????思科（Cisco）收購(gòu)我之前所創(chuàng)立的公司IronPort花費(fèi)了6個(gè)月的時(shí)間，而我在這段時(shí)間內(nèi)則是度日如年。雖然我仍然是名義上的首席執(zhí)行官，但實(shí)際上，我所管理的這個(gè)“傀儡”政府的所有聘用工作、重大開(kāi)支和戰(zhàn)略調(diào)整都需要得到即將上任的君王的批準(zhǔn)。由于思科是一家在職能組織上井然有序的公司，很快，直接向我匯報(bào)的項(xiàng)目將被減半，因?yàn)殇N(xiāo)售、人事和財(cái)務(wù)部門(mén)將向各自所屬的集團(tuán)匯報(bào)。我的職責(zé)會(huì)逐漸減少，自由發(fā)揮空間也會(huì)大幅縮小。而真正讓人進(jìn)退兩難的問(wèn)題在于：我與思科達(dá)成的協(xié)議是，收購(gòu)交易結(jié)束之后，我作為公司創(chuàng)始人的股份可以得到24個(gè)月的特別保護(hù)，而并購(gòu)本身就已讓我如坐針氈。我很確信自己并不適合在大公司工作，然而，我只是難以在接下來(lái)的兩年中天天望鐘興嘆，然后漸漸地失去理智。我該怎么辦？

????我兒子最近的水球隊(duì)訓(xùn)練讓我受到了啟發(fā)。雖然我在佛羅里達(dá)州海邊長(zhǎng)大，但我并不怎么擅長(zhǎng)游泳。我甚至從來(lái)都沒(méi)穿過(guò)Speedo泳衣。我以為我壓根不會(huì)喜歡水球運(yùn)動(dòng)。但是，如果我在兩年之內(nèi)每天都觀看同一種體育項(xiàng)目，而且其他的人都在玩水球——那么我還能在泳池邊無(wú)所事事地呆坐多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間？我是不是應(yīng)該直接采取行動(dòng)？撲撲水，假裝參與？不，我開(kāi)始意識(shí)到前進(jìn)的方式只有一種：剃掉全身的毛，穿上speedo，甩甩胳膊，然后聚精會(huì)神地加入其中……

????并購(gòu)交易結(jié)束6個(gè)月之后，我做出了一個(gè)嚴(yán)肅而又具體的決定。我強(qiáng)烈要求接管思科（CSCO）所有的安全產(chǎn)品業(yè)務(wù)——這塊業(yè)務(wù)比Ironport全部的業(yè)務(wù)還大三倍。我認(rèn)為，如果新被收購(gòu)公司的高管的受限時(shí)間很長(zhǎng)（也就是說(shuō)多于18個(gè)月），那么，他們應(yīng)強(qiáng)烈要求在收購(gòu)公司中擔(dān)任更高的職務(wù)。這對(duì)于那些并不打算在特別保護(hù)權(quán)到期后留在被收購(gòu)公司的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者來(lái)說(shuō)尤其可行。聽(tīng)起來(lái)似乎并不靠譜，但我的理由在于：

????出發(fā)點(diǎn)不是你自己，而是你的團(tuán)隊(duì)。如果身為一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)帶頭人，你自己郁郁寡歡，整天悶悶不樂(lè)，“無(wú)所事事”，而且說(shuō)起話來(lái)轉(zhuǎn)彎抹角，那么你的團(tuán)隊(duì)也會(huì)分崩離析，而收購(gòu)也將失敗。另一方面，如果你擔(dān)任了一個(gè)更高的職務(wù)，那么你就可以利用這一獨(dú)特的位置拉他們一把。你欠員工們一個(gè)人情，因?yàn)槟切┏耘菝娴膯T工們一開(kāi)始在你的公司工作時(shí)得到的便可能是毫無(wú)價(jià)值的股票。除了提拔他們?cè)谛鹿局袚?dān)任更高的職務(wù)之外，你還可以推薦手下最好的員工去別的公司工作，因?yàn)槟銜?huì)了解到更多跨公司工作的機(jī)遇。一旦你的團(tuán)隊(duì)看到你加入了新的公司，他們也可能會(huì)更加賣(mài)力。大多數(shù)IronPort的中層管理者在思科的擔(dān)子會(huì)大幅增加，而這為他們?cè)谒伎苹蚱渌緭?dān)任更高的職務(wù)打下了基礎(chǔ)。有一種說(shuō)法認(rèn)為，創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的員工不適合在大型公司任職——事實(shí)上，很多人都已為這個(gè)變化做好了準(zhǔn)備。在我們打造IronPort的這8年期間，很多單身員工結(jié)了婚，生了孩子，也希望能從大型公司中拿到和現(xiàn)在一樣的收入，福利以及更少的工作時(shí)間和更穩(wěn)定的工作。

????It took almost six months for my former company IronPort's acquisition by Cisco to close and it seemed like forever. Although I was still the CEO by name, I was essentially running a "puppet" government with every hire, major expense and strategic shift needing explicit approval from my soon-to-be-overlords. Since Cisco was a functionally organized company, I would soon be losing half of my direct reports as sales, HR, and finance would report into their respective groups. My job was becoming smaller and it had considerably fewer degrees of freedom. So here was the big dilemma: I had signed up for 24 months of re-vesting my founder's shares that wouldn't begin until the deal was closed and it already seemed like a paint-drying eternity. I was pretty sure that I wasn't cut out for a big company but I just couldn't spend the next two years watching the clock or I'd spiral into insanity. What to do?

????An analogy hit me as I watched my son at recent team practice: Water polo. Despite growing up on Florida beaches, I'm not that great of a swimmer. I've never even put on a Speedo. I didn't think that I would like anything about water polo. However, if I was locked in a sports complex every day for two years and everyone else was playing water polo – how long could I sit on the edge of the pool before I gave it a go? Should I just go through the motions? Splash water on my face and feign participation? No, I came to believe there was only one way forward: shave all the hair off my body, put on the Speedo, start throwing elbows, making shots and playing with vigor…

????Seriously and specifically, after six months in, I strongly advocated to be put in charge of all Security products at Cisco (CSCO) – a business that was three times larger than IronPort. I believe if the leaders of a newly acquired company are locked up for a significant period of time (i.e. greater than 18 months), they should strongly advocate for bigger jobs within the acquiring company. This is especially true if the leader isn't planning on staying around after the vesting period. This may seem like odd advice, but here's the rationale:

????It's not about you, it's about your team. If you're a disaffected leader, moping around, "doing time" and talking smack, your team will disintegrate and the acquisition will fail. On the other hand, if you land a larger role, you are in a unique position to help them out. You owe it to the people who ate Ramen noodles while you paid them in potentially worthless stock to work at your company in the beginning. In addition to promoting some of them to larger roles within your new org, you will be much more connected to the cross-company opportunities and can advocate for your top performers. When your team sees you engaging, they are more likely to pull harder, too. Most of the mid-level managers at IronPort had a significant increase in their responsibilities at Cisco and it prepared them to take on even larger roles both in and outside the company. There is a myth that employees that come from a startup aren't cut out for a large companies - in fact, many may be ready for a change. Over the eight years we built IronPort, many of our single employees got married, had kids and wanted the current income, benefits, lighter work hours, and increased stability of a larger company.