事物或情况急剧下降或失败。

Of course, it's still like that in some companies.“Let's not kid ourselves. In some organisations, failure is a career-ending event,” said Seijts, executive director of the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership. “It's man overboard and time to look for whom to blame.”

当然，有的公司可能至今仍然如此。“不要自欺欺人。在某些组织里，失败会葬送整个职业生涯。”身为 Ian O. Ihnatowycz 领导力学院执行董事的赛基斯说，“这就像有人落水后立刻寻找责任人一样。”

overboard /ˈəʊ.və.bɔːd/ 表示“从船上落入水中”，英文解释为“over the side of a boat or ship and into the water”举个🌰：Someone had fallen overboard. 有人从船上掉进水里了。

But at better-managed companies, Seijts said, failure is an accepted part of taking a risk. Failure means taking time to reflect on what went wrong, what can be learned, and to actually reward your staff for the willingness to take risks.

但赛基斯表示，在管理能力较强的公司，失败是冒险过程中可以接受的一部分。失败之后要花时间寻找原因，总结经验教训，还要奖励员工的冒险精神。

How to react to failure 如何应对失败

The first step, Seijts said, is to take ownership and responsibility for the failure. Don't look for an employee to sack when things go wrong. Consider it the team's collective loss, and be willing to admit that you made the call — or at least OK'd the call — that led down the wrong road.

赛基斯说，第一步是接受失败，并肩负责任。出了问题后不要忙着解雇员工。要把失败视作团队的集体损失，而且要勇于承认是你制定的决策——至少也是你同意了这项决策——导致了失败。

解雇除了常见的fire一词，sack也表示“解雇，开除”，英文解释为“to remove someone from a job, usually because they have done something wrong or badly, or sometimes as a way of saving the cost of employing them”举个🌰：They sacked her for being late. 因为迟到，他们把她开除了。

类似的还有：

📍dismiss表示“解雇；免职；开除”，英文解释为“to officially remove sb from their job”举个🌰：She claims she was unfairly dismissed from her post. 她声称自己被无理免职。

“Maybe the most important step is to reflect on what went wrong,” Seijts said.

“反省失败的原因或许才是最重要的步骤。”赛基斯说。

It's the review of the failure that can be most crucial to making sure your team learns from the setback, said Lynn Wooten, associate dean and professor at University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. “You have to get out from behind your desk and meet with your team,” she said. “This is a job that can't be done by email.”

密歇根大学罗斯商学院副院长兼教授林恩·武藤（Lynn Wooten）表示，总结失败是确保你的团队从中吸取经验教训最为关键的步骤。“必须要放下身段，亲自与团队会面。”她说，“这种事情无法通过电子邮件来完成。”

作形容词，表示“副的；准的；非正式的”，英文解释为“used in the title of a person whose rank is slightly lower or less complete than the full official position described”如：associate director 副导演。

作名词，表示“朋友；同事；（生意）伙伴”，英文解释为“someone who is closely connected to another person as a companion, friend, or business partner”如：a business associate 生意伙伴。

dean /diːn/ 表示“系主任；学院院长”，英文解释为“an official of high rank in a college or university who is responsible for the organization of a department or departments”举个🌰：She is the new dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. 她是社会科学院的新任院长。

Be sure your staff is comfortable with the post-failure review. They need to know this isn't a process of searching for a person to blame, and they need to know it's OK to tell the boss what you did to contribute to the problem. “It's about not being a bully but a colleague. They need to know you're not going to attack them,” Wooten said.

必须确保你的员工愿意在失败后进行评估。你要让他们明白，这不是为了寻找责任人，应该毫无顾虑地把你所承担的那部分责任告诉自己的老板。“不要让他们产生心理负担，而要放松心态。他们需要知道你不会伤害他们。”武藤说。

bully /ˈbʊl.i/ 作名词，表示“恃强凌弱者，以大欺小者”，英文解释为“someone who hurts or frightens someone else, often over a period of time, and often forcing them to do something that they do not want to do”举个🌰：You're just a big bully! 你欺负人！

bully作动词，表示“伤害；胁迫；欺负，欺凌”，英文解释为“to hurt or frighten someone who is smaller or less powerful than you, often forcing that person to do something they do not want to do”举个🌰：Our survey indicates that one in four children is bullied at school. 我们的调查表明，有四分之一的孩子在学校受人欺负。

Through all of this review, project confidence that things are going to get better. Maybe you don't have the next plan designed yet – that might be something that comes out of meetings with your staff – but your team needs to know that you're the leader to get them headed in the right direction.

通过这一系列评估，大家就会恢复信心，相信项目会越来越好。或许你还没有制定好下一步计划——通过与员工的会面或许可以确定方案——但你的团队需要知道，你身为一个领导者，将会带领他们走向正确的方向。

“As a manager, you need to admit failure but still seem in charge, and that's going to be difficult,” Wooten said.

“作为一名管理者，你要承认失败，但仍然要让他们感觉你能掌控全局，这并不容易。”武藤说。

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