乔布斯的老上司：怎样发现下一个乔布斯

    诺兰•布什内尔这个名字对于管理人员来说并不陌生。他创立了电子游戏公司雅达利（Atari）、儿童娱乐餐饮连锁企业查理芝士（Chuck E. Cheese）以及其他二十几家公司。他是史蒂夫•乔布斯屈指可数的老上司之一。掌握创造型人才并留住他们是布什内尔久经磨练的一项能力，而他的新书《发现下一个史蒂夫•乔布斯》就是要告诉别人怎样做到这一点。

    布什内尔的建议往往显得有悖于人们的直觉，比如“聘用那些讨人厌的家伙”，“别去管什么文凭”，“失败时要庆祝”以及“要鼓励注意力缺陷多动症吗？”但随着书的内容向前推进，布什内尔向读者介绍了一种鼓励大胆行为、激活员工思维的工作理念。以下是本刊在该书出版后对布什内尔的采访。

《财富》：当初为什么要写书呢？

诺兰•布什内尔：身为一名工程师，我在数学和物理方面总是游刃有余。但我有阅读障碍，在单词拼写方面也很糟糕。所以写书这个主意对我来说并不合适。我从脑科学入手，它是这样说的：“去做那些你觉得自己做不了的事。让自己一直觉得别扭。”就这样，我列出了一系列我觉得不适合自己做的事，包括“写书”。

是什么促使你选择了这个主题？

实际上，刚开始我想写一本科幻小说。和出版社接触后，帮我出书的那位仁兄说：“你知道吗诺兰，你的第一本书应该是非文学类作品，比如说，一本商业题材的书。”他觉得既然我是唯一一个曾经聘用过史蒂夫•乔布斯的人，这对我的第一本书来说应该是个好题目。他还觉得以史蒂夫为例来探讨创造性是一本商业题材书籍的绝佳素材。

你的许多建议似乎都有悖于传统的管理观念。能谈谈你的管理风格是怎样形成的吗？

雅达利成立后，我们一无资金，二无工厂。那个年代过于久远，连风险投资都没有，所以我们不得不自立更生。虽然我们做出了游戏，但芝加哥的一些公司所拥有的资源远远超过我们。所以我就想，我们真正的资产只有过人的谋略和创新。创造性文化对我们来说不仅重要，而且是一种生存能力，因为在其他方面别人都比我们强。依靠创造性，我们最终不光得以主宰街机游戏市场，还成了家用游戏机市场的主导者。这一切都要归功于我们的创造性方法，而它也变成了雅达利基因的一部分。

现在，许多初创型公司似乎都在向这样的思路靠拢，但在那个时候，这样做的只有雅达利。

当时史蒂夫•乔布斯和沃兹尼亚克都在雅达利，所以他们把雅达利的许多准则都带到了苹果公司（Apple）。突然之间，苹果和雅达利成了硅谷里面真正称得上酷的公司，许多人看到这种局面后就想到：“我们确实应该效仿这样的做法。”  

    Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese along with a couple dozen other companies, is no stranger to managing people. He was one of Steve Jobs' only bosses. Reining in creative talent and retaining it is a long-nurtured skill of Bushnell's, and his new book,Finding the Next Steve Jobs, aims to teach others how to

    Bushnell's advice often seems counterintuitive. Who would want to "hire the obnoxious," "ignore the credentials," "celebrate failure," and "encourage ADHD?" But as Bushnell's book progresses, he offers a concept of a workplace that encourages bold behavior and stimulates employees' minds. What follows is an edited transcript of Fortune's interview with the man behind the book.

Fortune: Why write a book in the first place?

Nolan Bushnell: Well, being an engineer, I was always comfortable with mathematics and physics, but I was always dyslexic and a horrible speller. So the idea of writing a book was not one that was in my wheelhouse. I started this thing with brain science. It says, "Do things that you don't think you can do. Stay uncomfortable." So I listed a bunch of things that I thought were not in my wheelhouse, including "write a book."

And what made you choose the subject matter that you did?

I actually started by writing a science fiction book, and I went to start the publishing process, and the fellow that I started getting involved with said, "You know, Nolan, you should do your first book as non-fiction, say, a business book." And he thought that since I was the only person to ever give Steve Jobs a job that would be a good title for my first book. He thought that talking about creativity in the context of Steve would be an excellent business book.

It seems like many of the tips you give seem counter to traditional management guidance. Can you tell me more about how you developed your own management style?

When Atari started, we had no money, no factories. It was early enough that there was virtually no venture capital in the area, so we had to bootstrap. Even though we came up with the video game, there were companies in Chicago that had massive resources compared to us. So our only real asset, I decided, was that we had to outmaneuver and out-innovate them. The creative culture became not just a matter of interest but a matter of survivability because we were outgunned on every other issue. And because of our creativity, we were ultimately able to dominate not just the coin-operated game business but the consumer business as well. And it was all because of creative methodology. It became part of the DNA of the company.

It seems that this kind of thinking is something that a lot of startups relate to these days, but at the time, Atari was on its own.

And then because Steve Jobs and Wozniak both worked at Atari, they took a lot of those precepts to Apple (AAPL). All of a sudden, Apple and Atari were the ones who were really kicking butt in the valley, and a lot of people looking at that and thinking, "We should really adopt some of these things."