令人驚奇的是，我們可以從兒童書或經典童話故事里學習領導力。例如，瑪格麗特·懷絲·布朗的經典繪本《晚安，月亮》里，一只小兔子向臥室里的每一件小東西說晚安，甚至會對著“不在這里的人”真誠地說晚安。故事非常簡單，許多人把它作為孩子睡覺前的必讀故事，但我認為它傳達出一條明確的信息——承認小事物的重要性，即使它們看起來很不起眼或者毫無價值。這條信息也完美體現了我今年學到的領導力經驗：只要你能發現和了解受你影響的所有人的需求，你便可以為組織做出最明智的決定。

因此，在我的公司Room to Read，我們會根據計劃的結果對其進行評估，以確定哪些需求是重中之重，以及我們可以在哪些方面產生最大的影響力。我們會通過調查研究來確認這些小事情，例如，我們會弄清楚對于我們出版的圖書，孩子們到底喜歡它們的哪些方面，或者有哪些具體的風險表明一個女孩可能無法完成學業。我們發現，孩子們喜歡上我們的本地語言圖書，是因為彩色的插圖，以及這些圖書的字體、字號和每頁的字數都易于閱讀。

通過調研和與孩子們的交流，我們最終確定了需要在哪些方面投入時間和資源。更多適合兒童的圖書，將吸引越來越多的孩子從圖書館里借書，最終養成終生受益的閱讀習慣。此外，憑借我們的早期預警系統，我們掌握了如何發現最有可能無法完成學業的女孩，這讓我們可以為有需要的女孩提供針對性的額外支持。我認為，只要有的放矢地了解消費者或自己的客戶，積極響應客戶的反饋，任何人都可以創造更多發展業務的機會。

作為一家全球性非營利組織的領導人，過去一年充滿了挑戰，但也讓我收獲頗豐。尼泊爾地震之后，我們的工作重點是幫助尼泊爾和其他亞非國家重建教育基礎設施，并且實現了影響1000萬兒童的目標。如果沒有拿出時間確認那些能夠推動我們事業發展的小事情，我們可能很難應對各種挑戰，更遑論取得這一里程碑式的成就。（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

審校：任文科

It’s amazing what one can learn about leadership from a children’s book or classic fairytale. Take, for example, Margaret Wise Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon in which a rabbit says goodnight to every little thing in his bedroom, and even says a sincere goodnight to “Nobody.” The story is simple and often thought of as a bedtime ritual, but I think it sends a clear message about the importance of recognizing the little things, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. It also perfectly highlights what I’ve learned about leadership this year: You can make the most informed decisions for your organization when you recognize and understand the needs of those you are affecting.

For this reason, at Room to Read we assess our programs by their outcomes in order to determine what needs are high priority and where we can provide the most impact. We recognize the little things by dedicating research to figuring out, for instance, what exactly children like about the books we publish, or what specific risks indicate a girl may not complete her education. We learned that children enjoyed our local language books on account of their colorful illustrations, and the fact that their fonts, letter sizes, and number of words per page make them easier to read.

All of our research efforts and conversations with children ultimately clarified where we should invest our time and resources. With more kid-friendly books on the shelves, more children will check out books from their libraries and develop a lifelong habit of reading. We also now understand how to identify girls who are most at risk of not completing their education thanks to our early-warning system that enables us to provide additional targeted support to girls in need. I think anyone who takes a targeted approach to understanding their consumer or client base, and responding to feedback, will create many more opportunities for the growth of their business.

It has been a challenging, but rewarding year to be a leader of a global nonprofit organization — following the earthquakes in Nepal, we are focused on rebuilding the educational infrastructure in that country and across Asia and Africa, and have reached our goal of impacting 10 million children.We would not have worked through these challenges or reached this milestone had we not taken the time to acknowledge the little things that drive our business forward.