Roman Catholics call it “the Francis effect”, the way the new Pope is paring down the inherited pomp of his office to become more accessible. No more dainty red Prada shoes or fully tricked out Mercedes-Benz, like his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Francis I wears plain black shoes and is driven in an old Ford Focus. He refers to himself as “bishop” rather than “Pope” and has refused the papal apartments, deeming them too lavish. He has chosen to stay instead in the Vatican guest house, where he can have breakfast in the communal dining room with visiting priests.

新任教皇收敛起前任留下的排场，变得更加平易近人，罗马天主教徒称之为“方济各效应”。方济各(Francis I)不再像前任本笃十六世(Benedict XVI)那样脚穿精致的红色普拉达(Prada)鞋，乘坐奢华的梅赛德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)轿车，而是踏着朴素的黑鞋，搭乘一辆旧的福特福克斯(Ford Focus)。他自称为“主教”(bishop)而非“教皇”(Pope)，不愿搬进在他看来太过豪华的教皇寓所。相反，他选择住在梵蒂冈的招待所，在公共饭厅与来访的神父共进早餐。

During last week’s trip to Brazil, he reflected on the Church’s recent failures. “Perhaps the Church appeared too weak, perhaps too distant from their needs, perhaps too poor to respond to their concerns, perhaps too cold, perhaps too caught up with itself, perhaps a prisoner of its own rigid formulas. Perhaps the world seems to have made the Church a relic of the past, unfit for new questions; perhaps the Church could speak?to people in their infancy but not to those come of age.” These are words of an organisational as much as a religious leader.

在最近的巴西之旅期间，他反思了教会近来的不足。“或许教会太弱小，或许太远离人们的需要，或许因为太穷而解决不了人们的忧虑，或许太冷漠，或许太关注自身，或许受到了自身严格规矩的束缚。或许世界以为教会是过去的遗产，无法解决新的问题；或许教会可以与襁褓中的婴儿对话，却不能与成年人交谈。”这既是宗教领袖的话，也是组织领袖的话。

Pope Francis I’s modest style reflects a new set of priorities at the Vatican. Less pageantry, more focus on the nuts and bolts of management. He has set up a commission to reform the Vatican’s administration, notably its bank, and seems determined to restore its tarnished reputation.

教皇方济各的朴素风格反映出梵蒂冈的新重点：不讲排场，更注重管理的具体细节。他成立委员会改革梵蒂冈的管理机构（尤其是银行），似乎决意要修复它蒙尘的声誉。

What shoes the Pope wears may seem trivial. Except business and politics are full of cases where such details, accurately or not, are perceived to reflect deeper truths about leaders. Especially early on.

教皇穿什么鞋看似无关紧要。只是在商界和政界，认为可以透过细节了解领导人深层次特征的例子（无论准不准确）比比皆是。早先尤其如此。

When Michael Bloomberg became Mayor of New York, one of his first actions was to abandon the magisterial offices favoured by his predecessors and work from the centre of a bullpen, the way he had learnt on Wall Street. It was more than a choice of desks. It showed the city that here was a mayor focused on action and process.

当迈克尔·布隆伯格(Michael Bloomberg)出任纽约市长时，他的“上任三把火”包括抛弃前任官员青睐的气派办公室，改在大开间的中央位置办公——这是他从华尔街学来的。这不只是对办公桌的选择。它向纽约市展示出这位市长注重行动和进展。

When President?Obama first?arrived in the White House, he haggled hard to keep his BlackBerry. Despite the security concerns, he coveted this private line to the outside world. It suggested he would refuse to live in the White House bubble.

奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统入主白宫时，他几经讨价还价才保住了自己的黑莓(BlackBerry)手机。尽管存在安全问题，但他渴望保留这条私人线路与外界联系。这表明，他不愿意生活在白宫的高高在上之中。

Since becoming chief executive of Carrefour last year, Georges Plassat has overseen a 60 per cent rise in the French supermarket chain’s share price. It began when he handed over much of the centralised decision making power hogged by previous CEOs to supermarket managers, who are much closer to their customers. Diminishing his own role has transformed the company.

自乔治·普拉萨(Georges Plassat)去年出任家乐福(Carrefour)首席执行官以来，这家法国连锁超市的股价上扬60%。股价的攀升，源自他将前任首席执行官把持的集中决策权下放给更接近顾客的超市经理。他削弱自己的角色，让公司的业绩彻底改观。

Whenever any leader takes office, the first thing their followers or employers want to see is clarity of purpose – that this person is here to work.

领导就职时，追随者或员工首先希望看到的是明确的意图——这个人是来认真工作的。

Ron Johnson’s unlamented tenure as CEO of JC Penney was scarred by his disdain for Plano, Texas, the company’s home. He never moved his family there from California, instead running up a large tab on the company jet and staying during the week at a Ritz-Carlton hotel. As the boss of thousands of lowly-paid shop assistants, his behaviour was in bad taste. It was intolerable when he failed to improve JC Penney’s fortunes. Modesty might have bought him more time.

罗恩·约翰逊(Ron Johnson)卸任JC Penny首席执行官时无人惋惜，原因是他瞧不起公司所在地——德克萨斯州普拉诺。他没有举家从加利福尼亚州迁往那里，而是耗费高额成本，乘坐公司专机往返家中和公司之间，工作日则住在丽嘉酒店(Ritz-Carlton)里。作为几千名低薪店员的老板，他的行为很不得体。当他未能改善JC Penney的财务时，人们自然忍无可忍。如果行事朴素，他或许能赢得更多时间。

One of the many legacies of Steve Jobs at Apple has been the decluttered personal style of technology executives. Mark Zuckerberg’s T-shirt and jeans have come to epitomise the new generation of tech executives, rich as Croesus, yet uninterested in what their money might buy.

史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)为苹果(Apple)留下诸多遗产，技术高管清爽利落的个人风格便是其中之一。马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)的T恤和牛仔裤的搭配已经成为新一代技术高管的典型形象——家财万贯，但不在乎他们的钱能买什么。

The Francis effect is most useful when inheriting, or confronting, an organisational dinosaur. The advertising industry was still part Mad Men until it was upended by Google’s engineers, wearing T-shirts, jeans and driving beaten up Toyotas to work.

在继承或对抗组织旧习时，“方济各效应”最有效。广告业一直是电视剧《广告狂人》(Mad Men)中表现的状态，直到穿着T恤、牛仔裤、开着破丰田(Toyota)上班的谷歌(Google)工程师颠覆这个行业。

There is, however, always a danger humility will be mistaken for weakness. In the late 1970s, Americans came to dislike President Jimmy Carter’s modesty, his cardigans and realism bordering on pessimism at a time when the country was already feeling blue. Ronald Reagan benefited from putting the purple back in the imperial presidency.

不过，谦虚的态度有时是危险的，它会被误当作软弱的体现。上世纪70年代末，美国人渐渐开始反感总统吉米·卡特(Jimmy Carter)的谦逊——在全国不景气时，他穿的毛衣和秉持的现实主义态度几乎与悲观主义无异。罗纳德·里根(Ronald Reagan)为“皇帝总统”（用来形容冷战时期美国总统权力的增加——译注）重拾威严，为自己赢得爱戴。

Judging by his rapturous reception last week in Brazil, this Pope is no Mr Carter. After years of bad news from the Vatican, the crowds welcomed a man willing to travel fast and light along a new course.

方济各在巴西受到热烈欢迎，看来新教皇不是卡特总统。在近年来梵蒂冈不断传出负面新闻后，这位愿意砍去排尝轻装踏上新道路的教皇颇受拥戴。