English Original
Profile
- Name: Steve Jobs
- Company: Apple Computer
- 3-year return: 26%
- Age: 42
- CEO since: 1997
Here's a guy with enough savvy and brainpower to effectively hold down two CEO jobs at once—and do a pretty amazing job at both. We've listed him for his post at Apple, but of course Steve Jobs also runs Pixar, the animation company. Jobs arrested Apple's slow death spiral and even put some oomph back into the pioneering computer firm he helped found. Coming in after a $1 billion loss in fiscal 1997, Jobs turned a $106 million profit—38 percent above Wall Street's consensus target.
A lot of credit goes to a very simple idea: Make computers in different colors. Jobs was the only one who thought to make it happen. The colorful mid-priced iMac has also succeeded by playing down the compatibility conundrum. Apple positioned it as the machine for the Internet, where compatibility questions are no big deal. Behind the scenes, Jobs also streamlined the product line, reduced the head count, consolidated distribution, and slimmed inventory.
Meanwhile, over at Pixar, A Bug's Life nabbed a total $159 million in domestic box office, the highest domestic animated take since Toy Story and third highest ever, after Toy Story and the leader, The Lion King.
Business Philosophy
"The technology isn't the hard part. The hard part is, Who's going to buy it? How are they going to buy it? How do you tell them about it?"
Headaches
Multifold. Apple is still a pip-squeak to the Wintel Goliath. With less than 10 percent of the computer market, Apple needs to lure more software makers into producing programs for the Mac. The company has cut about as much as it can. Now it has a tougher job: Make sales grow. And what's the follow-up? Jobs probably also hasn't been spending as much as he should on research and development. Finally, where is his successor? Pixar, a collegial place, can run without him—but what about Apple? Not a good place for a boss who refuses to remove the "interim" prefix from his CEO title.
Management Style
At Apple, Jobs is a mercurial micromanager—some say nanomanager. Virtually every decision goes by him. "At any time, 10,000 employees are wondering, 'What would Steve say?,' not 'What is the right thing to do?'" said a former Apple exec. At Pixar, realizing that he isn't a film visionary, he leaves the experts to their knitting.
Habits
Known for casual dress, he cruises the office shoeless and in a sport shirt—but don't mistake him for laid-back. Snacks on granola doused with apple juice.
How He Got the Job
The Apple board begged him to return.
True Story
Former Newton palmtop chief Sandy Benett told his underlings that the subsidiary would be folded back into Apple—before Jobs had made an official announcement. After the news leaked, Jobs fired Benett.
Financial Reward
His Apple rewards are minimal—a salary of one dollar a year so that his family is eligible for the health plan. But his 69 percent share of Pixar is worth about $1.3 billion.
中文翻译
人物简介
- 姓名： 史蒂夫·乔布斯
- 公司： 苹果电脑公司
- 三年投资回报率： 26%
- 年龄： 42岁
- 任职CEO起始时间： 1997年
此人凭借足够的精明与才智，能够同时胜任两家公司的CEO职位，并且都干得非常出色。我们在此列出的是他在苹果的职位，但史蒂夫·乔布斯当然也经营着动画公司皮克斯。乔布斯止住了苹果缓慢衰败的螺旋，甚至为这家他参与创立的先锋电脑公司重新注入了活力。在1997财年亏损10亿美元后接手，乔布斯实现了1.06亿美元的利润——比华尔街的共识目标高出38%。
很大一部分功劳要归功于一个非常简单的想法：制造不同颜色的电脑。乔布斯是唯一想到并实现它的人。色彩丰富、价格适中的iMac还通过淡化兼容性难题而取得成功。苹果将其定位为“互联网电脑”，在互联网上，兼容性问题不再是大问题。在幕后，乔布斯还精简了产品线，减少了员工人数，整合了分销渠道，并削减了库存。
与此同时，在皮克斯，《虫虫危机》在国内获得了总计1.59亿美元的票房收入，是自《玩具总动员》以来国内动画电影的最高票房，也是有史以来第三高，仅次于《玩具总动员》和领头羊《狮子王》。
商业哲学
“技术不是难点。难点在于：谁会买它？他们将如何购买？你如何告诉他们？”
面临的难题
多方面的。苹果在Wintel（Windows-Intel联盟）巨人面前仍然是个小角色。在电脑市场占有率不足10%的情况下，苹果需要吸引更多软件制造商为Mac开发程序。公司已经尽可能地削减了成本。现在它面临一个更艰巨的任务：促进销售增长。接下来呢？乔布斯在研发上的投入可能也不够。最后，他的继任者在哪里？皮克斯是一个学院派的地方，没有他也能运转——但苹果呢？对于一个拒绝从CEO头衔中移除“临时”前缀的老板来说，这可不是一个好地方。
管理风格
在苹果，乔布斯是一位善变的微观管理者——有人说是纳米管理者。几乎每一项决定都要经过他。“任何时候，一万名员工都在想，‘史蒂夫会怎么说？’，而不是‘正确的事情是什么？’”一位苹果前高管说。在皮克斯，他意识到自己不是电影 visionary（远见者），便放手让专家们各司其职。
习惯
以休闲着装闻名，他经常光着脚、穿着运动衫在办公室走动——但别误以为他懒散。喜欢吃淋上苹果汁的格兰诺拉麦片。
如何获得职位
苹果董事会恳请他回归。
真实故事
前Newton掌上电脑部门负责人桑迪·贝内特在乔布斯正式宣布之前，就告诉下属该子公司将被重新并入苹果。消息泄露后，乔布斯解雇了贝内特。
财务报酬
他在苹果的报酬微乎其微——年薪一美元，以便他的家人有资格享受健康计划。但他在皮克斯69%的股份价值约13亿美元。