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艾特金斯博士（Dr.
Atkins，简称阿金博士）倒在大街上死了。他究竟是真得了肥胖症呢？还是仅仅超重了那么一点点？无论答案如何，阿金博士的职业生涯都是给现代营销的威力作了个很好的注脚，却未能宏扬自己的延年益寿之术。
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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.
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阿金博士饮食法限制碳水化合物的吸收。在一定程度上，这一方法是行之有效的，因为我们视碳水化合物为能量之源，没有了它们，我们就要去消耗体内储藏的脂肪。燃烧脂肪的过程会产生酮，而酮据说有抑制食欲之效。不过长此以往这么下去，我们就会营养不良，最后一命呜呼，就像老是靠应急燃油飞行的飞机会从空中坠落一样。
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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.
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到最后，你还得重新去加油的。到那时候，你会发现，要想有健康的生活方式，就必须反思自己的饮食习惯，必须平衡饮食，各种食物都得有一些。当然，这些你一定都知道，但是就像我和千百万其他人一样，你或许也觉得一旦买了本节食书，我们的体重问题就会万事大吉了。
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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.
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以燃料供应为主，以可再生储备为辅这种模式在生物系统内很普遍，在经济和社会系统里也不罕见。企业储备资金，就如同我们臀部累积脂肪，都是让我们在现金流或碳水化合物出现短缺时能够继续生存。我们和客户、和员工建立友善关系，这也是指望在困难的时候能依靠他们。
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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.
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正如这些类比所示，我们长胖，并不是老天要和我们的相貌作梗。脂肪是能派上生物用途的。在历史上的大部分时期，肥胖是生命力的象征，富人们以自己妻子的丰腴为美。不信就看看画家鲁本斯（Rubens）笔下的人体美吧。在据称是我们祖先居住地的南美大草原，食物供应时有短缺。因此，在我们面前放什么，我们就吃什么，包括飞机食品在内。但到了21世纪，我们的营养短缺问题只消一个电话，外卖比萨就能给你顺利解决。比萨便宜，健身俱乐部昂贵。所以想瘦就要多花钱，想肥却很便宜。遗憾的是，我们的新陈代谢系统还没能适应这种现代的环境。
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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.
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商业环境的变更也和上述情形异曲同工。受全球化影响，市场越来越灵活应变。我们的企业就和我们的身体一样，越来越不需要自给自足了。在商业领域，实时管理（just-in-time）就如同叫比萨外卖。过去，健康的企业总是卖弄自己的脂肪，就如同银行用大理石装潢吸引储户。伍尔沃斯(Woolworths)、克莱斯勒、联合利华、卜内门（ICI）建的公司总部无不是显露财富，夸耀持久。如今的企业都不去盖这些富丽堂皇的总部大楼了。如今的商业目标是要减少脂肪，是要更瘦一点，更匀称一点。
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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.
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所以现在企业就和个人一样，把减肥当时髦了。不过企业和女性的身体一样，有的地方你想让它丰满，有些地方你不想让它丰满。削减冗员是一码事，削减员工的忠诚是另一码事。酮这东西是不分青红皂白什么脂肪都减的，很多节支项目也是一样。
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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.
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但是更大的问题是可持续发展。阿金博士的招数对付短期减肥立竿见影，削砍派管理者也能有效地增加短期收益。商业顾问和市场分析者扮演的角色就像酮。他们让你对自己的饮食感觉良好，而且让你相信你能一直这么玩下去。但是你这样会玩完的。
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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.
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减肥和收益增长都受制于脂肪的多寡。脂肪没了，你的身体就会对食物产生欲望，你的客户就会呼唤营养。
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Both weight loss and
earnings growth are limited by the available fat. Its depletion
leaves your body craving food and your customers craving
nourishment.
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对肥胖症而言，燃烧脂肪作为一种应急治疗法，无论是应用在个人生活还是用在企业，都合情合理。但是要想营养好，就必须有平衡的饮食，好的企业就必须平衡发展。最健康的人是运动员和士兵，他们的身体都吸收着碳水化合物，碳水化合物产生能量，能量有用武之地。我们的企业应该向他们这些人学习，而不是去效仿阿金博士。
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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.
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译者／柏林
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