????企業(yè)界,，以及跑企業(yè)口的記者,，總喜歡搞一點(diǎn)無(wú)傷大雅的夸張之辭。史上最好,！全新升級(jí),！性能空前增強(qiáng)！

????實(shí)際上,，不僅商界喜歡夸大其辭,，全社會(huì)都如此。美國(guó)總統(tǒng)候選人唐納德?特朗普眼下人氣大漲便是一個(gè)最新的佐證,，呃,，那是來(lái)自現(xiàn)實(shí)、高于現(xiàn)實(shí)的吹牛皮大王,。

????但正如大眾公司這次的丑聞所示,，我們也是有底線(xiàn)的。自9月18日該公司承認(rèn)在汽車(chē)中安裝軟件,，從而在美國(guó)環(huán)保局的尾氣排放測(cè)試中造假以來(lái),，其股價(jià)一天下跌了近20%。

????沒(méi)人知道這家銷(xiāo)售額高達(dá)2210億美元的全球最大車(chē)企接下來(lái)會(huì)發(fā)生什么,，也沒(méi)人知道這次造假的源頭是否會(huì)一直追蹤到首席執(zhí)行官馬丁?溫特科恩,。但如果大眾選擇的是對(duì)測(cè)試結(jié)果夸大其詞，而不是徹底造假,，那又會(huì)發(fā)生什么呢,？

????不要誤解我的意思：我絕不支持任何形式的性能標(biāo)準(zhǔn)造假，尤其是那些與安全和健康相關(guān)的,。不過(guò)這次的舉動(dòng)實(shí)在是厚顏無(wú)恥,，肆無(wú)忌憚得讓人吃驚，大眾的品牌和企業(yè)文化恐怕在很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間內(nèi)都難以恢復(fù)正常,。

????這次造假遠(yuǎn)非一兩個(gè)人躲在辦公室格子間里能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn),，一定有多達(dá)數(shù)百人牽涉其中，才能構(gòu)建這樣的系統(tǒng),，并確保將它裝進(jìn)42.8萬(wàn)輛汽車(chē)中。如果這家公司把智商用在設(shè)法滿(mǎn)足排放標(biāo)準(zhǔn),，而不是繞開(kāi)它上面,，它可能會(huì)非常成功。

????想象一下另一番情景：大眾信誓旦旦地聲稱(chēng)，該公司的柴油發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)能滿(mǎn)足美國(guó)環(huán)保局的標(biāo)準(zhǔn),。然后,，在經(jīng)過(guò)一番嘗試之后，他們還是沒(méi)能滿(mǎn)足標(biāo)準(zhǔn),。美國(guó)環(huán)保局（值得一提的是,，該機(jī)構(gòu)主要依賴(lài)各家車(chē)企的自測(cè)數(shù)據(jù)）測(cè)試了大眾汽車(chē)的引擎（但愿如此），發(fā)現(xiàn)它沒(méi)有滿(mǎn)足標(biāo)準(zhǔn),，然后對(duì)該公司罰款,。這種錯(cuò)誤依舊代價(jià)很大，但不至于那么令人驚訝,。大眾的公信力也不會(huì)徹底垮掉,。畢竟，吹牛不管好壞都是“潛規(guī)則”,，而造假則完全破壞了游戲規(guī)則,。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

????審校：任文科

????The business world—and the journalists who cover it—have always rewarded a healthy bit of hype. Best Ever! New and Improved! Now with enhanced whatevers!

????Actually, the love of the big claim goes far beyond the business world and is interwoven throughout society. Donald Trump’s current popularity is only the latest example of bombast, er, trumping reality.

????But we do have limits, as the scandal at Volkswagen shows. So far, the company’s stock price has fallen almost 20% since it admitted on September 18 that it had installed software that allowed its cars to fake their performance on emissions testing in order to fool the EPA.

????No one knows what will happen to the $221 billion in sales car company—the world’s largest—going forward, and whether the deception stretches all the way to the CEO, Martin Winterkorn. But one wonders what would have happened had the company opted for exaggerating its results rather than falsifying them.

????Don’t get me wrong: I’m not advocating that any performance standards—particularly those that affect safety and health—should ever be presented with anything but the full truth. But this move was so brazen, so breathtakingly full of chutzpah, that it is hard to imagine VW’s brand recovering for a very, very long time; nor, one imagines, will its culture.

????The plot goes far beyond one or two people hiding out in a cubicle and must have involved hundreds of people building such a system and making sure it was implemented inside of 428,000 cars. One wonders what the company might have been able to accomplish instead if it put all that brainpower toward meeting emissions requirements rather than circumventing them.

????Consider the alternative: VW tried—and failed—to meet the EPA’s emissions standards, after saying that they believed they had diesel engines that did the job. The EPA (which, it’s worth noting, relies primarily onself-tested data) would have—hopefully—tested its engines, found Volkswagen deficient, and fined the company. It would have been costly, yes, but it wouldn’t have been all that surprising. And VW’s credibility wouldn’t have been destroyed in the process. After all, exaggeration, for better or worse, is just how the game is played.