艾特金斯博士（Dr. Atkins，簡稱阿金博士）倒在大街上死了。他究竟是真得了肥胖癥呢？還是僅僅超重了那么一點點？無論答案如何，阿金博士的職業生涯都是給現代營銷的威力作了個很好的注腳，卻未能宏揚自己的延年益壽之術。

Was the late Dr Atkins really morbidly obese? Or was he merely slightly overweight when he fell over in the street and died? Whatever the answer, the doctor's career is a more powerful tribute to the power of modern marketing than to the capacity of his nostrums to prolong life.

阿金博士飲食法限制碳水化合物的吸收。在一定程度上，這一方法是行之有效的，因為我們視碳水化合物為能量之源，沒有了它們，我們就要去消耗體內儲藏的脂肪。燃燒脂肪的過程會產生酮，而酮據說有抑制食欲之效。不過長此以往這么下去，我們就會營養不良，最后一命嗚呼，就像老是靠應急燃油飛行的飛機會從空中墜落一樣。

The Atkins diet restricts carbohydrate intake. It works, up to a point, because we use carbohydrates as a source of energy and when deprived of them we dip into reserves of fat. The process of burning fat produces ketones, which some claim have an appetite-suppressing effect. But if we go for long without proper nutrition, we die, just as an aircraft that is running on its emergency fuel supplies ultimately falls out of the sky.

到最后，你還得重新去加油的。到那時候，你會發現，要想有健康的生活方式，就必須反思自己的飲食習慣，必須平衡飲食，各種食物都得有一些。當然，這些你一定都知道，但是就像我和千百萬其他人一樣，你或許也覺得一旦買了本節食書，我們的體重問題就會萬事大吉了。

Eventually, you need to start refuelling. At that point, you discover that the only way to achieve a healthy lifestyle is to rethink your eating habits and adopt a balanced diet incorporating moderate quantities of varied foods. You always knew that, of course, but like me and millions of other people you hoped that if you bought a diet book the weight would magically slip away.

以燃料供應為主，以可再生儲備為輔這種模式在生物系統內很普遍，在經濟和社會系統里也不罕見。企業儲備資金，就如同我們臀部累積脂肪，都是讓我們在現金流或碳水化合物出現短缺時能夠繼續生存。我們和客戶、和員工建立友善關系，這也是指望在困難的時候能依靠他們。

The model of fuel supplies supplemented by replenishable reserves is common not just in biological systems but also in economic and social ones. We keep capital in our businesses for the same reason we collect fat around our bottoms: to keep us going when there is an interruption in the supply of cash (in one case) or carbohydrates (in the other). We build up goodwill with customers and employees in the hope that we can rely on their loyalty in hard times.

正如這些類比所示，我們長胖，并不是老天要和我們的相貌作梗。脂肪是能派上生物用途的。在歷史上的大部分時期，肥胖是生命力的象征，富人們以自己妻子的豐腴為美。不信就看看畫家魯本斯（Rubens）筆下的人體美吧。在據稱是我們祖先居住地的南美大草原，食物供應時有短缺。因此，在我們面前放什么，我們就吃什么，包括飛機食品在內。但到了21世紀，我們的營養短缺問題只消一個電話，外賣比薩就能給你順利解決。比薩便宜，健身俱樂部昂貴。所以想瘦就要多花錢，想肥卻很便宜。遺憾的是，我們的新陳代謝系統還沒能適應這種現代的環境。

As these analogies show, we are not fat because nature wants us to be ugly. Fat has a biological purpose: for most of history it was a sign of vitality and rich men were proud of their rotund wives - look at the ideal of human beauty in a Rubens painting. On the savannahs, where our genetic inheritance was determined, food supplies were sometimes scarce. That is why we are programmed to eat what is put in front of us - even airline meals. But in the 21st century we can remedy nutritional deficiency immediately with a call to a pizza delivery service. With pizza cheap and health clubs expensive, it is now more costly to be thin than to be fat. But our metabolisms have not yet adjusted to this modern environment.

商業環境的變更也和上述情形異曲同工。受全球化影響，市場越來越靈活應變。我們的企業就和我們的身體一樣，越來越不需要自給自足了。在商業領域，實時管理（just-in-time）就如同叫比薩外賣。過去，健康的企業總是賣弄自己的脂肪，就如同銀行用大理石裝潢吸引儲戶。伍爾沃斯(Woolworths)、克萊斯勒、聯合利華、卜內門（ICI）建的公司總部無不是顯露財富，夸耀持久。如今的企業都不去蓋這些富麗堂皇的總部大樓了。如今的商業目標是要減少脂肪，是要更瘦一點，更勻稱一點。

The business environment has experienced similar changes. Globalisation has made markets more responsive and flexible. Our companies, like our bodies, have less need of self sufficiency. Just-in-time management is the commercial equivalent of dialling for a pizza. Healthy businesses used to display their fat with the same exuberance as banks would impress their depositors with marble. Woolworths, Chrysler, Unilever and ICI built head offices that were testimonies to their wealth and permanence. But the corporations of today are abandoning these edifices. Cutting out the fat, becoming lean and mean, are now commercial goals.

所以現在企業就和個人一樣，把減肥當時髦了。不過企業和女性的身體一樣，有的地方你想讓它豐滿，有些地方你不想讓它豐滿。削減冗員是一碼事，削減員工的忠誠是另一碼事。酮這東西是不分青紅皂白什么脂肪都減的，很多節支項目也是一樣。

So doing an Atkins is now as fashionable in business as it is in personal life. But in business - as on the female body - there are places where you want fat as well as those where you do not. It is one thing to slim down an overstaffed activity, another to burn the loyalty of your employees. Ketosis reduces fat indiscriminately, and so do many cost reduction programmes.

但是更大的問題是可持續發展。阿金博士的招數對付短期減肥立竿見影，削砍派管理者也能有效地增加短期收益。商業顧問和市場分析者扮演的角色就像酮。他們讓你對自己的飲食感覺良好，而且讓你相信你能一直這么玩下去。但是你這樣會玩完的。

But the larger issue is sustainability. Atkins is effective at short-term weight loss, as slash-and-burn managers are effective at short-term earnings growth. And business consultants and market analysts fulfil the role of ketones - they let you feel good about your diet, and convince you that you can continue indefinitely. But you cannot.

減肥和收益增長都受制于脂肪的多寡。脂肪沒了，你的身體就會對食物產生欲望，你的客戶就會呼喚營養。

Both weight loss and earnings growth are limited by the available fat. Its depletion leaves your body craving food and your customers craving nourishment.

對肥胖癥而言，燃燒脂肪作為一種應急治療法，無論是應用在個人生活還是用在企業，都合情合理。但是要想營養好，就必須有平衡的飲食，好的企業就必須平衡發展。最健康的人是運動員和士兵，他們的身體都吸收著碳水化合物，碳水化合物產生能量，能量有用武之地。我們的企業應該向他們這些人學習，而不是去效仿阿金博士。

Burning fat is the right emergency treatment for the morbidly obese - in life or in business. But good nutrition demands a balanced diet, and good business a balanced approach. The healthiest bodies - those of athletes and soldiers - soak up carbohydrates and use the energy they yield productively. It is to their lifestyle, not that of Dr Atkins, that we should look for business analogies.

譯者／柏林