Most companies have serious woik to do here. Where to start? That's easy : at the top. Dealing systematically with underperformers is hard — emotionally always, and sometimes legally as well 一 and like most good things, it doesn't just happen. Helen Handfield-Jones of McKinsey says,“ The top executives have to model this behavior. They have to look at their own direct reports and start taking action. Once they've made progress, they should expect other leaders in the business to do the same. ”

The very-best-performing companies know this and practice it. The McKinsey study bears it out, but we've had enough statistics. Just accept the point：Successful companies deal with underperformers systematically, every day；unsuccessful companies don't. As the economy slows, a company does absolutely no one any favor by showing it can fire 1,000 at a time but can't one by one.

全译: 要砍就砍枯树枝（略）

摘译：裁员大潮来临了：通用汽车公司将裁员一万五、惠尔普公司将裁员六千三……。在今后几个星期里，我们还会看到更多的裁员通告。但是，我们还应注意另ー个与之相反而且更加严重的趋势：普遍存在的、危险的“不解雇”潮流，它对千百万人的生活乃至整个经济的危害是无法估量的。

且听其中的道理。依靠信息技术经营的公司进ー步强调了使每个雇员做出最大贡献的重要性，这一点越来越成为你惟一的竟争优势，但这对多数公司来说却是个大问题，因为它意味着表现不佳的人——尤其是表现差劲的经理——必须调走或辞退。

先让我们看清楚回避这个问超的恶果。麦肯锡公司最近进行一次的调查结果很是令人担忧：不调走表现不佳的人，就意味着使有作为的雇员的发展机会受到限制、劳动生产率和员工士气下降、表现上佳者纷纷辞职、公司能够吸引的一流高手越来越少，进而使整个情况每况愈下。