Each January for the past eight years I have handed out prizes to the finest, freshest examples of corporate guff spoken or written in the preceding 12 months. Until now my methodology has been autocratic: all decisions have been taken by me. This year, as a nod to the sheer size and maturity of the bullshit market, I’ve toyed with democracy and enlisted FT readers and colleagues to join me as judges. Yet I find I’m not ready to give up absolute power just yet. I have humoured my fellow judges up to a point, but when they have made the wrong choices, I have overridden them, thus ensuring all winners of the 2013 Golden Flannel Awards are truly exceptional, utterly original, jargon giants.
过去8年里，每年1月我都要选出上一年最华而不实、最新鲜的企业界废话（口头及书面用语两方面），向其颁发大奖。此前我的评选方法一直奉行专制主义：所有决定都由我一人作出。今年，为了向规模庞大、日益成熟的废话市场致意，我也玩了把民主，招募了FT的读者和同事与我一起来当评审。但我觉得自己还没准备好立即放弃绝对权力。所以在一定程度上我会迁就各位评审伙伴们，可当他们选择错误时，我会推翻他们的决定，从而确保2013年度“金废话奖”(Golden Flannel Awards)的所有获奖者都是绝对出类拔萃、完全原创的废话王。