雅虎新任女掌门颠覆职场成功游戏规则

    尽管商界女性在过去几十年成绩斐然，但有一件事似乎没有改变：成功依然感觉像是男人的游戏，就连女性的成功也给人这种感觉。

    无论是在着装上依循成功男性的传统，还是模仿其他成功男性的领导风格（就算别的方式或许一样有用时），有一个观点是相同的：真正的商业成功将始终与男子气相伴相随，概莫能外。

    保持女人味可以与商业成功并行不悖这一观点似乎有点奇怪，特别是对年轻一代女性而言。Y世代的母亲是在一个与现在迥然不同的世界中接受教育的。1960年，39%的大学生是女性，而这一比例现在已超过了一半。虽然许多女性已经在商业领域取得了非凡的成就，但许多女性并没有一个在事业上取得成功的母亲为其在职场行为和选择方面提供榜样。

    各界对玛丽莎•梅耶尔最近被任命为雅虎公司（Yahoo）CEO——以及她周一向《财富》杂志（Fortune）记者帕蒂•塞勒斯宣称她是首位以怀孕之身履新的《财富》500强企业（Fortune）CEO——这两则消息的反应，引发了一个萦绕在许多职场女性耳际的问题：梅耶尔的女性特质为什么如此令人瞩目？

    37岁的梅耶尔是《财富》500强企业中最年轻的CEO。在谷歌公司（Google）担任高管期间，梅耶尔的铁腕作风既让她备受爱戴，也让她遭人嫉恨。虽然她长时间疯狂地工作，但依然有时间积极从事社交生活。以极客自诩的梅耶尔也对设计情有独钟。她看似超人的倾向或许很难让人捉摸（或模仿），但梅耶尔依然保持着自己的本色，并且从未觉得这些特征有什么不对的地方。

    “我非常在意的一件事情是，用自己的行为向女孩们显示，我们可以保持女人味，喜欢女孩喜欢的东西，同事又能够非常擅长技术，”梅耶尔2010年接受《每日野兽》网（Daily Beast）采访时如是说。对于许多Y世代女性来说，梅耶尔的表率作用是她们的母亲办不到的：一位完全保持着自身女性特征、同时又在事业上大获成功的商界女性。

    作为我们家第一个读大学的女孩，我身边并没有一个可供我参照、在专业领域取得成功的女性榜样。在年少的我看来，一个女人要想在专业领域建立信任感，就必须表现出男性气质。

    我从大学毕业、并于2008年加入麦肯锡公司（McKinsey and Co）纽约分公司之后，在事业上取得建树就成了一件非常重要的事情——如同许多考验一样，这项考验同样也有时间限制。对于一个试图在竞争异常激烈的环境中出人头地的女性来说，一个不言而喻的现实是，专业礼仪需要通过着装的选择来向外部展示。通过我的工作和个人风格来显示自身能力的压力使得我甚至不敢确定真实的我，一个爱好时尚、长着一张娃娃脸、带着中东和南美血统的女性究竟应该从何处着手来融入这样一个职场现实。

    我在麦肯锡的职场生涯清楚地显示，随着其职务的擢升，女性的服饰似乎逐步失去了花样和颜色，头发也慢慢失去了长度和形态，坦然面对自身女性特征的商界女领袖非常稀缺。成就非凡的女性是不是有意识地让自己变得更具男子气概？或者她们仅仅只是厌倦了自己的与众不同，进而摈弃了那些让她们不一样的特征？

    职场女性可以改变这些看法，比如，表现出自己的个性（正如包括梅耶尔在内的许多人已经做的那样），不要为了让自身形象更容易让同僚接受而努力做出改变。背离我们的偏好，失去对这些偏好的尊重，并藉此往上爬的做法验证了一个非常有害的想法：成功来自于一种基本的形态。

    梅耶尔并没有要求任何人效仿自己的领导风格和职场路径。她也没有要求任何人像她那样削减她们自己的产假。她之所以是年轻女性的榜样，并不是因为她个人的选择，而是因为她做适合自己的事情：保持女性特质。这种态度有助于重新定义成功对于女性的含义，我们应该对此表示欢迎。

    译者：任文科

    Despite all the gains that women in business have made over the past several decades, one thing doesn't seem to change: success still feels like a man's game, even when women attain it.

    Whether it's dressing in the tradition of the successful man or leading in the style of other successful men -- when alternate approaches might be just as useful -- the idea is the same: without alternatives, true success in business will always be coupled with masculinity.

    The idea that embracing femininity can go hand-in-hand with success in business can seem odd, particularly for members of the younger generation. The mothers of Generation Y were educated in a starkly different world. In 1960, 39% of undergraduates were women -- while today, more than half are. And while many women have made significant achievements in business, many are doing it without the benefit of having mothers who could model the behaviors and choices of a successful businesswoman.

    The reactions to Marissa Mayer's recent appointment as Yahoo's (YHOO) CEO -- along with her announcement to Fortune's Pattie Sellers on Monday that she is the first Fortune 500 CEO to accept the position while pregnant -- raise a question that rings in many female professionals' ears: Why should Mayer's femininity even matter?

    At 37, Mayer is the youngest CEO in the Fortune 500. As a manager at Google, she was both loved and hated for her autocratic style. She works insane hours and still finds time for an active social life. She's a self-proclaimed geek, who also happens to love designer threads. Her seemingly superhuman tendencies may be hard to fathom (or emulate), yet Mayer has remained true to herself and never apologized for them.

    "One of the things I care a lot about is helping to... show girls that you can be feminine, you can like the things that girls like, but you can also be really good at technology," Mayer told the Daily Beast in 2010. For many Gen Y women, Mayer's example is one our mothers couldn't demonstrate: a successful woman in business who fully owns her femininity.

    As the first woman in my family to attend college, I had no female model of professional success on hand to use as a guidepost. In my young mind, to be professionally credible meant you had to act masculine.

    When I graduated from college and joined McKinsey and Co.'s New York office in 2008, building my professional presence was critical -- and like so many tests, this one was timed. The unspoken need to demonstrate professional decorum while trying to thrive in a fiercely competitive environment was reflected externally for women through our wardrobe choices. The pressure to showcase my competence both through my work and my personal style rendered me even less sure of where the real me, a fashion-loving, baby-faced woman of Middle Eastern and South American descent, fit in to the picture.

    My time at McKinsey made it clear that there was a dearth of female business leaders who were comfortable with their femininity, as women's clothes seemed to progressively lose form and color and their hair would lose length and shape as they ascended the ranks. Did high-achieving women make themselves more masculine on purpose? Or were they just tired of being different and let go of the characteristics that set them apart?

    Women can change these perceptions by expressing their individuality (as many, including Mayer, already have) not by trying to make their images more digestible to their peers. Deviating from our preferences, and losing our respect for those preferences, to climb the ladder validates a very noxious idea: that success comes in one basic shape and form.

    Mayer hasn't asked anyone to emulate her leadership or runway style. She also hasn't asked anyone to follow suit and cut their own maternity leaves short. She is a role model for young women – not because of her individual choices, but because she does what works for her, femininity and all. And that kind of attitude is what will help redefine success for women, one that we should welcome.