喬布斯式現實扭曲力遭遇滑鐵盧
On June 16, New York State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Oing issued a 63-page decision in which he found that retailer J.C. Penney JCP 2.78% had committed tortious interference in its attempt to develop a Martha Stewart store inside JC Penney stores. The deal, announced in 2011 as Ron Johnson took Penney’s helm, violated the terms of a preexisting deal that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia MSO -0.89% had with Macy’s M 1.29% , the judge ruled. Damages will be determined by a special master or referee.
6月16日，紐約州最高法院華裔法官翁家駒給出長達63頁的判決書，認定零售商J.C. Penney公司試圖在J.C. Penney商場中開瑪莎·斯圖沃特（Martha Stewart）店面屬侵權干擾行爲。這筆交易於2011年羅恩·約翰遜執掌J.C. Penney時宣佈。翁家駒法官裁定，它違反了瑪莎·斯圖沃特公司早前與梅西百貨（Macy’s）簽訂的協議之條款。損害賠償將由一名特別專家或鑑定人決定。The decision surprised no one. Oing had previously issued a preliminary injunction barring Penney from building the stores and selling most of the products. The ill-fated deal was just one of the many choices that contributed to Johnson’s ultimate failure.
翁家駒法官做出這個裁定是意料之中的事。他曾發佈初步禁令，禁止J.C. Penney公司建造瑪莎o斯圖沃特店面以及銷售這個品牌的大部分產品。這筆不幸流產的交易只不過是約翰遜最終失敗的諸多原因之一。The decision also sheds light on how closely Johnson’s own approach to management hewed to the “reality distortion field” made famous by his prior boss and mentor, Steve Jobs—and, more important—how infrequently such an approach can succeed outside of Apple.
上述裁決使我們認識到，在很大程度上，約翰遜的管理方式師承自其導師和前老闆史蒂夫o喬布斯著名的“現實扭曲力場”，而更重要的是，這種管理方式出了蘋果（Apple）公司往往行不通。
When Johnson took the helm at J.C. Penney, he brought with him a strong belief that his Apple experience—he built the company’s stores, now the most profitable retail group in the country—would be a huge plus. So did Penney’s board of directors; indeed, it was the main reason he was selected. Johnson held a coming out party eerily reminiscent of Jobs’ MacWorld events; he added a clean, white aesthetic to the company’s branding and logo; he hired several Apple veterans; and he talked constantly about his closeness to Jobs and the Apple way of doing things.
約翰遜入主J.C. Penney 時曾堅信，他在蘋果的經驗——他一手打造的蘋果商店現在已經是全美最賺錢的零售集團——將是一個巨大優勢。J.C. Penney的董事會也這樣認爲；事實上，這是他們選擇約翰遜的主要原因。約翰遜入主J.C. Penney後舉行的首次派對不禁令人想起喬布斯的MacWorld大會；他給J.C. Penney公司的品牌和標識增添了乾淨、純白的美感；他僱了幾位來自蘋果的老將；而且他不斷談到自己與喬布斯關係有多密切，反覆提起蘋果公司的處事方法。Jobs was rightfully lionized as a creative genius, but he was also a fiercely competitive leader who simply could not bear to lose. That ferocity—plus a force of will that could convince just about anyone of anything—was referred to by people around him as his “reality distortion” field. And it is this trait that we see Johnson emulating in his attempt to convince the world that Penney was not, in fact, infringing upon Macy’s earlier agreement with Martha Stewart’s company.
喬布斯被奉爲創意天才無可厚非，但他同時也是位好勝心爆棚的強勢領導者。喬布斯的兇悍——加上幾乎能說服所有人接受任何事的意志力——被他身邊的人稱之爲喬布斯的“現實扭曲”力場。約翰遜正是效仿喬布斯的這個特質，試圖讓人們相信，J.C. Penney公司事實上並沒有對梅西百貨早前與瑪莎o斯圖沃特簽署的協議形成侵權。The emails presented as evidence in the case show a leader who had already convinced himself that he had won—regardless of the fact that even his own counsel worried about the deal’s legality. As Johnson wrote in an email to Daniel Walker, an Apple retail veteran he had hired at Penney: “I’m feeling awesome about grand strategy. I need to pull off Martha. I need to propose a deal so she can go to Terry [Lundgren] at Macy’s and break their agreement. That is the only issue in way of success at this point.” Johnson suggested, with some glee, that Lundgren would probably “have a headache,” when he heard about the JCP deal, one that would soon develop into a “full on migraine.”
作爲證據提交給法院的電子郵件顯示，約翰遜已經說服了自己，相信自己已經贏了，儘管連他自己的律師都擔心這筆交易不合法。約翰遜在給J.C. Penney僱員、前蘋果零售業務老員工丹尼爾o沃克的郵件中寫道：“我對大戰略感覺好極了。我得搞定瑪莎。我得拿出好的交易，讓她去跟梅西百貨的（首席執行官）特里o倫德格倫終止合約。”約翰遜有些幸災樂禍地暗示，倫德格倫聽到J.C. Penney與瑪莎的交易後估計要“頭痛”了，而且很快會變成“重度偏頭痛”。The judge was clearly astonished by Johnson’s reaction after Martha Stewart announced to Lundgren that she had signed on with Penney. “Incredibly,” the judge wrote, “ignoring the seriousness of what had just transpired, Mr. Johnson wrote to [board member] William Ackman: ‘Media good as well. We put Terry in a corner. Normally when that happens and you get someone on the defensive they make bad decisions. This is good.’ And to board member Steven Roth, he wrote ‘…the more this is seen as brilliant for JCP and Martha the more he won’t want to interfere…’”
瑪莎o斯圖沃特告知倫德格倫自己與J.C. Penney簽約之後，約翰遜作出的反應令翁家駒法官驚訝不已。法官寫道：“簡直令人難以置信，（約翰遜）完全無視事情的嚴重性。他在給（董事會成員）威廉o阿克曼的郵件中寫道：‘媒體反響良好。我們把特里逼上了絕路。通常出現這種情況的時候，人們就會處於防禦狀態，往往會做出錯誤的決定。這是好事。’而在給董事會成員史蒂芬o羅斯的郵件中，約翰遜寫道：“......外界越認爲JCP和瑪莎幹得漂亮，他就越不會干涉……”In fact, the opposite became true as a result of the company’s cavalier attitude, Oing observed. “Unbeknownst to Mr. Lundgren and Macy’s, Mr. Johnson’s attitude towards them with respect to JCP’s budding relationship with MSLO was take it or leave it. Mr. Johnson aptly described the scene as making JCP’s ‘offensive so strong’ that Macy’s would ‘simply pick up their toys and go home.’ JCP and Mr. Johnson could not have been more wrong.”
翁家駒法官表示，事實上，由於J.C. Penney的傲慢態度，事態在向着完全相反的方向發展。“倫德格倫先生和梅西百貨所不知道的是，在JCP與瑪莎公司初步確立合作關係這件事情上，約翰遜先生對他們的態度是“沒得商量”。約翰遜先生顯然一位，面對JCP‘如此猛烈的進攻’，梅西會‘乖乖地收拾玩具回家’。然而，JCP和約翰遜先生可謂大錯特錯。”It is axiomatic that leaders must believe that they have made the right decisions. But as this case shows, believing that they are right does not make it so—no matter what Steve Jobs would have said.
自然，領導者必須相信自己所做的決定是正確的。但上面這個案例表明，假如確實錯了，光靠相信自己是對的沒有用——無論史蒂夫·喬布斯會怎麼說。
