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作为长期跟踪汽车行业的报道者，我对有一类书特别着迷。这种书承诺，它会透露产品背后与形形色色人格有关的逸闻趣事。每当我收到一本新的皇皇巨著，我都会翻遍全书，寻找那些内幕、秘闻以及幕后流言。正是这些内容揭示了这个令人着迷又纷繁复杂的行业另一层面的真实面貌。顺便公开一下：我也会瞄一眼索引，看看该书是否引述了《财富》杂志（Fortune）的内容。 眼下，我的书架塞得满满当当。在克莱斯勒公司（Chrysler）和通用汽车公司（GM）破产后，汽车业一路上扬的运势就构成了极为引人入胜的故事情节：濒临绝境，悔过自新，最后重获新生。在过去两年出版的大批一流著作中，布利斯•霍夫曼的《美国偶像：艾伦•穆拉利与拯救福特之战》（American Icon: Alan Mulally and the fight to save Ford Motor Company）无疑是其中的翘楚。 福特汽车公司（Ford）在穆拉利率领之下重获新生后，众多热切希望记录这一传奇故事的作家提出的采访请求纷至沓来。盛情难却之下，福特选择了霍夫曼这位《底特律新闻报》（Detroit News）的记者，并赋予他无须经过编辑审核即可秉笔直书的特许权。这真是明智之选。针对福特的成功故事，霍夫曼的这本著作既充满了机敏的评论，又洋溢着新鲜的真知灼见。（另外透露一句：《财富》杂志及我本人都在本书中略有提及。） 福特如何峰回路转的基本情节早已为人所熟知。2006年，福特家族的后裔比尔•福特在邀请两位资深高管加盟遭拒后，力邀前波音（Boeing）高管穆拉利来底特律就任。穆拉利重塑公司的方式是，大刀阔斧地砍掉了沃尔沃（Volvo）和水星（Mercury）这两条产品线，致力于打造全球统一的福特品牌。通过自己的坚持不懈、善于游说和人格力量，他打造了一支同心同德的高管团队。 霍夫曼在书中写道：“最后，福特的高管们在做决策时，不再从怎样对自己职业生涯最有利出发，他们开始努力思索，怎么做才对公司整体而言是最佳选择。这是迪尔伯恩（福特总部所在地——译注）从未有过的新气象，也是福特之所以能过王者归来、重现辉煌的关键所在。” 在本书的一开始，穆拉利活像是从普赖斯顿•斯特奇斯的喜剧电影里走出来的角色，整天唠唠叨叨，只知道说“哇，什么！”和“哎哟！”。但是在他的微笑背后，霍夫曼刻画了穆拉利内在的强硬。一旦有意见不同的人开始威胁到他精心打造的联合领导的氛围，这种强硬态势就会暴露无遗。 当时，一位高管拒绝遵循他所制定的方向，穆拉利二话没说就让他卸职走人了。而另一位经理因为与团队合作不佳，被穆拉利下令提前退休。霍夫曼还透露，有一次福特美国公司总裁马克•菲尔兹使用公司专机遭到反对后威胁要撂挑子，但穆拉利还是顶住了压力。不过，穆拉利虽然立场坚定，但从不记恨。现在人所共知的是，只要66岁的穆拉利决定退休，深受他赏识的菲尔兹就是接替他的不二人选。 |
As a longtime follower of the auto industry, I am addicted to books that promise the inside skinny about the personalities behind the products. When a new tome arrives in the mail, I scour it for inside dope, untold stories, and back-room gossip that will unwrap another layer of this fascinating and complex business. Full disclosure: I also peek at the index to see if Fortune has been quoted. At the moment, my bookshelf runneth over. The upturn in industry fortunes that followed the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors (GM) has provided an irresistible story arc of near-death, repentance, and revival. Among a number of first-rate accounts that have appeared in the past 24 months, Bryce Hoffman's American Icon: Alan Mulally and the fight to save Ford Motor Company is a standout. Unable to accommodate a deluge of requests from writers eager to document its revival under Mulally, Ford (F) chose Hoffman, a reporter for the Detroit News, and granted him unique access to tell its story without editorial oversight. It chose wisely. Hoffman has produced a book brimming with smart observations and fresh insights into Ford's success. (Another disclosure: Both Fortune and I are mentioned, briefly, in the book). The outlines of the Ford turnaround are well known by now. Family scion Bill Ford lured Mulally, a former Boeing (BA) executive, to Detroit in 2006 after being rebuffed by two more experienced leaders. Mulally reshaped the company by dropping lines like Volvo and Mercury and focusing on one global Ford brand. He built a team of like-minded executives through persistence, persuasion, and force of personality. "Ford's executives finally stopped making decisions based on what was best for their own careers and started trying to figure out what was best for the company as a whole," Hoffman writes. "That was something that had never happened before in Dearborn and it was the key to Ford's phenomenal resurgence." At first telling, Mulally comes off like a character from a Preston Sturges movie, all "aw shucks" and "gee whiz." But behind the smiles, Hoffman reveals a toughness in Mullaly that surfaces when dissenters threaten his carefully-nurtured atmosphere of collegiality. When one executive refused to follow his direction, Mulally simply eliminated his job. He pushed another manager into early retirement because he played badly with others. Hoffman also reports that Mulally withstood a threat from Americas president Mark Fields to quit when Fields was challenged over the use of a company airplane. Mulally stood his ground but didn't hold a grudge. Fields is now the clear favorite to succeed him whenever the 66-year-old decides to retire. |
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