上市冲击Facebook企业文化

    如今在Facebook，随时都可能举办一场盛大的派对。为什么不呢？几十亿美元的IPO规模并不多见。

    继续狂欢吧，Facebook！但要留神上市后的日子，更确切的说是上市后的头一两年。

    随着大量新资金的注入，Facebook势必会面临企业文化的改变，由此带来的疼痛和持续时间都将超过狂欢后的宿醉。当所有人都感到幸福和满足的时候，企业内部很难继续拥有广泛的执着、激情和谦逊，而这些是一个充满活力的企业必备的价值要素。

    上市之后，Facebook将有极大的幸福感和满足感，特别是那些入职时间最长并且控制权较大的高级管理人员。

    你肯定在想，Facebook的管理者们又不是傻子。他们不会让这次IPO将他们的制胜文化付之一炬。我们赞同你的前半句话。没错，Facebook的很多经理确实出类拔萃。看看他们迄今为止取得的成就就能明白这一点。

    但上市后的Facebook将进入一个全新的世界，很快，华尔街就会要求获知Facebook使用募股资金的计划。它会不会收购Twitter进而占领社交媒体领域？它会不会通过快速收购扩大全球业务？当然，这些问题很重要，Facebook的管理者们自然也会关注这些问题。确实，他们必须这样做——唯一需要注意的是相关的策略制定往往会让公司管理者疏于企业文化建设。

    另外，公司内部还会出现一个变化。上市后，Facebook的雇员将分为两类。这就是现实。约3,000左右的员工中，有些人（有统计显示是几百人）将坐拥大笔财富，但大多数新聘员工连期权都还没到手。

    这可不是什么好事。

    除非某人能确保先富起来的一部分人能真正为还没富起来的人着想——只有整个公司继续蓬勃发展，这些人将来才有希望发财。“某人”指的当然是Facebook的管理高层。

    他们怎么才能做到这一点呢？首先要做出类似于竞选演讲的种种承诺，生动地描绘出Facebook未来的伟大前景，但前提条件是每位员工都必须为公司的发展积极贡献力量。

    但豪言壮语只是一方面。另一方面则是绩效考核。

    是的，我们听到很多人都说，绩效考核不适合硅谷。但我们相信组织行为的规律放之四海而皆准。如果Facebook希望在其使命中体现紧迫、速度和强度，必须对这些价值进行评估，并对表现出色者给予奖金和升职。

    我们不想纠缠于Facebook的人事流程细节。我们想说明的更重要一点是，优秀的企业文化绝非偶然。

    有些公司现金充足，但管理者有些无动于衷。同样地，如果Facebook缺乏自上而下对价值观的重视，就可能会放松警惕，疏于企业文化建设，陷入组织混乱。公司使命和价值观的以及它们构成的企业文化事关重大。

    短短几年间，Facebook的制胜文化已令其获得长足的发展。如果上市后，Facebook能延续这种出色的表现，那才是真正值得庆贺的事。

    译者：老榆木

    Any day now there's going to be one helluva party at Facebook. And why not? Companies don't go public for a gazillion dollars very often.

    So party on, Facebook. Just beware the day after. Actually, beware the year after and the year after that.

    Because once Facebook has its massive new liquidity infusion, the company stands to get nailed by something that can hurt a lot more and last a lot longer than a hangover -- a changed culture. The reason: It's just plain hard to generate wide-scale paranoia, passion, and humility -- the defining values of an energized enterprise -- when everyone's feeling fat and happy.

    And after the party, Facebook is going to be feeling pretty darn fat and happy, especially the people who have been around the longest and control the most action -- its senior managers.

    Oh, come on, you're thinking now, Facebook's managers aren't stupid. They're not going to let the IPO wreak havoc with their winning culture. And we agree -- with the first part. Sure, many Facebook managers are top-notch. Look what they've done so far.

    But a new world order is about to dawn in Palo Alto, one where Wall Street will soon start demanding to know how Facebook plans to spend the company's newly created equity. Will it own the social media space by buying Twitter? Will it expand its global reach by rapid acquisition? Such questions are important, of course, and Facebook's managers will focus on them. Indeed, they must -- the only caveat being that strategy making often tends to distract leaders from culture building.

    And then there's another dynamic sure to take hold. After its IPO, Facebook is going to have two classes of citizens. That's just reality. Some of its 3,000 or so employees -- several hundred in number by some counts -- will have significant riches in the hand. Newer hires, though, will mostly have options in the bush.

    Not good.

    Unless, that is, someone makes sure that Facebook's haves care desperately about the fate of its have-nots, who will do well only if the whole company continues to thrive. "Someone" meaning Facebook's top-notch managers.

    How can they do that? Well, it actually starts with a kind of campaign stumping on their part, complete with vivid imagery about how great Facebook is going to become in the years ahead -- if, and only if, every last employee recommits to the company's mission.

    But words are only the half of it. Performance reviews are the other.

    Yes, yes, we've heard people claim performance reviews are not a Silicon Valley thing. But we would argue that the facts of organizational behavior are universal. If Facebook wants urgency, speed, and intensity around its mission, those values must be evaluated, and when demonstrated, they must result in bonus money and upward mobility -- or not.

    Not to get mired in the details of Facebook's HR process. The bigger point we're trying to make is that good cultures don't happen by accident.

    Like any company with its coffers full and its managers feeling a bit impervious, Facebook -- without a top-down commitment to values -- runs the risk of letting its guard down and inadvertently creating an organizational mess. Mission and values -- and the culture they create -- really do matter.

    In a few short years, Facebook's winning culture has brought it a long way. And if Facebook continues to get that right after its IPO, it will really have something to party about.