乔布斯传 第140期:求爱

 The Courtship

求爱

Mike Markkula had never wanted to be Apple's president.

迈克·马库拉从来就没想过要当苹果公司的总裁。

He liked designing his new houses, flying his private plane, and living high off his stock options;

他喜欢设计自己的新房子，驾驶自己的私人飞机，靠股票期权过着豪华的生活；

he did not relish¹ adjudicating conflict or curating high-maintenance egos².

他并不喜欢裁决纠纷，也不喜欢领导一群很难伺候的自我主义者。

He had stepped into the role reluctantly, after he felt compelled to ease out Mike Scott,

他之前被迫赶走了迈克·斯科特，然后很不情愿地当上了总裁，

and he promised his wife the gig would be temporary.

他答应过妻子，这份差事只是暂时的。

By the end of 1982, after almost two years, she gave him an order: Find a replacement³ right away.

到1982年底，马库拉已经在这个职位上干了差不多两年，妻子给他下了最后通牒：马上寻找接班人。

Jobs knew that he was not ready to run the company himself, even though there was a part of him that wanted to try.

乔布斯知道自己还没有能力管理公司，虽然他跃跃欲试。

Despite his arrogance⁴, he could be self-aware.

乔布斯很髙傲，但他还是有自知之明的。

Markkula agreed; he told Jobs that he was still a bit too rough-edged and immature⁵ to be Apple's president.

马库拉也赞成乔布斯的想法。他告诉乔布斯，要担任苹果公司的总裁，他还稍显毛矂、不成熟。

So they launched a search for someone from the outside.

于是，他们开始在公司外寻找合适的人选。

The person they most wanted was Don Estridge,

他们最中意的人是唐·埃斯特里奇，

who had built IBM's personal computer division from scratch and launched a PC that,

他白手起家，创建了IBM的个人电脑部门，并且开创了这条产品线。

even though Jobs and his team disparaged⁶ it, was now outselling Apple's.

尽管乔布斯及其团队对此不屑一顾，但如今其销售量已经超过了苹果。

Estridge had sheltered his division in Boca Raton, Florida, safely removed from the corporate⁷ mentality⁸ of Armonk, New York.

埃斯特里奇为保护其团队免受纽约州阿蒙克市IBM总部企业文化的影响，将其公司设立在佛罗里达州的博卡拉顿。

Like Jobs, he was driven and inspiring,

和乔布斯一样，埃斯特里奇富有上进心，能启发灵感。

but unlike Jobs, he had the ability to allow others to think that his brilliant ideas were their own.

而和乔布斯不同的是，他能够让别人觉得他的一些绝妙想法也是他们的。

Jobs flew to Boca Raton with the offer of a $1 million salary and a $1 million signing bonus, but Estridge turned him down.

乔布斯飞到博卡拉顿，开出了100万美元薪水外加100万美元签约奖金的条件，但是埃斯特里奇拒绝了他。

He was not the type who would jump ship to join the enemy.

埃斯特里奇不是那种会投敌的人，

He also enjoyed being part of the establishment, a member of the Navy rather than a pirate.

而且，他也愿意做机构的一部分，喜欢做海军，而不是海盗。

He was discomforted by Jobs's tales of ripping off the phone company.

乔布斯讲述的当年用蓝盒子盗打电话的故事，让埃斯特里奇觉得很不舒服。

When asked where he worked, he loved to be able to answer "IBM."

当别人问起他在哪儿工作时，他喜欢那种说出“IBM”这个名字的感觉。

So Jobs and Markkula enlisted⁹ Gerry Roche, a gregarious¹⁰ corporate headhunter, to find someone else.

于是，乔布斯和马库拉找来社交广泛的企业猎头格里·罗齐,帮他们另择人选。

They decided¹¹ not to focus on technology executives;

他们决定不局限在科技髙管这个圈子里。

what they needed was a consumer marketer who knew advertising¹² and had the corporate polish that would play well on Wall Street.

他们需要的是一位懂得广告宣传和市场研究的消费产品营销专家，得有大企业人士的风范，能在华尔街吃得开。

Roche set his sights on the hottest consumer marketing¹³ wizard of the moment,

罗齐将目光锁定在当时最红的消费产品营销奇才、

John Sculley, president of the Pepsi-Cola division of PepsiCo,

百事公司百事可乐部门总裁约翰·斯卡利的身上，

whose Pepsi Challenge campaign had been an advertising and publicity¹⁴ triumph.

他的百事挑战系列推广活动在广告宣传方面曾经取得了巨大的胜利。

When Jobs gave a talk to Stanford business students, he heard good things about Sculley, who had spoken to the class earlier.

乔布斯在给斯坦福大学商学院的学生们演讲时，听到了一些关于斯卡利的好话，斯卡利之前也曾在这个班做过演讲。

So he told Roche he would be happy to meet him.

于是乔布斯告诉罗齐他很乐意见见斯卡利。

1 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

2 egos   

自我，自尊，自负( ego的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their egos are so easily bruised. 他们的自尊心很容易受到伤害。
• The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men. 这种信仰是下等人幼稚的自私意识中产生的。

3 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

4 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

5 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

6 disparaged   

v.轻视( disparage的过去式和过去分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• French-Canadian fur trappers and Sioux disparaged such country as "bad lands. " 法语的加拿大毛皮捕兽器和苏人的贬低国家作为“坏土地”。 来自互联网
• She disparaged her student's efforts. 她轻视她的学生做出的努力。 来自互联网

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

8 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

9 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 gregarious   

adj.群居的，喜好群居的

参考例句：

• These animals are highly gregarious.这些动物非常喜欢群居。
• They are gregarious birds and feed in flocks.它们是群居鸟类，会集群觅食。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

13 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

14 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。