“Some start-up gurus and senior executives seem to be losing touch with the public mood.”
“部分创始人与高管，似乎正在集体丧失对当下社会情绪的感知能力。”
My suspicion first arose in late September. After watching an industry tycoon’s product launch, an immediate sense of dissonance took hold, which was soon confirmed when the firm’s online reputation began to deteriorate rapidly.
我的这个判断最早始于9月下旬。当时在观看了某家公司的产品发布会后，一种强烈的违和感 便油然而生——随后的事实也印证了我的判断，该企业在互联网上的风评自那之后便开始急剧 恶化。
Today, after reading an open letter dispatched from Antarctica by a celebrated entrepreneur active both in the education and e-commerce sectors, I am convinced this was not an isolated case.
今天我读完某位跨界教育与电商领域的创始人从南极发给全体员工的公开信后，我确信这些观 察并非孤例。
A widening gap has opened between the “grand narratives” spun onstage and the far more prosaic conditions of the audience’s everyday lives. Far from strengthening the brand, such rhetoric has become a reputational liability; once meant to uplift, these narratives now read as unkept promises.
这种感知力的缺失，导致他们在台上构建的”宏大叙事”，与台下听众真实的”生存语境”之间， 产生了一道难以忽视的裂痕。这不仅无助于品牌传播，反而正在成为一种负资产。
Decision-makers in the Bubble 决策层的”环境隔离”
Executives who have long operated from a position of abundance tend to perceive “risk” in terms of market manoeuvring, stock volatility, or strategic outcomes. This elite vantage point bears little resemblance to the concerns of rank-and-file employees or young people, whose anxieties centre on rent, cash flow, and basic job security.
当企业决策者长期处于资源优势地位，习惯于高维度的战略决策时，他们所感知的”风险”通常 关乎市场博弈、股价波动或战略成败。这种精英视角的风险体验，与普通人——尤其是基层员 工及社会青年群体——所面临的下个月房租、现金流焦虑及就业不确定性，有着本质的区别。
Extended isolation inevitably produces blind spots. Those at the top frequently overestimate public’s appetite for aspiration while underestimating its far stronger instinct for self- preservation.
这种长期的环境隔离，容易导致一种”视角的盲区”：高位者高估了大众对他人的成功渴望，而 低估了大众对自身安全的防御本能。
Hearing only the “echoes” within their own chamber, deaf to the “gunfire” of daily life, cannot help but grow numb to the sufferings of others.
当一个人长期听不到现实的”炮火声”，只听得见周围的”奏乐声”，他对大众痛苦的感知神经必 然会逐渐钝化。
A narrative Out of time 叙事逻辑的时代性失效
Narratives, like fashions, are tethered to their moment.
任何一种叙事逻辑，都必须建立在特定的时代背景之上。
Appeals such as “life can only move forward” may have resonated a decade ago, when growth was robust, mobility high, and opportunity abundant. People then believed that effort reliably yielded reward.
“生命不能后退，只能往前冲”这种激进的奋斗观，在10年前或许是有效的。彼时经济处于高增 长周期，社会流动性强，机会充沛，大众普遍相信”投入即有回报”。
In 2025, however, the underlying mood has darkened. With shrinking assets, rising debt, and a widespread preference for stability, the public now moves through the world with an entirely different emotional baseline.
但在2025年的当下，时代底色已发生深刻变化。当”求稳”成为主流生存策略，当人们普遍面临 资产缩水与负债压力时，社会情绪的底色已经改变。
To persist in declaiming old slogans without sufficient empathy or awareness is not merely anachronistic; it signals a disinterest, if not an outright refusal, to engage with the hard realities confronting one’s audience.
如果演讲者缺乏足够的同理心和”防护语境”，依然沿用旧有的扩张性话语体系，不仅显得不合 时宜，更是一种对受众现实处境的漠视。
Mobilisation in An Age of Exhaustion 错位的”动员”与心理防御
Many young people today maintain a heightened state of psychological defence.‘
现在许多年轻群体实际上处于一种高负荷的”心理防御”状态。
Words like “strive,” “excel” and “push forward” have been deployed so relentlessly that they have lost their charge; instead of motivating, they now trigger a kind of physical weariness, even mild revulsion.
对于这一群体而言，”努力”、”向上”、”拼搏”等词汇在日常语境中出现频率过高，早已严重贬值 ，甚至引发了生理性的疲劳与厌恶。
Under such conditions, high-intensity mobilisation tactics, whether at a product launch or in an internal memo, are often dismissed as noise, or perceived as a form of pressure.
此时，如果发布会或内部信依然采取强输出式的”大动员”策略，极易被受众识别为无效的噪音 ，甚至是某种形式的”精神施压”。
The speakers may assume that impassioned exhortations will evoke solidarity. More often, they elicit resistance. When the audience’s chief concern is simple survival security, talk of “reinvention” or “defying destiny” comes across as tone-deaf, even faintly patronising.
演讲者以为激昂的呼吁能换来热血的共鸣，结果往往是南辕北辙。在听众首先关切生存稳定性 的当下，那些关于”重塑自我”、”逆天改命”的宏大词藻，只会触发听众的逆反机制，被贴上”脱 离现实”或”傲慢说教”的标签。
Less Lecturing, Less Moralising, and Fewer Paternal Airs 少一点布道，少一点说教，少一点当爹
The reputational dip after September’s product launch, and the backlash that has since engulfed the Antarctic message, should surprise no one.
9月份发布会后，那家公司连续两个月的风评恶化。今天这位创始人遭遇的舆论反噬。这两个 结果都丝毫不让人意外。
To misread public sentiment is to court a significant, if intangible, risk. In times of economic uncertainty, audiences are unusually alert, and gravitate toward voices that acknowledge reality and speak plainly.
感知不到社会情绪的变化是巨大的隐性风险。特别是在经济不确定性较高的时期，公众的神经 更为敏感，也更倾向于寻找那些能够体察现实、语态平实的声音。
Some high-profile entrepreneurs and executives would do well to rely less on grand narratives and more on practical support, with less lecturing and fewer paternal airs. What people need now is not “spiritual nutrition” flown in from Antarctica, but something closer to a hot meal at home.
真诚建议部分创始人和高管少一点宏大叙事，多一点具体关怀；少教年轻人做人，少当一点” 爹”。比起来自南极的精神鸡汤，大家更需要的，或许只是一碗热乎的饭。
[Translated by Maomao.]