纵横天下（1954）

他做了一笔投资。
he makes an investment.
现在，他这么做的唯一原因就是为了得到回报。
Now, the only reason he makes it is to get a return.
所以我相信今天的公♥司♥
That’s why I believe that corporations today
必须按照它的主人的要求来管理它，
must be governed to be what its owners want it to be,
并为此付出了代价，
and have paid for it to be,
投资回报率最高、最安全的金融机构。
a financial institution yielding the highest and safest return on investment.
你知道为什么今天越来越多的公♥司♥
You know why more and more corporations today
他们的领导人是从控制者和投资银行家的行列中抽调出来的吗？
are drawing their leaders from the ranks of controllers and investment bankers?
因为今天总统办公室遇到的问题
Because the problems that come to the president’s office today
主要是财务方面的。
are predominantly financial.
我明白了。
I get it.
制♥造♥和销♥售♥不再重要了。
Manufacturing and selling don’t count anymore.
当然有价值，弗雷德，但它们本身不是目的，
Of course they count, Fred, but they’re not ends in themselves,
只有达到目的的方法。
only the means to the end.
这是管理水平的问题。我刚说过。
It’s a matter of management levels. I just said it.
在总统一级，重点必须是财政。
At the presidential level, the emphasis must be financial.
拿我们自己的案子来说。
Take our own case.
杰西和他的员工干得很出色
Jesse and his staff have done a wonderful job
降低精加工成本，
of reducing costs on our finishing operation,
我们都很感激大家倾注的创造性努力
and we all appreciate the creative effort that’s been poured
我们在派克街工厂的实验项目。
into our experimental program at the Pike Street plant.
但事实是，
But the truth is,
这些努力对我们的净收益增加的相对较少，
such efforts add comparatively little to our net earnings,
即使他们成功了。
even when they succeed.
去年，他们的贡献还不到我们所得的四分之一
Last year, they contributed less than a quarter of what we gained
从一个新的税务会计程序我得到了政♥府♥的批准。
from one new tax accounting procedure I got the government to approve.
所以，你看，那一件作品，纯粹是。。。
So, you see, that one piece of work, all purely…
是的，我们知道了，好吧。
Yeah, we see, all right.
当杰西和唐生产产品的时候，
While Jesse and Don are turning out products,
你认为玩杂耍的人和制图的人都忙着用小数点标记它。
you figure-jugglers and chart-men are busy flyspecking it with decimal points.
我们有些人已经受够了，
Well, some of us have had enough of it,
我们中的一些人因此感到恶心！
and some of us are sick to our stomachs from it!
我受够了那种态度！
I’ve had enough of that attitude!
我知道你们大多数人对我的看法。
I know how I’ve been regarded around here by most of you.
效率成了一个脏话。
Efficiency has become a dirty word.
预算控制有一个坏名声。
Budget control has a bad odor.
那是我的工作。这是我的责任，
Well, that’s my job. That’s my responsibility,
为了堵住每一个利润漏洞，
to plug every profit leak,
把这家公♥司♥的每一件浪费和低效的事情都处理得一清二楚。
to run to earth every single case of waste and inefficiency in this company.
如果在这个过程中我不得不踩脚趾头伤害感情，
If I have to step on toes and hurt feelings in the process,
这没办法。
that can’t be helped.
但没人会说我什么都没有
But nobody’s going to say I ever had anything
但在我做这件事的时候，我最关心的是公♥司♥的利益。
but the best interests of this company at heart while I was doing it.
你看看过去三年的记录。
You take a look at the record of the last three years.
与这一纪录抗争。
Fight that record.
我的记录。
My record.
你的记录，肖？
Your record, Shaw?
没有我是办不到的。
Couldn’t have been done without me.
明白，我不是想贬低布拉德先生。
Understand, I don’t mean to belittle Mr. Bullard.
我们都承认他的伟大贡献
We all recognize his magnificent contribution
在这家公♥司♥成长♥期♥间。
to this company during its period of growth.
换言之，艾弗里·布拉德是合适的人选
In other words, Avery Bullard was the right kind of man
为了让公♥司♥免于灾难，
to save this company from disaster,
把它建起来，让它走上正轨。
to build it up and set it on its way.
但现在，我们需要一种不同的管理方式，
But now, we need a different kind of management,
致力于支付
one that will dedicate itself to paying
给股东的最高股息。
the maximum dividends to the stockholders.
是这样吗？
Is that it?
我不知道我会用那些词来表达，
I don’t know that I’d express it in exactly those terms,
但是，是的，这就是我的意思。
but, yes, that’s substantially what I do mean.
肖，我问你件事。
Shaw, let me ask you something.
像特雷德韦这样的公♥司♥的总裁必须是个男人
The president of a company like Tredway would have to be a man
他很优秀，不是吗？-当然。
of outstanding qualities, wouldn’t he? – Naturally.
一个准备做出许多个人牺牲的人，
A man prepared to make a good many personal sacrifices,
愿意全身心地投入公♥司♥。
willing to devote himself to the company, mind and heart, body and soul.
如果你找对了人，那就不用担心了。
If you have the right man, there’d be no worry on that score.
为什么？他为什么要这么做？
Why? Why would he do it?
他的动机是什么？
What would be his incentive?
你是说，除了薪水？
You mean, outside of salary?
有一种东西叫做成功，不是吗？
There’s such a thing as success, isn’t there?
成就感。
The sense of accomplishment.
确切地。
Exactly.
现在，让我们假设，肖，你就是那个人
Now, let’s assume, Shaw, that you’re the man
以你的方式管理Tredway公♥司♥。
running the Tredway Corporation your way.
你会满足于衡量你一生的工作吗
Would you be satisfied to measure your life’s work
你提高了多少股息？
by how much you raised the dividend?
你认为你的生活是成功的吗
Would you regard your life as a success
就因为你拿到了红利
just because you managed to get the dividend
3美元4美元，5美元6美元7美元？
to $3 or $4, or five or six or seven?
够了吗？
Would that be enough?
这就是你死后想刻在墓碑上的东西吗？
Is that what you want engraved on your tombstone when you die?
Tredway公♥司♥的分红记录？
The dividend record of the Tredway Corporation?
你是说收入不重要吗？
Are you suggesting that earnings aren’t important?
我建议你不要这样，你知道的！
I’m suggesting no such thing and you know it!
肖说得对
Shaw’s right when he says
我们对股东负有责任。
that we have an obligation to our stockholders.
但这比提高股息更重要。
But it’s a bigger obligation than raising the dividend.
我们有义务维持公♥司♥的生存，
We have an obligation to keep this company alive,
不仅仅是今年，明年，或者之后的一年。
not just this year, or next, or the year after that.
有时，你不得不把你的利润用于公♥司♥的发展，
Sometimes, you have to use your profits for the growth of the company,
不给他们全部分红
not pay them all out in dividends
用你的管理记录给股东留下深刻印象。
to impress the stockholders with your management record.
这是你的废物，肖！这就是你的低效！
There’s your waste, Shaw! There’s your inefficiency!
停止生长，你就会死！
Stop growing, and you die!
不要再为明天做实验和计划了
Turn your back on experimentation and planning for tomorrow
因为他们今天没有分红
because they don’t contribute to dividends today
你就没有明天了
and you won’t have a tomorrow
因为不会有任何公♥司♥。
because there won’t be any company.
艾弗里·布拉德似乎并不认为
Avery Bullard didn’t seem to think
我的政策完全毁了这家公♥司♥。
my policies were exactly destroying this company.
不。
No.
不，他没有。
No, he didn’t.
他错了。
And he was wrong.
现在很多人都错了，
The way a lot of people are wrong these days,
抓得快，抓得容易，抓得准。
grabbing for the quick and easy, the sure thing.
只是对未来缺乏信心，
That’s just a lack of faith in the future,
今天空气中的东西，
something that’s in the air today,
很多人的摸索，他们知道自己已经失去了信仰，
the groping of a lot of men, who know they’ve lost their faith,
但不知道是什么，也不知道他们是怎么弄丢的。
but aren’t sure what it is, or how they happened to lose it.
艾弗里·布拉德就是其中之一。
Avery Bullard was one of them.
他一直忙于制♥造♥一台伟大的生产机器
He’d been so busy building a great production machine
他终于忘记了为什么要建它，
that he finally lost sight of why he was building it,
为什么他是那个人！
of why he was the man he was!
如果他真的知道的话。
If he ever really knew.
你知道吗，沃林先生？
Do you know, Mr. Walling?
是的，我想是的。
Yes, I think I do.
艾弗里·布拉德被骄傲所驱使，
Avery Bullard was driven by pride,
为自己感到骄傲，
pride in himself,
做地球上其他人做不到的事的冲动。
the urge to do things that no other man on earth could do.
他是塔顶的人，
He was the man at the top of the tower,
不需要任何人，不需要任何人，
needing no one, wanting no one,
只有他自己。
only himself.
这就是满足他的自尊心所需要的。
That’s what it took to satisfy his pride.
那是他的力量。
That was his strength.
这也是他的弱点。
That was his weakness, too.
如果一个人赢得了骄傲，为什么他就不应该骄傲呢？
Why shouldn’t a man have pride if he’s earned it?
好吧。
All right.
但为什么这会把他和他共事的人区分开来呢？
But why should that set him apart from the people he’s working with?
一个伟大公♥司♥背后的力量不仅仅是一个人的骄傲，
The force behind a great company has to be more than the pride of one man,
这是成千上万人的骄傲。
it has to be the pride of thousands.