回憶史上最有爭議的CEO:拉里?埃里森與我的一次面試
????具體細(xì)節(jié)我已經(jīng)記不清了。那是1986年的11月份。我剛剛在斯坦福大學(xué)(Stanford University)完成計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)研究生學(xué)位。帶著軟件開發(fā)的特長,我開始尋找工作。 ????當(dāng)時(shí)還沒有LinkedIn。雖然網(wǎng)絡(luò)要等到十年后才會普及,但學(xué)校的計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)系已經(jīng)能夠連接互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。當(dāng)時(shí)找科技類工作的地方是Usenet,一款早期網(wǎng)絡(luò)布告欄。其中包括9個(gè)主要類別的帖子,如“rec.”(代表休閑娛樂)和“sci.”(代表科學(xué)類主題)。每一類都有許多子分類。在Comp.jobs專欄可以尋找計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)類的工作。 ????我找到兩份與我條件相符的工作,并參加了這兩家公司的面試。其中一家當(dāng)時(shí)的知名度較小,主要業(yè)務(wù)是關(guān)聯(lián)式數(shù)據(jù)庫,在幾個(gè)月前剛剛上市,有幾百名員工。那家公司的名字叫甲骨文(Oracle),但我對它一無所知。 ????當(dāng)時(shí),甲骨文還沒有搬到位于加州雷德伍德的綠玻璃大樓,即眾所周知的 “翡翠城”。那時(shí)候甲骨文的總部在一座小山坡上,位于貝爾蒙特戴維斯大街一棟普通的白色大樓里面。不過,公司當(dāng)時(shí)已經(jīng)擁有許多了不起的想法,在后來為其打出了知名度。我見到了幾位衣著得體的高管,包括銷售部門高管。銷售人員以男性為主,他們在公司有很大的自由。其中一位高管開著跑車帶我去吃午飯。我們來到一家俯瞰舊金山灣區(qū)的餐廳,這給我這個(gè)囊中羞澀的研究生留下了深刻印象。經(jīng)過幾輪面試之后,招聘經(jīng)理告訴我,每一位新工程師都要見一下CEO。我當(dāng)然沒有問題。 ????我被領(lǐng)進(jìn)拉里?埃里森的辦公室。他坐在桌子前面,透過一扇大窗戶可以俯瞰灣區(qū)。他很隨和,接下來15分鐘,我們談?wù)摿嗽S多話題。我從學(xué)校里學(xué)到了什么?我想要做什么?在已經(jīng)談?wù)撨^的崗位中,有哪一個(gè)最令我感興趣?然后他站了起來,談話到此結(jié)束。 ????我當(dāng)時(shí)并不知道,埃里森會成為史上最著名、最有趣、最有爭議的CEO之一。也從來沒有想過,甲骨文的股票會比公司首次公開募股時(shí)的價(jià)格上漲接近90,000%。當(dāng)時(shí)的埃里森剛四十出頭,才剛剛創(chuàng)業(yè)。他的資產(chǎn)凈值根本不值一提。 ????我收到了甲骨文的工作邀請,但最終還是選擇了另外一份工作。那是另外一家上市公司——太陽微系統(tǒng)公司(Sun Microsystems),它與甲骨文給我的感覺截然不同。(當(dāng)時(shí)我對商業(yè)的了解不多,還想不到“文化”層面。)這家公司的主力是工程師,許多人都擁有博士學(xué)位。我在面試的時(shí)候沒有看到銷售人員的影子。這種特別注重技術(shù)開發(fā)的模式,似乎更適合我。 ????再次見到拉里?埃里森已是多年之后,當(dāng)時(shí)我已經(jīng)離開工程領(lǐng)域,成為一名記者。那次見面是在1999年,加州大學(xué)伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)舉辦的一次演講,他在接受新聞學(xué)院院長奧威爾?斯科勒采訪的時(shí)候,用了大部分時(shí)間抨擊微軟(Microsoft)。他已經(jīng)成為一位傲慢、自大的億萬富翁。不論喜歡他還是討厭他,他肯定比我在戴維斯大道見到的那個(gè)和藹可親的家伙更加令人印象深刻。 ????上周四,甲骨文宣布埃里森將辭去已擔(dān)任37年的CEO一職。雖然有人認(rèn)為這只是形式,并非真正的變化,但對于業(yè)內(nèi)最杰出的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者之一,這將是一個(gè)有著重要意義的時(shí)刻。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) ????譯者:劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓 |
????I don’t remember a lot of details. It was November 1986. I had just finished a graduate degree in computer science at Stanford University, where I had specialized in software development. I was looking for a job. ????There was no LinkedIn back then. Though the Web would not become popular for almost another decade, the computer science department on campus had Internet access. And the place to look for tech jobs was the Usenet, an early online bulletin board that organized posts along nine major categories like “rec.” (for recreation and entertainment) and “sci.” (for scientific topics). Each category had scores of subcategories. Comp.jobs was the place to look for computer science gigs. ????I found two jobs that seemed to match my qualifications, and I got interviews at both companies. One was a little-known firm specializing in relational databases that had gone public a few months earlier and had a few hundred employees. It was called Oracle, and I knew next to nothing about it. ????Back then, Oracle had not yet moved to its massive complex of green-tinged, glass towers in Redwood City, Calif., often called the emerald city. It was just up the hill from there, in a nondescript white building on Davis Drive in Belmont. But the company already had plenty of the flash it would later become famous for. I met with several well-dressed execs, including some in sales. The salesmen—they were mostly men—seemed to have the run of the place. One of them took me to lunch in his sports car. We went to a restaurant that overlooked the San Francisco Bay that was, without doubt, meant to impress a kid on a grad-school budget. After several interviews, the recruiting manager told me that every new engineering recruit had to meet the CEO. That was fine with me. ????I was ushered into Larry Ellison’s office. He was sitting at a desk in front of a large window that overlooked the Bay. He was casual and easygoing, and for the next 15 minutes, we talked about this and that. What did I learn in school? What did I want to do? Which of the many positions we had discussed was most interesting to me? Then he stood up and that was it. ????I had no way to know back then that Ellison would go on to become one of the most celebrated, colorful, and controversial CEOs of all time. Or that Oracle shares would end up climbing nearly 90,000% from the price of the company’s initial public offering. In those days, Ellison was just a startup guy in his early forties. His net worth was not worth mentioning. ????I was offered the job at Oracle, but I ended up taking the other job. It was at another company that had just gone public, Sun Microsystems, and it had a distinctly different feel. (I didn’t know enough about business to think of it as “culture.”) It was driven by engineers, many of them with Ph.Ds. Salespeople were nowhere in sight during my interviews. The intense tech focus seemed like a better fit for me. ????I didn’t see Larry Ellison again until years later, after I had left engineering to become a journalist. It was during a talk at the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 where he was interviewed by the dean of the journalism school, Orville Schell. Ellison spent most of his time bashing Microsoft. He had become brash, cocky, and a billionaire. Like him or hate him, he was far more memorable than the affable guy I had met back on Davis Drive. ????On Thursday, Oracle announced that Ellison was stepping down as CEO after 37 years. Though some say it’s more of a formality than a true change, it’s a moment of significance for one of the industry’s most prominent leaders. |
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