與索尼董事長共進午餐
與索尼董事長共進午餐
來源：FT中文網 2012-09-11
Sir Howard Stringer rises stiffly to greet me. He is still recovering from back surgery to repair a slipped disc, the result of an “insane” travel schedule that saw him fly around the world every month as chief executive of Sony Corporation.霍華德•斯金格爵士(Sir Howard Stringer)站起身來歡迎我，身體略顯僵硬，看來他仍未從椎間盤突出的手術中痊癒，病因就是他太過密集的出行安排，每月，這位索尼公司(Sony)前CEO 都要頻繁穿梭於世界各地。
Along with hundreds of other world business leaders, Stringer is in London for the Olympics. We have arranged to have lunch at Theo Randall’s Italian restaurant at the InterContinental Hotel in Park Lane (he once served on the InterContinental board and likes its central location). Olympic dignitaries and guests are milling around in the lobby but the award-winning restaurant is half empty. “Do try the hot zucchini,” he says, welcoming me to a discreet table at the back of the restaurant, “they are delicious.”
與衆多全球商界領袖一樣，奧運期間，斯金格也在倫敦觀看奧運會。我們安排採訪他，地點就在位於公園路洲際酒店(InterContinental, Park Lane)的西奧•蘭德爾(Theo Randall)意大利餐館（斯金格曾擔任過洲際酒店集團董事，他很喜歡酒店市中心的地段）。奧委會高官與貴客們在大廳里人頭攢動，但這家獲過獎的意式餐館則是顧客稀少。“務必要品嚐這兒做的熱西葫蘆，”他對我說，並把我引至餐館後邊一張不引人注意的餐桌，“味道沒得說。”
Our conversation will inevitably address Stringer’s troubled tenure at Sony – he stepped down as chief executive in April but remains chairman. That might explain why he is twitchy. I am slightly edgy, too. We first met 10 years ago when I was US managing editor for the FT in New York. Our favourite pastime was watching soccer and rugby matches in grimy pubs on the Lower East Side. The highlight was a post-match viewing of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph in Australia. Stringer, a Welshman, knew the result but never let on. That act alone sealed our friendship.我們的談話不可避免地要觸及斯金格在索尼公司那段不平靜的任職生涯——今年4月，他被免去CEO，但仍擔任公司董事長。這就是他爲何略顯焦躁不安的原因，我也有些緊張。10年前，我倆初次相識，當時我是《金融時報》美國站總編輯，我倆最愛的消遣方式就是在紐約下東區(Lower East Side)髒不拉幾的酒吧裏觀看足球與橄欖球比賽。最難忘的一件事是觀看英格蘭隊奪得2003年澳大利亞橄欖球世界盃(2003 Rugby World Cup)的賽後錄像。斯金格是威爾士人，陪我看完比賽，對於自己早已知曉比賽結果的事，他至始至終未曾透露。如此仗義之舉，進一步鞏固了我倆的情誼。
But this is no time to get sentimental. Stringer, 70, is a hardened former journalist who ran CBS news and entertainment for a decade. I stab a succulent zucchini and return to the subject of his crazy travel schedule: more than 2m air miles on British Airways over seven years, shuttling between New York, London, Tokyo and Los Angeles, where Sony has its Hollywood movie business. Why did he put his body through it? Was it a sense of obligation, or a desire to make history as the first westerner to run Sony, one of Japan’s most respected companies.但此時不是敘舊寒暄的時候，今年70歲的斯金格曾是一位經驗豐富的媒體人，曾主持哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS)的新聞與娛樂節目長達10年。我紮了一塊鮮嫩的西葫蘆送入口，然後再次就其繁忙的行程安排問他：過去七年，他乘坐英國航空公司(British Airways)的行程超過了200萬英里，頻繁穿梭於紐約、倫敦、東京以及洛杉磯（索尼在好萊塢(Hollywood)擁有自己的電影製作公司）。我問他爲何要如此拼命透支自己的身體？是出於責任感，還是希望自己作爲索尼這家日本最負盛名的公司首位外國掌門人而名垂青史？
“You have to understand that I didn’t expect to get the job,” he says. “I certainly wasn’t looking for it. And so I had very little time to make up my mind. I discussed it with my family and said, ‘I am not sure whether I’ll be seeing you as much, and if you don’t want me to take the job ...’ My daughter said to me, ‘Listen, Daddy, we love you but we love Sony ...’ Whether it was a reflection of the joys of DVDs and PlayStation games, I don’t know. But none of us really knew what I was in for.”“你要明白，我壓根沒想到會出任索尼CEO，”他說。“我根本不是找上門去。（得到任命後），我幾乎沒有考慮時間。我與家裏人商量並對他們說，‘我不知道以後是否能經常與你們團聚，你們若不想讓我接受這份工作的話……’我女兒對我說，‘聽着，老爸，我們愛你，但我們也喜歡索尼的產品……’是否出於使用索尼的DVD與PlayStation視頻遊戲機的快樂，我不得而知，但大家都不知道我出任索尼CEO追求的是什麼。”
Our waiter arrives with water and menus. Stringer, who is wearing a navy blue blazer with light chequered shirt and tie, opts for buffalo mozzarella, followed by linguine with Dorset blue lobster. I choose mixed salad, followed by risotto. We both steer clear of wine, though Stringer says he likes to share a good bottle at home, either in New York or in the country outside London with his wife, Jennifer, a dermatologist.這時服務員拿來了水與菜單。斯金格身披海軍藍運動夾克，裏面則是淡格子襯衣與領帶，他點了水牛芝士(buffalo mozzarella)，隨後又點了搭配多塞特藍色龍蝦(Dorset blue lobster)的意式扁面。我則點了什錦色拉，隨後又要了菜飯。我倆都沒要酒，雖然斯金格說不管是在紐約還是倫敦郊外的寓所，自己喜歡與妻子詹妮弗（Jennifer，一位皮膚科醫生）暢飲一番。
I ask whether running Sony was mission impossible. The company’s troubles arguably began in the mid-1990s, well before he arrived. With its catalogue of music and its bedrock of electronics, including the 1980s-defining Walkman personal stereo, Sony could – or should – have been able to create the iPod well before Apple launched the device in 2001. But disastrous infighting and a lack of focus put paid to that.我問執掌索尼是否屬於不可能完成的任務？可以這樣說，索尼的重重困難始於的上世紀90年代中葉，遠遠早於他入主之前。本來索尼憑藉其龐大的音樂目錄優勢以及在電子科技方面的雄厚實力（包括引領上世紀80年代的隨身聽單放機(Walkman)），完全可能（而且應該）先於蘋果公司(Apple)研發出iPod（蘋果於2001年向市場推出）。但公司內部破壞性極大的勾心鬥角以及缺少發展重點讓索尼一敗塗地。
Stringer was an entertainment guy running a struggling consumer electronics business. He had no background in software. And, most important, he spoke no Japanese. He ended up relying on a small group of fiercely loyal women secretaries as his eyes and ears at Sony HQ. Sounding wistful, he says: “Before I left Tokyo for the last time, we had a [group] photograph which they organised. Very nice.”執掌索尼這家陷入水深火熱的電子消費公司的斯金格曾是娛樂圈老手，對軟件一無所知，最要命的是，他不懂日文。最後他依賴幾位忠心耿耿的女祕書充當自己在索尼的“耳目”。他對我說，語氣中還顯得有些戀戀不捨：“我最後離開東京時，這幾位祕書安排與我照了一張合影。真得很感人。”
Stringer insists several times during our two-and-a-half-hour lunch that he has no interest in revisiting the past (“It’s terrible if the Japanese press see me complaining”). He is fiercely protective of his successor, Kazuo Hirai, who previously ran Sony’s consumer products, games and networked services and who, crucially, speaks fluent English and Japanese. But, when pressed, he offers a robust defence of his own record.在兩個半小時的午餐期間，斯金格好幾次堅稱自己對翻陳年舊帳不感興趣（“日本媒體若是看到我大吐苦水，定會不待見我”）。他極力維護自己的繼任者平井一夫(Kazuo Hirai)，對方原先是索尼消費類產品、遊戲以及網絡服務等業務的負責人，關鍵是他能說一口流利的英語與日語。但是，在我一再追問下，他才極力爲自己擔任索尼CEO的工作辯護。
In his first three years as chief executive, between 2005 and 2008, Stringer shifted expensive production overseas, sold business units and developed new ones. Sony was still lagging behind Apple and Samsung, its big rivals, but it was improving operating profits. Then came the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the global financial crisis. The west plunged into recession. The Japanese yen soared against the dollar and euro, killing exports.在2005-2008年擔任索尼CEO的三年時間裏，斯金格把成本過高的生產線從日本移至海外，出售相關業務部門以及研發新產品。雖說索尼仍大大落後於勁敵蘋果與三星(Samsung)，但其營業利潤逐漸上升。但隨後爆發了雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)的倒閉事件以及全球金融危機，西方經濟突然陷入衰退，日元對美元與歐元的匯率大幅飈升，對日本的出口造成了滅頂之災。
In 2011, the losing streak intensified. In addition to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Sony, along with others, suffered a hacking attack on its online video-game network, exposing a mountain of confidential data to potential abuse. Floods in Thailand wiped out production plants ahead of the vital Christmas sales season. Another low point came during the riots in London, when vandals burned down a Sony distribution centre. BBC TV showed a Sony sign crumbling on top of the flaming building.2011年，厄運接踵而至，情況變得雪上加霜。除了福島(Fukushima)核事故外，索尼與其它日本大公司的視頻網絡在線遊戲遭到了黑客攻擊，大量機密資料外泄，有可能給不法分子以可乘之機。泰國發生的洪災把索尼的生產廠徹底摧毀，讓聖誕節前的銷售旺季付之東流。另一背運是倫敦發生的騷亂事件，當時破壞分子縱火燒掉了索尼的配送中心。BBC電視臺還播放了某熊熊燃燒的大樓頂上、索尼標識被燒燬的畫面。
“No journalist used that picture to make the point, but that said a lot about the year we were having,” says Stringer. “I cannot think of any company that had gone through as much. It was the first fatalistic experience of my career.”“媒體記者都不會用此畫面來落井下石，但真實展現了我們這幾年所經歷的艱難困苦，”斯金格說。“我覺得沒有哪家大公司象索尼這樣厄運不斷，這就是我一上任所面臨的窘境，災禍接二連三。”
As the waiter arrives with our first course, I reflect that this is a mild exaggeration. Stringer has indeed enjoyed extraordinary success, notably during his time in New York when he ran CBS News and later as boss of Sony’s movie and entertainment business. But the story of how he arrived and stayed in the US was also marked by an extraordinary twist of fate.這時，服務員端來第一道菜，我覺得這稍有些言過其實。無疑，斯金格曾經功成名就，尤其是他在紐約主持哥倫比亞廣播公司新聞節目以及隨後擔任索尼公司影視與娛樂公司總裁的那段時間。但是，他如何來到美國併成功立足的經過，卻是異常曲折。
Stringer’s father, Harry, grew up in an orphanage and joined the Royal Air Force at 16. The family moved home six times before Howard, born in Cardiff, turned 13. His mother, Marjorie, was a sociable Welsh woman with ambitions for her son. Aged four, he was packed off for (English) elocution lessons. At school, he admits, he was too smart for his own good and was badly bullied. “I was very short,” says Stringer, now well over 6ft. “Everybody else was two years older in my class, and I had curly hair and was teacher’s pet. I was as attractive as you were then ... It was very hard. I took boxing lessons to fight back against the form bully.”斯金格的父親哈里(Harry)在孤兒院長大，16歲加入了皇家空軍(Royal Air Force)。斯金格出生於加的夫(Cardiff)，長到13歲時，全家已搬了六次家。他媽媽瑪喬麗(Marjorie)是位善於交際的威爾士婦女，對兒子的期望值很高。斯金格長到4歲時，被送去接受英語演說方面的訓練。他坦承，上學後，老是自作聰明，結果被同學欺負得很慘。“我當時個頭特低，”斯金格說，如今他身高超過6英尺（約1米83）。“我班所有同學要都大我2歲，我長着一頭捲髮，是老師的寵兒。和你一樣，我小時候長得甭提有多好看……那時我在學校老受委屈，於是我學習拳擊，就是爲了狠揍欺負我的那位同學。”
After planting a hard right on the bully’s nose, Stringer never looked back. He won a scholarship at Oundle School and a place at Oxford to study modern history. There he mixed with Americans, including Rhodes scholars. “The energy of the Kennedy years was completely compelling ... I had a sense of a generous society eager to change the world. Idealism was very contagious. So that’s why I went to America. I didn’t intend to stay.”揪住對方鼻子狠揍一頓後，斯金格就頭也不回地走了。在奧多中學(Oundle School)，他得到了獎學金，從而到牛津大學(Oxford)學習現代史。在牛津，他與一幫美國同學打得火熱，其中就有好多羅得(Rhodes)獎學金獲得者。“肯尼迪(Kennedy)執政時，一切都是那麼意氣風發……自己滿腦子是樂善好施的思想，渴望讓世界舊貌換新顏。理想主義風靡一時，這就是我爲何從英國去美國的原因，剛開始沒想長呆下去。”
Within three months of arriving in 1965, and having found a job as a clerk at CBS, he found himself drafted into the US army and heading for Vietnam. At first, he thought it was a mistake. He wrote to Bobby Kennedy, his hero. Then he tried talking his way out of the draft. “When I went for my haircut, I said, ‘It’s not necessary because I’m not staying,’ whereupon they shaved my head along with everybody else.”1965年，到美國不到三個月，他在哥倫比亞廣播公司找到了一份職員工作，他應徵入美軍，準備上越南前線。一開始，他就覺得越戰是個錯誤，於是他給心中仰慕的英雄羅伯特•肯尼迪(Bobby Kennedy)寫信。隨後，他想盡辦法希望脫離部隊。“去理髮時，我對理髮師說，‘不用理短，因爲我不會長呆部隊，’沒想到，與其他戰友一樣，全被剃了光頭。”
Stringer could have scarpered back to Britain and nobody would have noticed. But he remained attached to his “little American dream, his personal great adventure”, even on the troop ship steaming out of Oakland towards Vietnam. Once there, though, he quickly sought out a clerical job looking after financial records and medals. “I may have agreed to be drafted, but I didn’t agree to be killed.”斯金格本可以開溜回英國，也不會有人注意。但即便站在駛離奧克蘭(Oakland)、前往越南的運兵船上，他依然念念不忘 “心中的美國夢以及個人的雄心抱負”。然而到了越南後，他很快謀到一份文書工作，負責賬目記錄與保管軍功章。“也許我願意去當兵，但不願意因此丟掉性命。”
After a year, he was back in the US (in uniform), and successfully applying for his old job. Ironically, Vietnam gave him his first break at CBS. At the height of the war he accompanied Walter Cronkite, the legendary anchorman, on a series of interviews with President Johnson at his Texas ranch. Five frustrating years later, he was promoted to “assistant associate producer” (CBS bureaucracy!) and asked to make a two-hour documentary on the Rockefellers. He had never been the sole producer of anything but the Rockefellers were mightily impressed with his Oxford degree. The programme won an Emmy award. Stringer was set.一年後，他（身穿軍裝）榮歸美國，並再次申請到以前那份職員工作。具有諷刺意味的是，越戰給了他在哥倫比亞廣播公司的第一個人生際遇。越戰激戰正酣之際，他陪同傳奇主持人克朗凱特(Walter Cronkite)對約翰遜總統(President Johnson)進行了系列採訪，地點就在總統本人位於德克薩斯州的私人農場。在哥倫比亞廣播公司度過了碌碌無爲的五年後，他被提拔爲“副製片人助理”（您瞧瞧哥倫比亞廣播公司的官僚體制！），公司要求他製作一部有關洛克菲勒家族(the Rockefellers)、時長2小時的記錄片。他以前從未獨立製作過任何作品，但幸運的是，洛克菲勒家族極看重他的牛津大學學位。該節目獲得了艾美獎(Emmy)，他成功站穩了腳跟。
Stringer says he has always had a knack of spotting when to jump to the next job. When the length and frequency of documentaries was cut, he moved to network news. When the evening news ratings went into decline, he left CBS, joining Sony in 1997. “I’ve always jumped jobs because the future was catching up with me. And, ironically, that’s happened in Sony as well in a way.”斯金格說自己總能精準把握跳槽時機。當記錄片的長度與播放次數被刪減後，他轉而從事網絡新聞工作。1997年，當自己主持的晚新聞收視率下降後，他離開哥倫比亞廣播公司，轉投索尼門下。“我老跳槽，因爲未來老向我召喚。頗有諷刺意味的是，從某種程度說，我在索尼的經歷也是如此。”
Our main courses have arrived. I want to hear more about Stringer’s insights into Sony and modern Japan. He again defers to his successor. Then he points me to the independent commission report into the Fukushima disaster, which highlighted four fundamental flaws in Japanese culture: reflexive obedience; reluctance to question authority; devotion to sticking with the programme; and hierarchy.這時，我們點的主菜端上來了，我也還想聽聽斯金格對於索尼公司及現代日本社會的真知灼見。他再次對繼任者平井一夫表達了敬意。隨後，他向我提及了獨立調查委員會關於福島核事故的報告，報告專門指出了日本文化四大致命缺點：相互服從、不願質疑權威、死板遵守規程以及等級森嚴。
Many of these weaknesses apply to Sony, I suggest. When Stringer was appointed chief executive, the board simultaneously appointed as president an engineer called Ryoji Chubachi. With overall responsibility for electronics, President Chubachi wielded the power. “Well, actually, they didn’t tell me that when I took the job,” Stringer says. “They said I was CEO. That’s the first cultural contrast. The CEO is in charge in America.”我暗示，這些缺點同樣適用於索尼。當斯金格被任命爲公司CEO時，董事會同時任命一位名叫中鉢良治(Ryoji Chubachi)的工程師擔任總裁。全面負責電子部門工作的中鉢良治也行使同等權力。“事實上，我接手工作時，索尼公司並未把實情告知我，”斯金格說。“他們當時說我就是CEO。這是第一個文化反差，在美國，CEO全權負責一切工作。”
I ask whether he agrees with the off-the-record verdict of one of his Asian competitors: that Sony’s biggest weakness is that “it still does not know what went wrong”. Having led the world in consumer electronics, it was left behind by the digital revolution of smartphones and social media. Sony epitomises the conflict in Japanese technology between “hardware culture” and “software culture”. The first focuses on creating “perfect” products from the start; the second emphasises speed to the market.我問他是否認可某亞洲強敵對索尼公司所下的非公開結論：說索尼最致命的缺點是“自己仍然不知道問題出在哪兒”。索尼曾經引領全球電子消費產品幾十年，如今卻被智能手機與社交媒體引發的數字革命遠遠甩在後面。索尼這樣概括日本科技中“硬件文化”與“軟件文化”的衝突。“硬件文化”從一開始就專注於生產“完美無缺”的產品，而“軟件文化”則強調產品快速市場化。
Stringer agrees that US companies such as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have had the hardware manufactured in China cheaply and then applied their own high-class software. The iPod, he points out, was far less well-manufactured than the Walkman, but the fact is that it was brought out quickly and cheaply. “Japan can’t get anything on the market very cheaply because it has a large, relatively highly paid workforce which you can’t fire,” he says. But, he adds, “I’m getting nervous now, not because you are not getting it right but because I don’t want to feel like the end is nigh. I don’t want to give that impression.” He stresses that Sony has embraced the digital revolution, more so than other Japanese companies. Indeed, even the master – Steve Jobs of Apple – regularly visited Sony in the early 2000s to learn about its manufacturing and technology.斯金格也認爲：亞馬遜(Amazon)、蘋果以及微軟(Microsoft)等美國公司在中國低成本生產硬件，然後再安裝自己研發的一流軟件。他指出：iPod的製作水準不如隨身聽，但問題的關鍵是它推出的速度很快，而且價格便宜。“日本無法實現廉價銷售自己生產的產品，原因是它的勞動力規模大、需要支付的薪水又高，而且不能隨便開除員工，”他說。但又補充說，“我現在越來越緊張，不是由於難以處理得當，而是我不想覺得末日就在眼前。我不想給人留下這樣的印象。”他強調說索尼依然緊跟數字革命，比其它日本公司都要做得好。的確，甚至數字革命的教父——蘋果公司的喬布斯(Steve Jobs)還於21世紀初期時常造訪索尼，學習索尼製造水準以及先進技術。
Jobs actually floated the idea of a merger between Apple and Sony, I say. “Yes, but not with the whole company,” says Stringer, before retreating. “Yes, I think he was [thinking of that], but he didn’t say that to me.”我對他說，喬布斯實際上還動過蘋果與索尼合併的念頭。“沒錯，但不是與整個索尼公司，”斯金格說，隨後身子朝後坐了坐。“你說得沒錯，我認爲他曾有此念頭，但他未曾對我說起過。”
Stringer has left half of the linguine untouched, while I have polished off a tasty risotto. His legacy, he says, will be to have skipped a generation in selecting Sony’s top management. Aside from the 51-year-old “Kaz”, a cadre of highly talented executives in their fifties or younger now run movies, recorded music, TV production and music publishing. The top group includes another Oxford-educated Welshman, Andy House (who does speak fluent Japanese).斯金格只吃了一半的扁面，而我則把美味的菜飯一掃而光。他說，自己給索尼公司留下了充足的人才儲備，無需長時間再爲挑選合適高管人選而大傷腦筋。除了51歲的平井一夫外，很多50多歲甚至更年輕的才華橫溢的管理骨幹如今已在影視、音樂錄製、電視製作以及音樂出版等方面挑起大梁。高管層如今還有一位牛津畢業生、愛爾蘭人安德魯•豪斯（Andy House，能說一口流利日語）。
Stringer is now looking to life after Sony. He has been offered corporate directorships, he says, but he really wants to raise money for his charities, perhaps picking a single one to focus on. He is currently on the board of Teach For America and the American Theatre Wing (which does the Tony awards) and is about to go into his 11th year as chairman of the American Film Institute. Above all, he is looking forward to spending more time in New York.離開索尼後，斯金格如今過着快樂的生活。他對我說，自己是多家公司董事，但自己真正想做的是爲慈善事業籌措資金，將來也許會專心致志做好一家。他目前是“爲美國而教”(Teach For America)以及“美國戲劇協會”（American Theatre Wing，頒發託尼獎(Tony Awards)）董事，擔任美國電影協會理事會(American Film Institute)主席也將步入第11個年頭。總之，他希望自己花更多的時間在紐約生活。
“The hardest thing about being at Sony was not the travel; it was being divorced from the public and private life I had in New York. Travelling as much as I did, while I didn’t lose connection with my friends, I lost a sense of belonging.”“在索尼，最受不了的是沒時間去旅遊；它與我以前的紐約生活徹底‘一刀兩斷’了。過去我會盡可能去旅遊，同時又與朋友保持密切聯繫，在索尼工作，讓我失去了歸屬感。”
The recent death of the writer Nora Ephron, a close friend, was a heavy blow. Most of Stringer’s friends are journalists of the 1960s generation, and they are getting older. “There’s no getting away from it. You suddenly wake up and you start reading the obituary columns. You’re a decade away from it and it’s inevitable; it’s just inevitable.”最近，自己的密友、作家諾拉•依弗朗(Nora Ephron)撒手人寰，對他打擊很大。斯金格多數朋友是上世紀60年代那一代媒體人，如今他們正漸漸老去。“生命無法抗拒，如今自己突然醒過來後，就會經常讀到老友故去的訃告。我也是去日無多，這誰也逃脫不了，這就是生命的輪迴。”
As we make our way out of the restaurant, I notice Stringer is still moving gingerly. He stretches out a hand and says, “Be nice.”我倆一起步出餐館時，我注意到斯金格走路還是那麼小心翼翼，他伸出手對我說，“多保重。”
Lionel Barber is editor of the FT萊昂內爾•巴貝爾是《金融時報》總編輯
