昨天,“马云退休”的话题刷爆社交媒体。
9月10日,马云以题为“教师节快乐”的公开信(点这里查看)向外界宣布,2019年9月10日,他将不再担任集团的董事局主席职务,届时由现任集团CEO张勇接任。
这个能用一口流利英文表达观点的企业家一直受到外媒和外国网友的广泛关注。
这次,马云“退休”的消息一经爆出,外媒的报道铺天盖地……
CNN:马云明年将从阿里巴巴最高领导的位置上退下来
《纽约时报》:中国最富有的男人——阿里巴巴马云将从他联合创始的公司退休
《电讯报》:中国最富有的男人马云将退出阿里巴巴
还有一些外媒总结了马云的职业生涯,尤其对他开创的商业模式,和他对中国互联网商业做出的贡献进行了评论。
《华尔街日报》:马云给中国演示了做生意的一条新路子
CNBC:马云的继承人计划是关于领导力的重要一课
今天,双语君(微信ID:Chinadaily_Mobile)就为大家整理了几篇外媒的报道,看看他们是如何看待马云退休这件事的。
马云的人生建议
CNBC发表文章称马云退休是他遵循自己人生建议的结果。
CNBC:马云54岁了,他退出阿里巴巴的决定证明他听取了自己的建议什么建议呢?
今年1月,马云在2018冬季达沃斯论坛上的一番话在国外社交媒体上火了,说的是人一生的每阶段该做的事↓↓↓
马云说:
"When you are 20 to 30 years old, you should follow a good boss [and] join a good company to learn how to do things properly. When you are 30 to 40 years old, if you want to do something yourself, just do it. You still can afford to lose, to fail."
“当你20或者30来岁时,你应该跟一个好老板,加入一个好公司,学习如何把事情做好。到了30、40来岁,如果你想创业,那就去做吧,你还经得起挫折和失败。”
而对于接下来的人生,马云建议可以稳定下来,以家庭和下一代为主要考虑因素(stability, family and the future generations)。
Instead of diving into a new field or subject toward the later years in your career, he said, "when you're 40 to 50 years old, my suggestion is you should do things you are good at."
在接下来几年的职业生涯中,不要再考虑进入新领域了,马云说:“当你40到50岁时,我的建议就是你应该做你擅长的事情。”
"When you are 50 to 60 years old, spend time training and developing young people, the next generation," Ma added. "When you are over 60 years old, you better stay with your grandchildren."
“当你50到60岁时,应该花时间去训练培养年轻人,还有下一代,”马云补充道,“当你60多岁时,就和孙辈一起共享天伦吧。”
文章表示,54岁的马云此时的选择,正是应了他彼时的人生建议。
文章回顾了马云的职业生涯,称年轻时的马云失败了很多次,他在30岁之前可谓是屡遭碰壁,但马云说,二、三十岁的人是“最幸运的”,因为他们还有时间学习:
"I failed so many times," he said. "24 of us interviewed for a KFC job, 23 got accepted, I was the only guy rejected," he explained.
“我失败了太多次,”马云说,“当时我们24个人去肯德基面试,23个都被录用了,我是唯一被拒的。”
Ma also discussed the time he applied for a "police job" with five other people. He was the only person from the group to be rejected. Another time, he and his cousin applied for jobs as servers at a four-star hotel. "We waited [in a] long queue for two hours," Ma said. Although his cousin got the job, he received a rejection yet again.
马云也谈起自己和另外5人一起面试“警察的工作”。他也是这些人之中唯一一个被拒绝的。另一次,他和表兄弟一起面试四星级酒店的招待。“我们排了两个小时队,”最后表兄弟被录用了,他再次被刷。
但是即便如此,他也从未放弃,尽其所能去完成他的目标。“我知道这对我来说都是磨练”("I know this is a training course for me")。
如今,这个在公司中被称为“马老师”(Teacher Ma)的马云已经54岁了,而他宣布退休的那天正是中国的教师节。
文章援引马云的话说,“我做教书育人的事儿比做CEO得心应手”:
Just last week, Ma had said that "some day, very soon," he would return to teaching and education. "This is something I think I can do much better than being CEO of Alibaba."
上周,马云说“某一天、很快地”他将重回教书育人的工作。“我觉得我做这事儿比做阿里巴巴CEO得心应手。”
"I miss teaching very much. I came to the business field by accident," said Ma.
“我非常想念教书,进入生意场是个意外,”马云说。
马云的企业管理智慧
福布斯则发了一篇长文分析马云的企业管理智慧。
福布斯:这周马云给我们上了一堂课,告诉我们什么是优秀的企业管理
Teacher Ma as he is affectionately known inside Alibaba provided a blueprint for succession and corporate governance.
马老师(阿里巴巴的员工亲切地叫他马老师)给我们提供了一个企业继承和管理的蓝图。
作者开篇即提到,马云选择CEO张勇,而非家族成员,继任董事局主席,一反亚洲家族企业的做法。
What is very important to note here is that Ma has not picked a family member to succeed him but picked Daniel Zhang based on merit and business acumen.
非常重要的一点是,马云没有选择一名家族成员来继承自己的职务,而是基于才干和商业才华选择了张勇。
acumen /ˈækjəmən, əˈkjuːmən/:敏锐,聪明
Asian business has a history of using hereditary succession but Alibaba has shown the direction for global businesses to take.
亚洲企业有世袭继承的传统,但阿里巴巴展示了一个全球化企业应走的方向。
hereditary /hə'rɛdə'tɛri/ :世袭的
succession:继承
马云的管理方式具体好在哪里呢?
文章重点提到了马云在公开信里反复说的,阿里巴巴合伙人制度(the Alibaba Partnership)。
合伙人制度创立于2010年,其目的是为了确保企业的使命、文化、价值观能超越个人局限而传承下去(it was designed, to ensure the mission, culture and values of Alibaba survive well beyond any individual)。
其运作机制是这样的:
The Alibaba Partnership nominates and votes on new partners each year based on their experience, leadership and if they are a culture-carrier of the company.
合伙人制度每年基于资历、领导才干提名投票选出新的认同企业文化的合伙人。
The Alibaba partnership currently has 36 members from all parts of the Alibaba ecosystem, 33% of the members are female leaders.
目前阿里巴巴合伙人共有36名,他们来自阿里巴巴生态系统的各部分,其中33%是女性领导。
作者称,合伙人机制确保了阿里巴巴高层可以及时通报和讨论企业各领域存在的问题。
It is refreshing to see a business have a diverse group of individuals who form a part of managing a complex and large-scale business.
一个企业能让如此多元化的成员组成管理的一部分,从而确保一个复杂大型的企业运转正常,这种做法实在让人耳目一新。
这个机制在阿里巴巴高层管理人员的更迭中也起到重要作用。
The Partnership has the right to nominate (but not elect) a simple majority of members to Alibaba Group’s Board of Directors.
合伙人有权提名(但不是选举)过半数的阿里巴巴集团董事会成员。
This means when it comes time to choose a new Executive Chairman, the Partnership-nominated directors have intimate knowledge of that executive’s leadership style, operation abilities and character.
这意味着当要选择新的执行主席时,这些由合伙人提名的董事会成员会很清楚这个人的领导风格、执行能力和性格特点。
文章称,这与大多数上市公司的做法都不一样。
通常这些公司都是大范围搜罗人才,但这些人未必有着相同的企业文化和价值观。
而董事局成员也不像阿里巴巴合伙人制度确保的那样,对候选人有着一手的了解。
因此,作者总结评论道:
There is this perception that Chinese businesses are followers but in the case of governance and succession planning, it is clearly showing us the future.
有一种观点认为中国企业一直在追赶世界步伐,但在企业管理和继任规划方面,它们显然让我们看到了未来。
作者觉得这是亚马逊、eBay等企业需要学习的:
Can you name who the successors are at Amazon or eBay in case something happens to Jeff Bezos or Devin Wenig? Honestly, I have no clue which executives are being groomed by these businesses to take over if something were to happen to their founder or CEO.
如果亚马逊的贝佐斯或eBay的维尼格出了什么事,你能想出一个继承人吗?老实讲,我完全不知道这些公司培养了哪些主管可以继任他们。
马云的公开信藏着改变人生的经验
美国Inc杂志还刊登了撰稿人Erik Sherman的文章,详细谈了他读过马云公开信后的感受和从中获得的启发。
马云辞职信第四段背后藏着改变人生的经验
构筑一个可能没有你的未来
Erik说,自己很少写诸如“这件事会改变你的一生”这样的文章或标题( "one thing will change your life" type of story or headline),但马云的公开信却真的藏了改变人生的经验。
而这一宝贵经验,就藏在公开信正文第四段的最后:
……公司不可能只靠几个创始人,更何况我深知从能力、精力和体力的角度,任何人都不可能永远担任公司的CEO和董事长工作。
...No company can rely solely on its founders. Of all people, I should know that. Because of physical limits on one's ability and energy, no one can shoulder the responsibilities of chairman and CEO forever.
作者将获得的启发总结为3点:
❶ You can't do everything by yourself.
你不可能一个人完成所有事情
作者Erik说,美国社会推崇个人英雄主义,这些英雄往往单打独斗(facing all adversity alone),最后大获全胜。
但事实并非如此,你所做的一切都受益于其他人和事的帮助。
Of course people who accomplish anything do so with great work on their part. But whether in schooling offered, the way you were raised, pre-existing national and global infrastructure, work of those who went before, or teams that help make a final vision possible and known to the world, there is always help.
当然,一个人若取得一些成就,肯定是很好地完成了己任。但不管是学校教育,成长方式,业已存在的国家、国际基础设施,前人已完成的事业,亦或是助你将最终想法变成可能,进而闻名全球的团队,这些都对你有帮助。
❷ You won't last forever.
你不可能长生不老
We are all mortal in that we all eventually die. Other things fall to the wayside as well: opportunities, interests, relationships, energy and more.
我们皆为凡人,终将离去。而其它一些事情,譬如机会、兴趣、关系、精力等,亦如此。
没有永远的创始人,因此要不断将合适的人选送上这个位置。
In the evolution of companies, an entrepreneurial founder starts as a jack-of-all-trade, adds experts in specific areas, and eventually reaches a scale of business that is beyond his or her management abilities. In that case, the founder doesn't last forever, instead bringing on a replacement more suited to that role.
在公司发展演进中,企业创始人最初是“粗浅的多面手”,在特定经营领域增加专业人员,最终会触及一些超过自己管理能力的生意。在这种情况下,创始人不可能一直领导公司,而是应该选拔更适合的人承担该职位。
❸ For real success, your undertaking should be able to continue without you.
真正的成功是,你的企业没了你也能正常运转
Erik写道,真正成功的企业比创始人活得更长久(outlast the founder)。
要创造持久繁荣的企业,就要超越自己去思考(you have to think beyond yourself),让公司离了你也能运转得很好。
You find the best people you can to help, work with them to do better, and create structures that can outlast you. The fruits of your labor are more than the size of a bank account. It's in the existence of accomplishment in its own right.
你要找到最优秀的人才,去帮助他们,和他们共同努力做得更好,组建可持续的构架。你努力的成果远不止银行账户数目的大小,而在于成就本身。
(来源:中国日报双语新闻编辑部)