通用电气掌门人“最受赞赏公司”私人榜单

分析公司表现时，您是只看齐同行业公司，还是觉得与其他最优秀的组织相比同样也很重要？

    我们关注广泛领域内的其他公司。上一次管理会议上，我请来了客户关系管理服务供应商Salesforce.com的迈克•贝尼奥夫做演讲。因此，我们也尝试向这样的人取经，嗨，这套东西全都适用于通用电气吗？不，但像“首席执行官带着iPad参加会议，在与通用电气领导团队谈话的同时还与自己的销售团队进行Twitter互动”——这样的想法绝对太酷了。看，我们和Salesforce.com没有太多共同点，但在他们做的好的地方以及一些重要的事务上，我们最好也不要落下。因此，我们努力扩大关注的范畴，而不只是局限于我们的竞争对手。

您认为如今大公司是比十年前更受公众尊重，还是反之？

    我想，从某些角度讲，可能差不多。如果你所说的公众不光是美国公众，也包括全球公众，那么我想，今天我们的工作赢得的公众敬意应该超过以往，因为如今我们的业务网络已遍及全球。今天在美国作为一家国际公司难度可能（稍微）更大了，但美国公司在海外赢得了更多的尊敬。我在很多场合都说过，很多公司现在已经走出了美国国门、在全球各个角落出售产品。通用只是其中之一。我想人们最终会对此抱有敬意，因为他们知道这并不容易。

您还看好其他哪些公司的全球化运营？

    IBM显然是一个伟大的国际品牌。联邦快递还在成长。谷歌可能还不太够格，但IBM肯定得算一个。他们无处不在，而且所到之处都赢得了尊敬。从公众形象角度，我们要向他们看齐，在全球每个国家都是如此。

    去年夏天，我跟随参议员麦凯恩和参议员凯瑞出访突尼斯和埃及，那里有可口可乐（Coke）（第4名）、通用汽车和埃克森美孚（Exxon）（第27名）等其他公司。我认为，可口可乐在当地市场做得非常好。作为一个伟大的美国品牌，它很出色。

慈善计划真的有那么重要吗？它确实能帮助一家公司改善声誉吗？

    我想，只要这些活动能与竞争力和创新挂起钩来就会有很大的机会发挥作用。因此，即便是重要的教育也与创新力和竞争力联系起来。我想，如果能将企业社会责任与公司最擅长的事情（也就是竞争）联系起来，就能够一举两得，也会特别奏效。

    如果只是捐钱给一家艺术博物馆或类似的机构，我认为不会有太大帮助。但如果能将企业社会责任与环保创新、改善中学条件以及其他类似的重要事情联系起来，我想它会更有力量。

    译者：早稻米

Do you only benchmark your company against peers in your industry, or is it important to measure your performance against other best-in-class organizations?

    We do try to look at a wide range of other companies. At the last management meeting we had, I had Marc Benioff come and speak, of Salesforce.com (CRM). So we try to look at people like that and say, Hey, is it all applicable to GE? No, but the notion of a CEO who can bring his iPad to a meeting and be tweeting about GE with his sales team while he's talking to the GE leadership team -- it's pretty damn cool. Look, we don't have a lot in common with Salesforce.com, but we better be good where they're good and at stuff that counts. So we try to have a broader net than just where our competitors are.

Do you think large corporations are more admired today by the public than they were ten years ago, or less?

    In some ways I think it's maybe about the same. If you allowed yourself to talk about the general public being not just the American public but the global public, I think then there's even more of an appreciation of what we do, because we're every place in the world. Maybe it's harder to be a global company in the U.S. today, maybe marginally, but there's more appreciation for it globally. In many cases, I'd say GE (GE) is just one of a number of companies that have had to go out and sell our stuff in every corner of the world. I think people admire that in the end, because they know it's hard.

What are other companies whose global operations you admire?

    IBM clearly is a great global brand, for sure. FedEx is growing. Google (GOOG) not as much yet, but IBM for sure. We see them every place, and they're admired every place. They're a company that we benchmark ourselves against in terms of public appeal, really in every country in the world.

    I happened to go last summer on a visit to Tunisia and Egypt with Senator McCain and Senator Kerry, and Coke (No. 4) was there, GE, Exxon (No. 27), and other companies. And I thought it was amazing what Coke does in local markets. As a great American brand, it's extraordinary.

Do philanthropic initiatives really matter, and help a company's reputation?

    I think as long as they're hooked to competitiveness and innovation, they have amazing pop. So even education, which is important, ties back to innovation and competitiveness. I think if you can link corporate social responsibility to those things that companies do best, which is compete, when you can touch those two, then I think they're particularly strong.

    If you're just giving money to an art museum or something like that, I don't think it helps as much. But if you can tie CSR to innovation for the environment, or making secondary schools better or big things like that, then I think it has extra oomph.