世界500强CEO访谈 第62期:思科约翰钱伯斯 领导方式与时俱进很重要(1)

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　　记者：您所学过的有关领导方面的最重要的内容是什么呢？

　　Chambers¹: People think of us as a product of our successes. I’d actually argue that we’re a product of the challenges we faced in life. And how we handled those challenges probably had more to do with what we accomplish in life. I had an issue with dyslexia before they understood what dyslexia was. One of my teachers, Mrs. Anderson, taught me to look at it like a curveball. The ball breaks the same way every time. Once you get used to it, you can handle it pretty well. So I went from almost being embarrassed reading in front of a class to the point where I knew I could overcome challenges. I think it also taught me sensitivity² toward others. I learned another lesson from Jack³ Welch. It was in 1998, and at that time we were one of the most valuable companies in I mean a near—death experience.” I didn’t understand exactly what he meant. Then, in 2001，we had a near- death experience. We went from the most valuable company in the world to a company where they questioned the leadership. And in 2003，he called me up and said, “John, you now have a great company.” I said, the world. I said, “Jack，what does it take to have a great company?” And he said，“It takes major setbacks and overcoming those.” I hesitated for a minute, and I said, “Well, we did that in ‘93 and then we did it again in ‘97 with the Asian financial crisis⁴.” And he said, “No，John. “Jack，it doesn't feel like it.” But he was right.

　　钱伯斯：人们认为，我们是由不断的成功累积而成的；事实上，我想说的是，我们是由生活中所面临的各种挑战而磨砺成的。我们所取得的成就都是与我们在生活中所遇到并解决的那些挑战相关联的。我以前在他们还不明白什么是读写困难时，有读写困难的问题。安德森夫人，我的一位老师，教我把那个问题看成是一个曲线球一样，因为曲线球每次总是以相同的方式突然出现，当你习惯了之后，你就能很好地处理那些问题。所以，我从一开始的在班级同学面前朗读会感到窘迫，变成了对自己有信心，能够克服困难，那也教会了我对别人的行为有一定的敏感。我还从杰克.韦尔奇身上学到了一些东西。1998 年，那时我们是世界上最有价值的公司之一。我问他说："杰克，怎样才能使公司变成一个伟大的公司呢？"他回答说："主要是依靠遭遇挫折并解决挫折。"我犹豫了一会儿，然后说： "我们在1993年的时候遭遇并解决过问题，1997年由于亚洲金融危机我们又经历了一回。"他说："约翰，不是这样的，我的意思是一次濒死状态的经历。"那时候，我并不理解他所指的是什么。然后在 2001年，我们经历了一次瀕死的情况。我们从世界上最有价值的公司沦落为大家都质疑我们领导阶层的公司。2003年的时候他给我打电话，并且说："约翰，你现在有一个大的公司了。"我说："杰克，这感觉不像是一个大的公司。"但是其实他是正确的。

　　Reporter: How has your leadership style evolved over time?

　　记者：随着时间的推移，您的领导方式发生了怎样的变化呢？

　　Chambers: I'm a command—and-control person. I like being able to say turn right, and we truly have 67,000 people turn right. But that’s the style of the past. Today’s world requires a different leadership style—more collaboration⁵ and teamwork, including using Web 2.0 technologies.

　　钱伯斯：我是一个善于领导和控制的人。我希望我说"向右转"的时候，我们的 6.7万名员工就都能够向右转，但是那是过去的领导方式。当今的世界需要一种不同的领导方式，更多的是进行协作和团队合作，包括共同运用Web2.0技术等等。

　　Reporter: Did you need to be pushed?

　　记者：您需要其他一些因素来推动您前进吗？

　　Chambers: I thought I was very leading-edge in terms of how I communicated. My team just kept pushing, and I finally said, “Why do you want me to do this?” And they said: “John，if you don’t do it our company won’t learn how to do this. It won’t be built into our DNA⁶ for the way we interface⁷ with customers， our employees. The top has to walk the talk.” I was expecting text blogging and we did video blogging.

　　钱伯斯：我认为，在我与他人进行交流的方面我是处于最前沿的。我的团队总是在推动我进步，然后我问他们："为什么你们希望我那样做呢？"他们说："约翰，如果你不那样做的话，那么我们的公司就不会去学习怎样做，那么它就不会深入到我们与顾客、与员工之间的交流合作方式上，因为公司的领导是要主持整个谈话的进行的。"我期望我们使用的是文本博客，但是我们使用的是视频博客。

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