Groupon创始人的启示：离任没什么不好

    团购网站Groupon这位如同大男孩的创始人昨天遭到了解聘。如果你还没有读过他写给员工的信，那么帮个忙，赶快点击此处阅读。在信中，梅森以卡罗尔•巴茨（雅虎前CEO——译注）的坦率体（“我TMD被雅虎利用了”）为戒，淡化了苦楚和难堪，同时还征用了任天堂（Nintendo）的老案例。确实，他被炒了鱿鱼；但他藉此夺回了Groupon的最佳人气宝座，哪怕只是昙花一现的功夫。（他在Twitter上的风采依然不减当年。建议点击此处查看。）

    32岁的梅森离开之后，联席创始人埃瑞克•勒夫科夫斯基和副董事长泰德•雷昂塞斯将负责掌管Groupon，寻找下一任首席执行官，带领公司回归正轨。而在人们的记忆中，梅森可能是一个聪明的、傲慢的、古怪的、反权威主义（或最多就是反规范而已）的创业神童。多亏有了史蒂夫•乔布斯和杰西•艾森伯格版的马克•扎克伯格这些先例，此次离任也让他加入了技术创业公司的梦之队。对于勒夫科夫斯基、雷昂塞斯和即将上任的首席执行官来说，要让Groupon东山再起并不是件容易的事。

    梅森的功绩已经得到了一定的积极评价。例如，《福布斯》（ Forbes）杂志称，梅森“做了出色的创始人应做的事情：他进行了创新，搭建了公司。”【而且他还挑战了一般公认会计准则（GAAP accounting）的极限！】在他这封“我被炒了”的信中，梅森显得格外讨人喜爱。你都恨不得送他一本精简版的圣人传记来帮助他度过随后几个月的空档期。

    关于梅森的离任，我最欣赏的一点就是，他从容、幽默地接受了一个事实——他已不再适合如今的Groupon。他擅长为业务出新点子。但是，他并不善于培养和管理业务，招架竞争对手，同时适应快速变化的环境。

    其他的创始人也发生过同样的事情吗？有时候，拥有奇思妙想的人往往只能带领公司走到这一步。而且有时候，公司需要一个不同的、拥有更远大目标的管理者来让创业公司生存下去，并让创业公司经历发展历程中的繁荣、成长、变化和创新。我希望，“创始人离任没什么不好”这一理念能成为梅森Groupon神话的一部分。梅森不仅遭到了解聘，而且Groupon需要一位新的领袖也并不是他自己的决定。因此，他的离任也表明，企业拥有强有力的董事会是多么重要，因为这样的董事会并不只是为了执行创始人的议案而存在。

    安德鲁，我们也会非常地想念你。当然，那得是在你回来之前。

    而这些人一定还会再回来。

    The man-boy founder of Groupon was fired yesterday. If you haven't read his letter to employees, do yourself a favor and clickhere. Mason took a lesson from the Carol Bartz school of honesty ("Yahoo f*cked me over"), dialed down the bitterness and the profanity, and upped the references to old school Nintendo. Yes, he was axed; but he recaptured the mantle of Most Liked Groupon Person, even if just for a moment. (He continues to be charming on Twitter. You should follow himhere.)

    Mason, 32, leaves co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and vice chairman Ted Leonsis to steer Groupon (GRPN), find the next chief executive, and get the company on track. Mason will likely be remembered as a brilliant, arrogant, eccentric, anti-authoritarian (or at least anti-normatively polite) startup whiz kid. Thanks to Steve Jobs and the Jesse Eisenberg version of Mark Zuckerberg, this puts him in good tech-startup-fantasy company. Lefkofsky, Leonsis, and the incoming CEO will have the tough job of making Groupon successful.

    A sort of positive glow is already being built around Mason's legacy. Forbes, for example, claims that Mason "did what great founders do: He innovated and he built." (And he pushed the envelope on GAAP accounting!) Mason was incredibly likable in his I Was Canned letter. You sort of want to give the guy a hagiography-lite to get him through the next few months in the wilderness.

    But what I really like about Mason's departure is that he accepted with grace and humor the fact that his company had outgrown him. He was good at coming up with a new idea for a business. But he was bad at growing and managing that business, fending off competitors, and adapting to a fast changing landscape.

    Haven't we seen this before with other founders? Sometimes the person who has the genius idea can take a company only so far. Sometimes it takes a different manager with a broader vision to make a startup a permanent, thriving, growing, changing, innovating part of the corporate landscape. I hope the idea that it's okay for founders to leave becomes part of Mason's Groupon legend. And given that Mason was fired and didn't decide on his own that Groupon needed a new leader, his departure also shows why it's so important for companies to have strong boards that aren't just there to push the founder's agenda.

    Andrew, we'll miss you terribly, too. That is, until you come back.

    They always come back.