传记作者眼里的乔布斯和山姆·沃顿（节选）

    2004年，我来阿斯彭研究所工作之后，有一天我接到了乔布斯打来的一个电话。他说他想跟我出去散散步。我说：“没问题”。我当时并不知道所谓的散步其实就是他与朋友会面的方式。我之前写过一本关于本杰明·富兰克林的书，并且即将完成一本阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦传记。他说：“接下来，我想让你为我写传记。”我最初的反应是：“可以啊，本杰明·富兰克林、阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦，然后是你……。”我半开玩笑地问乔布斯他是否认为自己理应成为这个序列的继承人选。我说：“或许再过二三十年吧，当你退休后再写也不迟。”

    后来，他的太太对我说：“要是你打算写一本关于史蒂夫的书，最好现在就开始行动。”到那时，公众已经知道他生病了。她说：“他不想让大家知道，但他进行癌症手术之前却要给你打电话。”

    苏安迪：约翰，你和山姆·沃尔顿是什么情况呢？你们怎么认识的？

    约翰·休伊：1988年11月，我去《财富》工作。当时，他们决定评选沃尔玛为“最受赞赏的公司”。一般情况下，假如我们给某家公司打电话说：“我们打算评选你们当“最受赞赏的公司”，上《财富》的封面。”接下来的事就不用我们操心了，对方自然会安排。但是，沃尔玛却回复说：“不感兴趣。我们不想跟这事儿扯上关系。”

    杂志社的编辑说：“这事儿必须得他们配合，”因为山姆·沃顿从来没有面对过媒体的镜头。他一直躲着媒体。编辑说：“你是南方人，你得亲自去阿肯色州跑一趟，说服他。”

    于是，我就去了。当时再过两个礼拜就到圣诞节了。天气非常糟糕。我跑到沃尔玛，老老实实地敲门。他的助手——她叫贝琪——说：“他打猎去了。现在不在。”

    一连几天都是这样。雨一直下个不停。我知道他开一辆破皮卡，所以常常开车往那路过，找那辆破车。

    十天后，我告诉摄影师：“我们再跑一趟，如果还是看不到那辆车，我们就撤。”

    我们开着车过去，看见了那辆车。山姆·沃尔顿肯定在楼里。我们进了楼，我操起电话话筒，说：“我能跟贝琪通话吗？”接电话的是山姆·沃尔顿。我说：“您是山姆·沃尔顿吗？”他说：“我是。”我说：“我是《财富》杂志的约翰·休伊。我在这儿已经待了十天了。天一直在下雨。我老婆正在跟我闹离婚。如果我拍不到你的照片，他们就会炒了我。那我今年的圣诞节就没法过了。但其实，我只需要十分钟就能完事。”

    你明白，干记者这行没必要讲面子。

    I got a phone call when I went to the Aspen Institute in 2004. He said he wanted to take a walk. I said, "Sure." I didn't know that taking a walk was the way he had meetings. I'd written a book about Benjamin Franklin. I was just finishing up a biography of Albert Einstein. He said, "I want you to do my biography next." My initial reaction was "Yeah, okay, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, you …" I wondered, half-jokingly, whether he saw himself as the natural successor in that sequence. I said, "Maybe in 20 or so years, when you retire."

    Later his wife said to me, "If you're going to do a book on Steve, you had better do it now." By then it had become public that he was sick. She said, "He didn't want people to know, but he called you right before he was operated on for cancer."

    Serwer: John, what about you with Sam Walton? How did you guys get acquainted?

    John Huey: I went to work for Fortune in November of 1988, and they decided they wanted to make Wal-Mart the "most admired company." Usually when you call up a company and say, "We're going to make your company the 'most admired company' on the cover of Fortune," they roll out everything. Wal-Mart said, "Not interested. We don't want anything to do with it."

    And the editor said, "We have to have cooperation," because there's never been a posed photograph of Sam Walton. He's avoided the press. The editor said, "You're a Southerner -- you go down to Arkansas and talk him into it."

    I went down there. It was two weeks before Christmas. It was horrible weather. I went over to Wal-Mart, and I just basically knocked on the door. His assistant -- her name was Becky -- said, "He's hunting. He's not available."

    This went on for days. Rain kept on going. I knew that he drove this old pickup truck. So I kept riding by there looking for the pickup truck.

    Ten days into this I said to my photographer, "We're going to go back over there, and if we don't see that truck, we're getting out of here."

    So we rode by, and there was the truck. Sam Walton was in the building. We went in, and I picked up the vendor phone and said, "May I speak to Becky?" Sam answered the phone. I said, "Is this Sam Walton?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Well, this is John Huey from Fortune magazine. I've been here 10 days. It's raining. My wife is going to leave me, and if I don't get this picture, they're going to fire me and I'm going to have a terrible Christmas, and all I need is 10 minutes."

    You know, journalists have no pride.