The technology industry turns out many wonderfully rational products with cool precision. Which seems amazing at times, given how some high-tech companies are run. Emotion can trump reason, particularly on issues like succession and corporate governance.
科技業經常以令人驚嘆的精準度推出許多極其合理的新產品。在知悉部分高科技公司如何經營運作之後，這種成就有時候似乎還真令人不得不稱奇。感情可能凌駕理智，尤其是涉及接班與公司管理問題時。

The tech world is rich in visionary founders and strong early leaders, those whizzes who dream up game-changing products and strategies. These executives are often celebrated, even mythologized, and with reason: the right one can make employees and shareholders rich.
科技界不乏具有遠見的創辦者與強有力的初期領導者。這些曠世奇才憑空想出各種足以改變大局的新產品與經營策略。這些企業高層通常遠近馳名甚至化為神話般的人物。這種結果可謂其來有自：適才適所的企業領導者可以使員工及股東致富。

But tech companies are often notoriously hard to run. And sometimes, these leaders cling to dated visions and stifle innovation. Sometimes, they simply won’t get out of the way. Promising executives with new ideas get fed up and leave.
然而科技公司通常也極難管理。有時候，這些領導者固守已經過時的見解，甚至扼殺創意。有時候，他們就是不肯退居二線。前途大有可為且滿腹創意的高層主管往往因為難以忍受這種局面而求去。

“No one wants to talk about it, but founders stay too long, and they chase out the next generation of leaders,” says Kevin Rollins, the former chief executive of Dell. “It’s really the fault of the board, which doesn’t manage the strategy and sticks with a founder whose vision has run out of gas.”
戴爾公司前執行長羅林斯說：「沒有人願意談論這件事，然而企業的創辦人在位太久，趕走了下一代的企業領導人。老實說，這是董事會的錯，因為董事會不掌握好企業的經營策略，只知道緊抱著見解已經落伍的企業創辦人。」

Mr. Rollins was Dell’s C.E.O. from 2004 to 2007, when he was ousted and replaced by the company’s founder, Michael S. Dell. Mr. Dell had given up the C.E.O. spot to become chairman – until he wanted his old job back. Mr. Rollins, who was paid tens of millions of dollars as C.E.O., oversaw a series of disappointing quarterly earnings, and Dell’s share price fell 9 percent during his tenure.
羅林斯於2004年至2007年之間擔任戴爾公司執行長。公司將他解聘後，改由創辦人戴爾親自接任執行長。戴爾此前曾經擔任公司執行長，後來放棄執行長一職改任董事長，直到他想回鍋為止。擔任戴爾執行長期間，羅林斯的待遇高達數千萬美元，不過同一時期，戴爾公司的營收也接連數季不如預期，公司股價並在他擔任執行長期間重挫9%。

“There is my case, but there is also the case of Cisco, Microsoft, Research in Motion and Yahoo,” Mr. Rollins says. “You are going to see a big succession problem in the next three years, and the boards probably won’t do anything about grooming for succession until the next generation of leaders gets in and has problems.”
羅林斯說：「這是我的實際例子，而思科、微軟、（加拿大黑莓機製造商）RIM、雅虎這些公司也都有同樣的問題。未來三年，你一定會目睹這些企業面臨嚴重的傳承問題。而在新一代領導人上場接班並碰到問題之前，這些公司的董事會在培養接班人方面大概也不會有任何作為。」

Charles H. Giancarlo, a managing director at Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm specializing in technology, says succession “has become a lunchtime topic in the Silicon Valley.”
私募股權基金「銀湖夥伴公司」專以科技業為標的，總經理吉恩卡洛表示，科技業領導層交接問題已經成為「矽谷人茶餘飯後的話題」。

Mr. Giancarlo spent nearly 20 years at Cisco Systems, and became the executive vice president and chief development officer. But he quit in 2007 over disagreements about the performance of the longtime C.E.O., John T. Chambers. Mr. Giancarlo says many technology companies are at a turning point. “People are realizing that the business has gone from unbelievable leadership, with teams making the right calls, to those companies meandering and failing,” he says.
吉恩卡洛曾經為思科系統公司效力將近20年，因為表現傑出而逐步晉職公司執行副總裁、開發總監。2007年，他因為對於長期擔任公司執行長的錢伯斯的表現無法認同而求去。賈恩卡洛指出，許多科技公司已經走到轉捩點。他說：「人們已經開始明白，這一行已經由領導好到令人不敢置信 ─ 由經營團隊做成正確決定 ─ 的黃金時期，轉入迂迴曲折而失敗的歧途。」

Both Cisco and Dell have underperformed the broad stock market in recent years.
思科與戴爾這兩家公司的股價，近年來表現始終不如大盤。

Mr. Rollins says Mr. Dell balked at his ideas about moving beyond PCs. Mr. Giancarlo says Mr. Chambers created a thicket of time-sucking boards and councils that led to endless meetings.
羅林斯指出，戴爾先生不肯接受他所提必須設法超越個人電腦層次的理念。吉恩卡洛表示，錢伯斯設置徒然浪費時間的種種委員會，而這些委員會只知召開沒完沒了的會議。

“Councils are how every dictator organizes below themselves,” Mr. Giancarlo says. “It prevents any real challenger from rising up.”
吉恩卡洛說：「這些委員會正是每一個獨裁者組織部屬的作法。它使得任何真正的挑戰者都無法出頭。」

A Dell spokesman said that, under Mr. Dell, the company has made “significant progress” in diversifying its business. “Mr. Dell has recruited the strongest, most capable and stable senior management team in the industry,” the spokesman wrote in an e-mail. A spokesman for Cisco noted that the company earlier this year streamlined its decision-making and exited a business in consumer cameras, among other changes.
戴爾公司的一名發言人說，在戴爾領導下，該公司在多元化經營這方面已經獲致「顯著的進展」。這位發言人透過電子郵件聲稱，錢伯斯已經延攬並建立一支同業之中陣容最堅強、專業能力最突出而且最穩定的經營管理團隊。思科的一名發言人指出，該公司最近厲行多項改革，包括今年稍早精簡決策流程，以及退出消費者攝影機市場。

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University, says tech boards have a hard time managing founders, since those executives also have exceptional value.
耶魯大學管理學教授桑南菲爾德指出，科技公司的董事會近年來難以駕馭它們的創辦者，因為這些企業高層也有其獨特的價值。

“The founder and the early leader can do certain things to change the company, too. Rollins couldn’t change the company religion, but Dell can – he has inspirational authority,” Mr. Sonnenfeld says.
桑南菲爾德說：「從另一個角度來看，創辦人與初期領導人也可以藉由他們的作為來改變整個企業。羅林斯無法改變戴爾公司的價值觀，戴爾卻辦得到。他具備足以鼓舞人心的權威地位。」

“The board can fear the founder,” he said, “but that is O.K. if he is growing with the business.”
桑南菲爾德又說：「董事會可能對創辦人心存畏懼，不過只要創辦人與公司一起成長，這就不成問題。」

原文參照：
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/tech-visionaries-and-the-succession-question/

2011-12-06聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報七版下