不做無益之事

對於球鞋有偏愛者，我先道個歉，但我要說的重點是：即或你用力去擦一個空殼，空殼終究還是空殼。我成長的過程，我們是用 Kiwi 鞋油擦鞋，並用白色的 Kiwi 鞋油去擦我們的球鞋以保持潔淨。但，不論我們怎麼努力擦球鞋，髒的球鞋還一個髒的球鞋！

每當我聽到徒有亮麗的簡報外觀，卻缺乏內容與實質時，我總是會說：「你是無法將球鞋擦亮的」，那是表示一開始就錯了的禮貌性說法。

試著擦亮球鞋（做無意義的事）事實上是件危險的事，因為你可能在試圖取信他人一個根本不存在的價值，這將引領企業進入一個死胡同並對生產力有害！

You Can't Polish A Sneaker

My apologies to those who cherish their sneakers, but my point is that even if you polish a hollow shell, it’s still nothing but a hollow shell. When I was growing up, we used white Kiwi polish to make our sneakers look new, but no matter how hard we tried, an ugly sneaker remained an ugly sneaker. 

Now when I see a briefing that’s heavy on style but short on substance or focus, I say, “You’re not going to be able to polish that sneaker.” It’s a polite way of saying you haven’t started out with anything meaningful. 

Trying to polish a sneaker can actually be dangerous because it may inadvertently convince others that the sneaker has a value that it doesn’t really possess. This can lead organizations down unproductive dead ends.