解密特斯拉的创业文化：高风险，高回报

    今年，特斯拉公司的多位重要高管通过行使期权获得数百万美元收入，由此证明，在这家成立12年的电动汽车公司，长时间的努力工作可以带来巨大回报。

    但有些高管却在套现时，选择离开公司或调任到其他职位。特斯拉一直以令人难以忍受的工作时间而著称，而且公司有一位充满激情的CEO埃隆•穆斯克，他在不断促使员工突破极限。

    作为一家在硅谷主流工作文化中诞生和成长起来的公司，特斯拉漫长的工作时间加丰厚的回报，并非个例。尽管公司上市已有五年时间，但特斯拉与许多最具破坏性的互联网创业公司一样，依旧保持着灵活性和风险偏好。

    但如今，特斯拉将进入一个风险重重的关键发展阶段，因为公司正在开发新的产品，而这些产品将使公司面临巨大的挑战。在某些方面，特斯拉的表现比以往更像是一家初创公司，而这也在将其高管逼向绝境。与此同时，为了实现经营目标，公司需要留住和招聘关键领导者。

    4年前，我对杰罗姆•吉伦进行了第一次采访，当时他是特斯拉尚未发布的Model S车型的项目总监。Model S大获成功之后，科班出身的工程师吉伦获得了升职，成为公司全球销售和服务部副总裁。

    吉伦在另一位高管乔治•布兰肯希普离职之后接任了这个职位。布兰肯希普当时表示，他将在退休后拿出更多时间陪伴家人。据彭博社专栏作家艾希莉•万斯撰写的特斯拉CEO个人传记透露，2012年晚些时候，由于特斯拉无法将客户的订单转变为销售收入，穆斯克与布兰肯希普的关系破裂。

    时间已经过去两年多，吉伦在这个职位上一直表现出色。而且他也得到了回报。

    今年吉伦行使了股票期权，并将股票出售，净赚400多万美元。仅在5月11日一天，他行使期权和出售股票的利润便接近300万美元。

    不过，吉伦在特斯拉的未来并不明确。今年3月，特斯拉宣布重组全球销售团队，吉伦被调任到专注于客户关怀的职位。与此同时，特斯拉重点强调说，吉伦并未被降职，他依旧是公司高管团队的一员，直接向穆斯克汇报。

    但特斯拉最近的收益报告却显示，吉伦已经开始休假，休假时间将持续到年底。目前尚无法确认吉伦是否会回到公司。吉伦对特斯拉表示，他将在8月4日开始休假，特斯拉董事会随后宣布，吉伦已不再是公司根据美国证券法规定需要报告持股情况的高管。

    长期担任特斯拉首席财务官的迪帕克•阿胡加已经公开表示，他将离开公司。他在今年通过行使股票期权已经净赚数百万美元。六月份，特斯拉宣布，七年前加入公司的阿胡加即将退休，但他会一直留在公司，直到公司找到接替他的适当人选。

    在最近召开的一次股东大会上，穆斯克对52岁的阿胡加为公司做出的贡献公开表示了感谢。阿胡加形容他的任期是“一次从未停止过的肾上腺素狂飙”，但他希望“完成自己遗愿清单上的梦想，追寻其他生活目标。”

    他从特斯拉赚到的数百万美元，肯定可以帮助他实现这些目标。阿胡加今年通过行使期权和出售股份净赚200多万美元，仅在本周就有100万美元入账。

    在所有重要高管中，今年通过行使股票期权获得收益最多的，当属特斯拉联合创始人兼首席技术官JB•斯特劳贝尔。他的股票期权有一部分在未来几个月和明年到期。今年，斯特劳贝尔通过期权和出售股份净赚近1000万美元。

    但39岁的斯特劳贝尔似乎短期内并不打算离开特斯拉。相反，他不仅担任了更公开的角色，还承担了更多责任，比如帮助建立特斯拉最新的电网蓄电池业务，并负责在里诺附近兴建规模庞大的特斯拉电池工厂。特斯拉的电网蓄电池业务主要面向公用事业和商业客户销售电池。

    今年的最后几个月对于特斯拉至关重要。公司已经承诺将在下个月向消费者推出Model X SUV电动汽车。据公司宣布，届时公司的产量将大幅增加。

    但要推出新车并在当前车型Model S的基础上增加产量，将是极其严峻的挑战。事实上，特斯拉已经将两款汽车的总出货量指导从之前的55,000辆，调低至50,000至55,000辆。

    不过，推出Model X只不过是特斯拉的一系列大动作之一。除此之外，公司正在兴建一座规模庞大、史无前例的电池工厂，这是公司进军电池行业的举措之一。并且，公司已经进入刚刚兴起的电网蓄电池行业，为特斯拉的产品线增添了全新的成员。

    此外，特斯拉还在加紧设计Model 3汽车。这款汽车成本更低，公司希望它的销量能够超过之前的型号。自特斯拉成立以来，穆斯克一直以销售价格实惠的电动汽车为目标，而Model 3将是他实现这一目标的有力武器。

    要实现这些宏大的目标，特斯拉既要留住关键的资深员工，也要为空缺的关键职位寻找替代人选。而要找到合适的高管并保证他们在特斯拉过得高兴，却是一项艰巨的任务。

    特斯拉可以提供初创公司经常提供的经济和个人奖励，如令人愉悦的任务驱动型工作环境。但这种初创公司文化也会令员工精疲力竭。

    这种初创公司文化恐怕不会很快消失。它或许将成为特斯拉实现其疯狂目标的钥匙。但这也意味着特斯拉的高管们要继续面临艰难的选择——是马上套现全身而退，还是继续为特斯拉的未来拼命工作。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    A handful of Tesla’s key executives have made millions of dollars exercising stock options this year, showing how the long hours and hard work at the 12-year-old electric car company can lead to a big pay off.

    But some of those top managers have cashed in while exiting or shifting roles within the company, which has a reputation for grueling hours and a passionate CEO, Elon Musk, who pushes employees to the limits.

    Tesla’s long hours and big potential pay offs aren’t so unusual for a company born and raised in Silicon Valley’s hardcore work culture. Despite five years as a public company, Tesla still remains nimble and retains its appetite for risk, similar to many of the most disruptive Internet startups.

    But Tesla is now moving into a risky and crucial stage of its development, as it pushes to expand with several new products that involve colossal challenges. In some ways it’s acting more like a startup than ever before and likewise pushing its executives to the brink. At the same time, the company will need to retain and recruit key leaders to help it achieve its goals.

    When I first interviewed Tesla’s Jerome Guillen over four years ago he was the program director for Tesla’s not-then-released Model S. Following the success of that car, Guillen, an engineer by schooling, was promoted up in the ranks and landed a top job as vice president of worldwide sales and services.

    Guillen took over the job after exec George Blankenship left, who at the time stated that he was retiring to spend more time with his family. According to the biography of Tesla CEO by Bloomberg writer Ashley Vance, the relationship between Musk and Blankenship fell apart in late 2012 after Tesla started having trouble converting customer car reservations into purchases.

    Fast forward over two years later, and Guillen has had a good run at it. And has also been rewarded.

    This year Guillen exercised stock options, and then sold those shares to net over $4 million. On May 11 alone, he exercised options and sold shares for a profit of close to $3 million.

    But Guillen’s future with Tesla is unclear. In March, Tesla said it would reorganize its global sales team, and that Guillen would shift to a role that would focus on customer care. At the same time, Tesla emphasized that Guillen was not being demoted and would remain part of the senior executive team reporting to Musk.

    Yet according to Tesla’s latest earnings report, Guillen has now taken a leave of absence until the end of the year, and it’s unclear if Guillen will return to the company. Guillen told Tesla he would be taking the leave on August 4, and Tesla’s board subsequently decided Guillen was no longer an officer required to publicly report stock ownership under U.S. securities law.

    Tesla’s longtime CFO, Deepak Ahuja, who has publicly said that he’s leaving the company, has also made millions exercising stock options this year. In June, Tesla said that Ahuja, who joined the company seven years ago, would retire but would remain at the company until a replacement is found.

    At a recent shareholders meeting, Musk made a point to publicly thank the 52-year-old Ahuja for his work. Ahuja described his tenure as “a nonstop adrenaline rush,” but said he wanted to “check a few things off my bucket list and pursue other life goals.”

    The millions he’s made from Tesla will help Ahuja do that. Ahuja has exercised options and sold shares to net over $2 million this year, of which $1 million came this week.

    Of all of the key executives, Tesla’s co-founder and long time chief technology officer, JB Straubel, has made the most money this year from exercising stock options, some of which appear to be expiring in the coming months and year. This year, Straubel has netted close to $10 million from his options and stock sales.

    But the 39-year-old Straubel doesn’t appear to have any plans to leave Tesla soon. On the contrary, he has seemed to have taken on a more public role, as well as more responsibilities like helping build Tesla’s new grid battery business, which sells batteries to utilities and commercial customers, as well as helping lead the construction of Tesla’s huge battery factory near Reno.

    The final months of the year are a crucial time for Tesla. The company has promised to start shipping its Model X SUVs to customers next month. Production will then ramp up dramatically from there, according to Tesla.

    It will be a difficult challenge to deliver the new car, and build up production for it alongside that of its current car the Model S. Indeed, Tesla lowered its car shipment guidance for both cars together to 50,000 to 55,000 from a previous goal of 55,000.

    But getting the Model X to customers is just the first of the colossal endeavors Tesla has on its to-do list. In addition, the company is building a massive and first-of-its-kind battery factory as part of a push to become a battery maker. The company has also jumped into the grid battery industry, which has itself has only just emerged, and is a yet another entirely new product line for Tesla.

    On top of all that, Tesla TSLA -4.71% is hard at work designing the Model 3 car, a lower cost vehicle that it hopes will be able to sell in higher volumes than its previous models. Musk’s goal since Tesla’s founding has been to sell affordable electric cars, and the Model 3 is how he plans to do that.

    To achieve all of these huge goals, Tesla needs to both retain its key longtime employees, and find replacements for crucial roles that are now left unfilled. Finding the right executives and keeping them happy will be a difficult job.

    Tesla can offer the financial and personal rewards — an exhilarating, mission-driven work environment — that a startup offers. But it’s also got that startup work culture that can lead to burn out.

    This startup culture won’t likely go away any time soon. It will probably be the key to Tesla reaching its crazy goals. But it also means that Tesla executives will continue to have to make those difficult choices, weighing the rewards with the upsides.