【英语生活】高管的性“陷阱”

I was interested that an Italian former deputy culture minister said last week that “men in power need lots of sex” and “if Berlusconi does not gain sexual satisfaction he governs badly”.

While the minister was no doubt referring to Mr Berlusconi's recent troubles as prime minister, I wondered how true this was of business leaders, who also wield lots of power.

Some two decades ago, I bought part-ownership of a recruitment agency that supplied receptionists and secretaries to entertainment and media companies. It was an obvious, but unwritten, policy of the firm to put forward only nubile women as job applicants – since this is what clients wanted.

Bluntly, advertising agencies, theatre impresarios and television producers all preferred to hire stunning females. Interestingly, our business was run by four women, who made it clear that I was banned from the floors where applicants were interviewed. I think they had a cynical view of male bosses.

In spite of the risks, ageing male leaders are forever tempting fate by misbehaving with young women. Perhaps they believe it enables them to manage better. I often think these are men who lacked confidence with girls when younger, and probably married in their early twenties.

Perhaps they were too busy doing homework and holiday jobs – always striving to succeed and make a fortune. No time to attract the opposite sex. So maybe they didn't have a chance to sow their wild oats much, or indulge in the wild sex the younger generation talk about.

But once such characters reach the top, their ego has expanded and their narcissism is running riot. And by then they have marvellous new levers at their disposal. As Henry Kissinger said: “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” Having seen him charming the ladies at a party once, I think he may just be right.

Of course, ambition and testosterone are intimately connected. It seems that alpha males invariably have lots of both, and are driven to conquer in various different directions – work, sport, sex.

All this takes money and energy but then top dogs usually have large quantities of both of those, too. Some psychologists put forward the theory that chief executives are not really driven by a desire to sell more products or amass great riches: in truth it is all a substitute for being a rock 'n' roll star and having lots of groupies.

The examples of tycoons destroying their marriages – and sometimes endangering their careers and companies – thanks to their lusts are legion. So many of the business elite leave behind a trail of broken marriages, desperate infidelity and emotional chaos. Perhaps they need the drama to enliven the sterile atmosphere of the boardroom. Or possibly such forbidden fruits are available to them for the first time only when they have risen to great corporate heights, and the thrill of it all goes straight to their head and loins.

There is, of course, something disturbing about the idea that so many businessmen making all these serious decisions might be constantly distracted by their outsized sexual appetites. Yet we are all human, and far more influenced in our behaviour by our basic instincts than many of us care to admit.

Sociologists, anthropologists and biologists should do more studies on the motivations of entrepreneurs and politicians, to help us understand better the secrets of power. Scientists should look at the interaction of adrenaline and testosterone, and work out how their combination can create a dangerous cocktail for certain high achievers.

In fact, I fell into business as a way to meet girls. At 18, my university parties were so riotous I was threatened with being thrown out.

We shifted our get-togethers to a local nightclub and my co-host had the brilliant idea of charging guests to attend. Suddenly our parties had become a business, and I was hooked on capitalism by accident.

Since then I have attempted to become respectable and act my age. So far, I reckon I'm doing rather better than the Italian prime minister.

一位意大利前文化部副部长最近表示，“大权在握的男人需要很多性”，“如果贝卢斯科尼(Berlusconi)得不到性满足，他的管理就会很糟糕”。

这位部长指的肯定是意大利总理贝卢斯科尼最近的丑闻，但我想知道，对于同样大权在握的企业领袖而言，这种说法是否适用呢？

大约20年前，我购入了一家招聘机构的部分所有权，这家机构为娱乐及媒体公司招聘前台和秘书。该机构有一条明显的不成文政策，即仅推荐性感女性应聘——因为这是客户想要的。

坦率地说，广告公司、剧院经理和电视制作人都更愿意招聘漂亮女性。有趣的是，我们的业务由4名女性打理，她们明确表示，在面试应聘者时，我禁止到场。我认为，她们对男老板有些世俗的看法。

尽管存在这些风险，但日渐老去的男性领导人永远在冒险与年轻女性做出行为不端的事情。他们可能认为，这能够提高他们的管理水平。我常常想，这些男人在年轻时缺乏与女性打交道的信心，或许20出头就结婚了。

他们那时候可能正忙着写作业，或是在假期打工——他们一直在打拼，以获得成功并变得富有。他们没有时间吸引异性。因此，他们也许没有机会过放荡的生活，或沉醉于年轻一代所说的狂野性爱。

但一旦这些人升至高位，他们的自尊心就开始膨胀，自恋开始放纵。这个时候，他们手中拥有了强大的新工具。正如亨利•基辛格(Henry Kissinger)所言：“权力是最好的春药。”我曾经目睹他在一次聚会上令女性倾倒，我觉得，他可能是对的。

当然，野心与雄性激素密切相关。在强势男人身上，两者似乎总是都很充沛，这促使他们从各个不同方向去征服——工作、运动、性。

这些都需要耗费金钱和精力，但拥有权势的家伙们通常在这两方面都取之不竭。一些心理学家提出了一条理论，真正驱动首席执行官们的因素，实际上并非销售更多产品或积聚大量财富的愿望：实际上，这些都是成为一位摇滚明星、拥有大批献身于他们的少女的代名词。

由于他们强烈的欲望，企业大亨们婚姻破裂——有时会危及他们的职业生涯和企业——的例子比比皆是。众多企业精英留下的是一连串破裂的婚姻、严重不忠以及情感上的混乱。他们可能需要这种戏剧性的场面，来活跃董事会枯燥的气氛。抑或，对他们而言，他们只有在升至公司高层的时候，才有机会第一次品尝这种禁果，由此给他们的身心带来了极大的欢畅。

当然，这种观点让人有些担心：如此众多做出这些严肃决策的商界男士，或许常常被自己超强的性欲搞得心神不宁。不过，我们都是人，我们的行为受本能影响的程度，远远高出我们许多人愿意承认的水平。

社会学家、人类学家和生物学家应对企业家和政客们的动机进行更多的研究，以帮助我们更好的了解权力背后的秘密。科学家应研究肾上腺素和雄性激素的相互作用，并找出它们的共同作用是如何为某些取得成就突出者调制出一杯危险的鸡尾酒的。

实际上，我步入商界是为了结识姑娘。18岁时，我的大学聚会过于放纵，我面临被扔出来的威胁。

我们把聚会换到了当地的夜总会，我的合作主办者想出了一个要求宾客付费参加的聪明点子。突然之间，我们的聚会变成了一家企业，我无意中迷上了资本主义。

此后，我一直试图变得受人尊重，尽量让自己的举止与年龄相符。迄今为止，我认为，我做的比那位意大利总理要好一些。

译者/何黎