原文標題：
Schumpeter
Charlie Munger was a lot more than Warren Buffett’s sidekick
In business, he was a paragon of common sense
熊彼特專欄
查理·芒格不只是沃倫·巴菲特的搭檔
在商業(yè)領(lǐng)域，他是常識的優(yōu)秀典范
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EVERY MAY tens of thousands of the faithful flock to Omaha, Nebraska, hometown of Berkshire Hathaway, to bask in the presence of the investment firm’s two leaders: Warren Buffett, known for his folksy genius, and Charlie Munger, for his killer zingers.
每年5月，成千上萬的信徒涌向內(nèi)布拉斯加州奧馬哈市，這里是伯克希爾哈撒韋公司的故鄉(xiāng)。他們趨之若鶩，目的是親眼見證這家投資公司的兩位領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人：一個是以樸素智慧著稱的沃倫·巴菲特，另一個是以犀利幽默聞名的查理·芒格。
At the Pasadena Convention Centre, Mr Munger alone would hold forth, his dry wit in full flow.
在帕薩迪納會議中心，芒格獨自一人暢所欲言，他的幽默風趣溢于言表。
Recording devices were not allowed, but notetakers scribbled furiously as they tried to keep up.
期間不允許錄音設(shè)備，但大家都在瘋狂做筆記，努力跟上節(jié)奏。
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The last one took place in 2011, when Mr Munger, who died in an LA hospital on November 28th aged 99, was a sprightly 87-year-old.
最后一次帕薩迪納會議于2011年舉行，當時他87歲，精神矍鑠。芒格先生于11月28日在洛杉磯一家醫(yī)院去世，享年99歲。
It was his last shareholder meeting as head of Wesco, a financial conglomerate about to be wholly swallowed up by Berkshire, and hence the end of his one-man show.
那是他作為Wesco（一家被伯克希爾全資收購的金融集團）掌門人的最后一次股東大會，也是他獨角戲的收官之作。
He spoke for three hours. As usual, he poked gentle fun at the audience, telling them, “You folks need to find a new cult hero.”
他講了3個小時。像往常一樣，他溫和地調(diào)侃觀眾，告訴他們，“你們需要找個新的崇拜目標了。”
Yet he clearly enjoyed delivering what one scribe called his sermon from the “Church of Rationality”. He beamed when they gave him a standing ovation.
不過，他顯然很享受被大家稱為 '理性教會 '的布道。當大家起立鼓掌時，他笑容滿面。
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Looking back through notes of that meeting, the themes he dwelt on seem random.
回顧那次會議的筆記，他談到的主題似乎很隨意。
He discussed what he felt was his inadequate legacy, though he took pride in attributes such as basic morality, self-discipline and objectivity.
他討論了自己認為不足的遺產(chǎn)，盡管他對基本道德、自律和客觀性等品質(zhì)感到自豪。
He advised rich parents how to look after their children (don’t try to motivate them with artificial hardships, he said, because they will inevitably hate you for it).
他給富人家長提供育兒建議（他說，不要試圖用人為的困難來激勵他們，因為他們必然會因此而憎恨你）。
He discussed the importance of being rational amid mistaken biases (which he called the “Lollapalooza effect”).
他討論了在錯誤偏見中保持理性的重要性（他稱之為“合奏效應(yīng)”）。
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And yet those were not scattershot musings.
然而，這些并不是雜亂無章的胡思亂想。
They echoed a carefully thought out worldview on life, investment and business culture that he expounded on extensively in writings and speaking engagements whenever he was not in the spotlight as the Sage of Omaha’s curmudgeonly sidekick.
只要不是作為奧馬哈圣人巴菲特的怪脾氣搭檔出現(xiàn)在聚光燈下，他都會在著作和演講中廣泛闡述自己對生活、投資和商業(yè)文化的世界觀。
As Mr Buffett put it, Mr Munger influenced Berkshire’s entire investment philosophy by introducing the wisdom that it is “better to buy a good business at a fair price than a fair business at a good price”.
正如巴菲特所說，芒格影響了伯克希爾公司的整個投資理念，他提出了 '以合理的價格購買一個好的企業(yè)，而不是以好的價格購買一個合理的企業(yè) '的智慧。
In other words, he deserves a big share of the credit for turning the financial conglomerate into the $780bn powerhouse that it has become.
換句話說，伯克希爾之所以能成為價值 7800 億美元的金融巨頭，芒格功不可沒。
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Though the two men bore an uncanny physical resemblance (Mr Munger, at least later in life, was more portly), intellectually they had different strengths.
雖然兩人在外貌上有著驚人的相似之處（晚年芒格的身材更魁梧），但他們在智力上卻有著不同的優(yōu)勢。
Mr Buffett is a master of the plain and simple; Mr Munger was a complex thinker (“Charlie does the talking, I just move my lips,” Mr Buffett once quipped).
巴菲特是一位簡潔大師；而芒格則是一位復(fù)雜的思想家（巴菲特曾經(jīng)打趣道：“查理負責說話，我只是動動嘴皮子”）。
Their strengths complemented each other, producing something almost magical.
他們的優(yōu)勢互補，產(chǎn)生了近乎神奇的效果。
In the case of Messrs Buffett and Munger the magic lasted for 60 years. During that time they famously never had a row.
對巴菲特和芒格來說，這種神奇的魔力持續(xù)了 60 年。在此期間，他們從未發(fā)生過爭吵。
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As with many successful partnerships, they shared common roots.
與許多成功的搭檔關(guān)系一樣，他們有著共同的起點。
They met in Omaha in 1959, not long after Mr Buffett, then owner of a fledgling investment firm, had been told by a potential client that he resembled the erudite Mr Munger, who was six years his senior.
1959 年，他們在奧馬哈相識，當時巴菲特是一家剛起步的投資公司的老板，一位潛在客戶告訴他，他與博學的芒格有許多相似之處，芒格比巴菲特大6歲。
He came to replace Benjamin Graham, a legendary “value“ investor, as Mr Buffett’s sounding board, with four qualities resembled Graham’s.
芒格取代了傳奇的“價值”投資者本杰明·格雷厄姆，成為巴菲特的參謀，他具有與格雷厄姆相似的4種品質(zhì)。
He was honest, realistic, profoundly curious and unfettered by conventional thinking. Those are as good traits as any to summarise his approach to business.
他誠實、務(wù)實，充滿好奇心，不受傳統(tǒng)思維的束縛。用這些特質(zhì)來概括他的經(jīng)商之道再合適不過了。
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In terms of honesty, he put the trustworthiness of business leaders, and the soundness of their accounts, above all else.
在誠實方面，他把企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的可信度和賬目的健全性放在首位。
He hated gimmickry (the accounting term EBITDA, he said, should be substituted with “bullshit earnings”).
他討厭噱頭（他說，會計術(shù)語 EBITDA 應(yīng)該用“垃圾收益”來代替）。
He was openly scornful of the “megalomania” of some investment bankers, whom he blamed for the financial crisis of 2007-09.
他公開蔑視一些投資銀行家的“狂妄自大”，并指責是他們導(dǎo)致了2007-2009年的金融危機。
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As for realism, he was no softy when it came to business.
說到務(wù)實，他在商業(yè)方面并不手軟。
He believed in “moats” that safeguarded firms’ brand value, pricing power and scale.
他相信“護城河”可以保護公司的品牌價值、定價能力和規(guī)模。
Handle new technologies with care, he preached. Know your “circle of competence”. Don’t rush into new ventures you don’t understand.
他倡導(dǎo)謹慎對待新技術(shù)。了解你的“能力圈”。不要冒然涉足自己不了解的新事業(yè)。
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For him, curiosity was a lifelong project, and he believed that business people should constantly refresh their knowledge, challenging their assumptions and learning from mistakes more than successes.
對他來說，好奇心是一個終生項目，他認為商界人士應(yīng)該不斷刷新自己的知識，質(zhì)疑自己的假設(shè)，從錯誤中學習，而不是從成功中學習。
As he said on the first page of “Poor Charlie’s Almanack”, a compilation of his writings and speeches: “Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behaviour accordingly. If your new behaviour gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group…then to hell with them.”
正如他在自己的著作和演講匯編《窮查理寶典》的第一頁上寫道：“獲得世俗的智慧，并相應(yīng)地調(diào)整你的行為。如果你的新行為讓你在同儕群體中暫時不受歡迎……那就讓他們見鬼去吧?！?br>
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Invert, always invert
顛倒，總是顛倒
Finally, think unconventionally. Don’t follow the herd.
最后，以非傳統(tǒng)的方式思考。不要隨波逐流。
He loved Confucius and boldly encouraged America to “get along with China” . Apple, he said, was an example of how engaging with China was both good for business and good for China.
他喜歡孔子，并大膽地鼓勵美國“與中國友好相處”。他說，蘋果公司就是一個例子，說明與中國合作對于企業(yè)和中國都有好處。
Everything that worked in the opposite direction, he said earlier this year, was “stupid, stupid, stupid”.
他今年年初時說，一切反其道而行之的舉動都是“愚蠢、愚蠢、愚蠢”。
Even by Mr Munger’s standards, that was blunt; he normally expressed himself with humour, not exasperation. But it summed up what was probably his greatest contribution to business thinking.
即使以芒格先生的標準來看，這句話也太直白了；他通常以幽默而不是憤懣的方式來表達自己的觀點。但這句話卻概括了他對商業(yè)思維的最大貢獻。
He was a paragon of that old-style virtue—common sense.
他是傳統(tǒng)美德——常識的優(yōu)秀典范。
（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量993左右）
原文出自：2023年12月2日《The Economist》Business版
精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路
本文翻譯整理: Irene
本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。
【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
查理·芒格（Charlie Thomas Munger，1924年1月1日—2023年11月28日），美國投資家，出生于美國內(nèi)布拉斯加州的奧馬哈。沃倫·巴菲特的黃金搭檔，有“幕后智囊”和“最后的秘密武器”之稱，伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司副主席，曾擔任藍籌印花公司的主席。17歲時，芒格曾進入密歇根大學學習數(shù)學；1948年以優(yōu)異的成績畢業(yè)于哈佛大學法學院，并直接進入加州法院當了一名律師；1972年，芒格說服巴菲特同意伯克希爾以2500萬美元收購See's Candies；1978年正式擔任伯克夏·哈撒韋公司的董事會副主席；1984年至2011年，查理·芒格擔任Wesco Financial的董事長兼首席執(zhí)行官；2022年5月，據(jù)路透社報道，芒格獲得連任伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司的副主席；2023年10月29日，芒格進行了播客首秀。當?shù)貢r間2023年11月28日，查理·芒格在加州的一家醫(yī)院中安詳去世，享年99歲。
Lollapalooza effect“協(xié)同效應(yīng)”，也翻譯成“合奏效應(yīng)”，因為音樂節(jié)上不同的樂隊、音樂類型和表演方式相互疊加，創(chuàng)造了一個令人興奮但也容易引起混亂的體驗。類似地，不同的認知偏見在決策過程中的疊加也能產(chǎn)生類似的效果。也翻譯成“好上加好效應(yīng)”或“核爆效應(yīng)”。芒格也給出了自己的定義：多種因素之間相互強化并極大地放大彼此效應(yīng)的情況，稱為lollapalooza效應(yīng)。簡單的說就是：兩個、三個，四個……多個作用于同一方向的力量匯聚在一起后，所形成的力量不是簡單的力量疊加，而是一種巨大的、協(xié)同的放大效應(yīng)?；蛘哒f，是多個動向因素的疊加，導(dǎo)致了一個算法從加法變成乘法的跳躍。
稅息折舊及攤銷前利潤，簡稱EBITDA，是Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization的縮寫，即未計利息、稅項、折舊及攤銷前的利潤。EBITDA被私人資本公司廣泛使用，用以計算公司經(jīng)營業(yè)績。
Poor Charlie’s Almanack《窮查理寶典：查理·芒格的智慧箴言錄》首次收錄了查理過去20年來主要的公開演講，書中十一篇講稿全面展現(xiàn)了這個傳奇人物的聰明才智。此外，“芒格主義：查理的即席談話”一章收錄的是他以往在伯克希爾·哈撒韋公司和西科金融公司年會上犀利和幽默的評論。貫穿《窮查理寶典》全書的是芒格展示出來的聰慧、機智，其令人敬服的價值觀和深不可測的修辭天賦。他擁有百科全書式的知識，所以從古代的雄辯家，到18、19世紀的歐洲文豪，再到當代的流行文化偶像，這些人的名言他都能信手拈來，并用這些來強調(diào)終身學習和保持求知欲望的好處。
【重點句子】（3個）
He discussed what he felt was his inadequate legacy, though he took pride in attributes such as basic morality, self-discipline and objectivity.
他討論了自己認為不足的遺產(chǎn)，盡管他對基本道德、自律和客觀性等品質(zhì)感到自豪。
He was honest, realistic, profoundly curious and unfettered by conventional thinking. Those are as good traits as any to summarise his approach to business.
他誠實、務(wù)實，充滿好奇心，不受傳統(tǒng)思維的束縛。用這些特質(zhì)來概括他的經(jīng)商之道再合適不過了。
Handle new technologies with care, he preached. Know your “circle of competence”. Don’t rush into new ventures you don’t understand.
他倡導(dǎo)謹慎對待新技術(shù)。了解你的“能力圈”。不要冒險涉足自己不了解的新事業(yè)。
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