Recently, I was asked by my boss to form a small group to work on a project.

　　As the first meeting drew near, I found myself thinking hard about, no, not the topics that would be discussed, but what type of food we should eat. The meeting was to be held during the lunch hour and, given these cost-cutting times, there was no budget for lunch.

　　女性领导的与众不同

　　最近，老板要我为开展新项目成立一个工作小组。

　　第一次小组会临近时，我苦苦思考的却不是在会上将要讨论的课题，而是我们的午餐形式。会议将一直开到中午，为了降低成本，所以没有午餐的预算。

　　But I thought it would be nice to have some snacks, and I spent quite a bit of time -- at work and even in bed at night -- tossing ideas in my head.

　　When my boss gave me the assignment, I'm sure he didn't foresee me exercising my brain cells over something as trivial as food. I mean, if it were a man, his mind would have been focused, strictly, on the task at hand.

　　But food and women bosses almost always come together. In my many years of working life, I've had my share of female bosses who were always bringing food to the office, urging everyone to gather round and eat.

　　但我想比较好的形式是吃些点心，为此我很是花了一点时间--工作时甚至晚上躺在床上--脑子里晃动着各种想法。

　　当老板把任务指派给我时，他一定想不到我会动脑筋考虑吃饭这样的琐事，我的意思是，男性通常将精力集中在手头的任务上。

　　食品通常只与女性老板联系在一起，在我多年的工作生涯中，我的女老板经常把食品带到办公室里，极力邀请每个员工坐下来一起分享。

　　Conditioned by thousands of years of the woman as homemaker and prepareer of family meals, the modern working woman still can't help but regard food as a means of bonding and creating goodwill. So, in the office, women use food as a form of celebration, a sign of thanks and a way of saying sorry.As an employee, I've always welcomed the food, of course, but I've sometimes questioned the motives. Is she trying to buy my acceptance and to get me to like her? Does she think I'll overlook her professional shortcomings just because she's offering me free cake?

　　Now that I'm what is termed a" supervisor," I realize that I'm doing exactly what my previous women bosses did. And, I wonder, what are my colleagues thinking?

　　几千年沿袭的习惯是女性负责做家务、准备全家人的三餐。现代职业女性也自然地把食品当作一种粘合剂以此创造一个友善的环境。所以，在办公室里，女性借助分享食品来作为一种庆祝方式表达感谢和歉意。作为一名雇员，我当然喜欢受到招待，但有时我会怀疑她们这样做的动机，她是想收买我的认可并让我喜欢她吗?她送蛋糕是认为我可能会仅仅因为这些免费发送的蛋糕而对她工作中的不足睁一只眼闭一只眼吗?

　　我现在的职位是"主管"，我意识到我正在重复着我以前的女老板所做的一切，并且很想知道同事对我的看法。

　　The workplace is a ruthless and hostile world. It has also been the natural habitat of men, who are taught from an early age to value power and achievement.When women, who generally place more value on the" softer" aspects of life, like communication and relationships, enter this world, many are filled with fear. This is even more the case when they reach positions of power where they can influence what goes on around them.

　　They are always asking themselves questions which don't even appear in the minds of men.

　　工作场所是个冷酷的、充满敌意的地方，这本来是男性的生存空间，因为他们从小就被灌输权力和成就的价值。而对于女性来说，她们通常更重视生活的"软性"方面，如联络和交流，所以进入工作场所时许多女性会有一种恐惧感，尤其是当她们掌握一定权力能影响周围很多人时，这种情绪更强烈。

　　她们经常会问自己一些从不曾在男性脑中出现过的问题。

　　How can you be assertive and not aggressive? How do you pursue your inclination towards creating a pleasant, stress-free work environment and not be taken for granted or bullied? Most of all, how do you assert your authority over men and not hurt their egos? How do you tell off someone who is old enough to be your father?It's not an easy path to tread, and I don't know of many female bosses who have succeeded and who have avoided earning a bad reputation.

　　I asked a few colleagues -- men and women -- what they thought of female bosses and this was the consensus:

　　例如：你怎么会如此自负而不再进取?你怎样按自己的想法创造一个愉快、宽松的工作环境而不要被别人认为你总是想当然或为人蛮横,最主要的是你采取何种方式与部下共事?你如何在男性面前既施展你的权威又不伤他的自尊?你如何调遣那些年龄足以做你父亲的人?这不是一条轻松的路，据我所知既能取得成功又能避免使自己的名声受到损害的女老板为数不多。

　　我请教了一些同事--男女都有--他们怎样看待女性老板，以下是他们的共同感受：

　　They like to be liked; they are welfare-oriented; they are demanding; they are unpredictable; they are insecure; they have a harder time dealing with fellow women.All relationships, though, boil down to chemistry ultimately. They are dependent on the person, not the gender.

　　When I think of my favourite bosses, past and present, I realize I judge them not only by how competent they are, but, more importantly, also what they are like as human beings.

　　I know I will make efforts for those who have been decent, fair, good and kind to me. At the end of the day, those attributes, I think, are really what matter in a boss, man or woman.

　　她们愿意别人喜欢她；她们重视员工福利；她们不停地发号施令；她们不可捉摸；她们情绪化；她们更难与其他女性交往。其实所有的行为都基于化学反应，但我认为她们依靠的是个人素质，而不是性别。

　　我想到一些我喜爱的老板，过去的、现在的，我对他们的评价不仅看他们的能力如何，更重要的是看他们是怎样做人的。

　　我明白要想成为一个正派、公平、可靠、善良的人要付出很多努力。直到今天，我认为这些品质对一位老板，不管是男是女，都是重要的。