作为广告代理商百比赫(Bartle Bogle Hegarty)的创始人之一，约翰·巴特尔(John Bartle)过去这些年进行了很多次演讲。

John Bartle, one of the founders of advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, has made a lot of speeches over the years.

“我认为，告别演说与我女儿的婚礼致辞一样，都是是最难的，因为它们只有一次——希望如此。”巴特尔表示，他1999年离开公司时的演讲准备得很辛苦——“它太重要了，以至于不能即兴发挥”——同时要考虑到，这种场合需要你拿出一些不同寻常的东西。

“My view is that along with the speech at my daughter's wedding, the leaving speech was the most difficult to do because – hopefully – you only do it once.” Mr Bartle says he worked very hard on the speech he made when he left the company in 1999 – “too important to improvise” – and thinks the occasion demands you come up with something out of the ordinary.

“你必须展望未来，而不是回忆过去；某种意义上，你需要尽可能地淡化你的离去。告诉大家，为何现在是你应该离开的时候了，以及你离开后公司还能继续发展的原因。”

“You need to look forward, not back, and you need to minimise your departure in a sense. Tell people why it's time for you to go and why the business will go on without you.”

完美的告别演说应该是幽默、回忆、宽慰和感激的一种微妙平衡。当你的离去充满了赞许和友好时，你的演讲已经够难了；而当你的离去令人不满，并且所有这一切都必须勇敢讲出来时，那就更是难上加难。正如一位前银行家所言：“你就是希望所有人都酩酊大醉，注意不到你那软弱无力的声音和硬挤出来的笑容。”

The ideal farewell speech should be a subtle balance of humour, memories, reassurance and gratitude. Tough enough when your departure is full of back-slapping and bonhomie; it's doubly difficult when there is a cloud over your exit and all this has to be delivered through gritted teeth. As one former banker notes: “You just hope everyone's too drunk to notice that your voice is flat and your smile is really a rictus grin.”

Trinity Management Communications董事总经理、《星期日独立报》(Independent on Sunday)前任编辑金?弗莱彻(Kim Fletcher)表示：“我的观点是，你不应该用告别演说来算旧账，即使你喝醉了。如果你那么做，几乎可以确定的是，听到演说的都不是该对此负责的人，而且这会让他们感到不安。”

Kim Fletcher, managing director of Trinity Management Communications and a former editor of the Independent on Sunday, says: “My view is you shouldn't use it to settle old scores even if you have been canned. If you do, it'll almost certainly be in front of people who aren't responsible and it'll leave them feeling uncomfortable.”

相反，你的告别演说应该让以前的同事感受到温暖的光辉。“每个人都是自私的，因此，你该让他们感觉不错，让他们离开的时候在脑子里想‘这家伙真不错'。即使你以前是一个冷酷无情的家伙，他们或许也会在想，‘不错，他以前是一个冷酷无情的家伙，但他谈到我们时很有感情。'”

Rather, your valedictory address should leave former colleagues feeling a warm glow. “Everyone's selfish, so you make them feel good and they leave thinking, ‘what a great bloke'. Even if you were a ruthless bastard, they'll probably leave thinking, ‘Yes, he was a ruthless bastard, but he spoke fondly of us'.”

如果你的离去并不像看上去那么平和，那么有些事情你可以去做。弗莱彻表示：“你可以不谈论现在的管理层，而只是称赞公司。”重点是以实用主义为原则。尽管实话实说似乎让人异常满足，同时诚实得惊人，但它未必符合每个人的利益——其中包括你自己。“几年后，你可能会变得成熟一点，并且会意识到那些都只是对事不对人。”

There are certain things you can do if the terms of your departure are not as amicable as they appear. “You might say nothing about the current management but instead praise the company,” says Mr Fletcher. The point is a pragmatic one. While it might seem incredibly satisfying and breathtakingly honest to tell people what you really think, it is unlikely to be in anybody's interests, your own included. “In a few years, you'll probably mellow a bit and realise that it was just business and not personal.”

猎头公司海德思哲(Heidrick & Struggles)合伙人伊丽莎白?马克斯(Elisabeth Marx)的观点与之类似：“我建议尽可能以一种优雅的方式退出。它是表达感情的演说——要么是积极的，要么是消极的——但大度一些总是好的。”

Elisabeth Marx, a partner at headhunter Heidrick & Struggles, takes a similar view: “My advice is to exit if at all possible in a gracious way. It's an emotional speech – either positive or negative – but it's always better to be generous.”

她表示，你甚至可能希望与留下来的领导层讨论你离开的方式。“摆出合作的姿态，问问他们希望你如何退出。如果你是一位即将离开的首席执行官，你应该记住自己的职责之一就是确保连贯性，并且不能损害公司业绩和文化。记住，处理好这段时期是你职责的一部分，并且将影响到你的声誉。”

She suggests you may even wish to discuss the style of your leaving with the leadership that stays behind. “Make a gesture of co-operation and ask how they'd like you to exit. And if you're a CEO who is leaving you should remember that one of your roles is to ensure continuity and that performance and culture do not suffer. Remember that dealing with this period is part of your responsibility and will affect your reputation.”

不过，还有一些更为平常的注意事项。Penna Recruitment Communications创意总监乔纳森?理查兹(Jonathan Richards)表示：“黄金规则就是演讲前别喝醉。”他回忆起一位女士以坦白自己与同事之间的旧情作为演讲的开始，接着详细叙述了办公室里的一次偷情，之后，整个人滑倒在桌上，裙子也掀了起来。他表示：“这令人感到讨厌、可悲，还有点滑稽。”

But there are more mundane considerations, too. Jonathan Richards, creative director at Penna Recruitment Communications, says: “The golden rule is not to get drunk before you speak.” He recalls one woman who started her speech by confessing her past crushes on colleagues, then recounted a sexual encounter that took place in the office before doing a full body slide down the board table while her skirt rode up. “It was cringeworthy, pathetic and sort of funny,” he says.

不过，比这更糟糕的是“一个女孩在其告别活动前的午饭时就喝得烂醉，然后私下告诉每个人她讨厌他们。”结果，她错过了自己的告别会——而且在最后一天还被人力资源的人训斥了一番。

Worse, though, was an incident when “a girl got horrendously drunk at the lunch before her leaving drinks and told everyone individually that she hated them”. As a result, she missed her leaving party – and had to be formally reprimanded by human resources on her final day.

除了酒精以外，理查兹还建议要得体，他指出：“你的同事将会知道你是否受到了不公平的对待。”其它注意事项包括避开容易惹麻烦的趣闻轶事，当获得离别礼物时要有礼貌——即使你不喜欢它。理查兹表示：“我曾经就参加过这样一个告别会：那位要离开的男士问送他礼物的人是否保留了收据。”

Alcohol aside, Mr Richards also advises graciousness, noting: “Your colleagues will know if you've been treated unfairly.” Other tips include steering clear of prickly anecdotes and looking gracious when presented with a leaving gift, even if you hate it. “I went to one do where the man leaving asked if they had kept the receipt,” says Mr Richards.

最后，要简短。巴特尔建议道：“要让他们希望你再多讲5分钟，而不是乞求上帝让你赶快讲完，然后滚蛋。”谈到大师级的典范，当数托尼?布莱尔(Tony Blair)任英国首相时的最后一次演讲，该演讲甚至触发了那些迫切希望他离任者的怀旧之情。而如何把它演砸？这方面做得最好的要数英国珠宝商杰拉尔德?拉特纳(Gerald Ratner)，他戏称自己的产品是“垃圾”——这表明，最糟糕的告别演说，是那些你甚至都没有意识到这一点的情况下所作的演说。

Finally, keep it brief: “Leave them wanting five minutes more,” advises Mr Bartle, “not wishing to God you'd hurry up and go.” For a masterclass, one could do worse than look at Tony Blair's final speech as British prime minister which stoked the flames of nostalgia in even the hearts of those who couldn't wait for him to leave. And how not to do it? Perhaps the best was Gerald Ratner, the UK jeweller, who joked his products were “crap” – which shows the worst leaving speeches are those you do not even know you are making.