商界奇女 第4期
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最近，在风云变幻的商界当中，有一个女性人物不得不提――卡莉・费奥利那。她学识广博，经历丰富，这些年来在商海中披荆斩棘，所向披靡，成为了美国商界最有权势的女人之一，而最近发生在惠普公司的一次变故，把她再次推到了大众面前。
Carly Fiorina, one of the most powerful women in the American business world, has rarely been out of the news since Hewett-Packard chose her to be their CEO and Chairman in 1999. She lost that position following a boardroom coup in February of this year. It had been an eventful six years and Fiorina had caused ①no small amount of controversy and created quite a few enemies along the way. She was ranked No. 1 on Fortune's list of American businesswoman for five years straight and was one of only eight women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. However, when the news that she was being forced to resign broke nobody ②shed a tear. How did the darling of yesterday become the villain of today?
Not much is known about fifty year-old Fiorina's childhood except that her father, a famous federal judge, had a significant influence on her intellectual development. She studied for a degree in medieval history and philosophy at Stanford. After that she began to study law at UCLA but after two weeks realized that she was not suited to this field. She took a long time to ③pluck up the courage to tell her father that she would not be ④following in his footsteps and it took him another ten years to acknowledge that dropping out of the law course was a good idea. Fiorina went on to add an MBA and masters in science to her academic record.
At 25 she returned to the US after a one-year stint teaching English in Italy and landed a job as a receptionist with communications giant AT&T. She had only intended this to be a short term position but it took her on a road that over twenty years would lead her to the top of that company and corporate America.
After arriving at AT&T she soon moved into a sales position and it was here that she really shone. She then became Director of Accounts. In the meantime she had married, given birth to two daughters, divorced and remarried. Her second husband, also an AT&T executive, took early-retirement in order to take care of his two daughters and allow his wife to push her career even further.
She held a number of senior positions in AT&T before her big break came in 1996 when the company decided to ⑤spin off its Lucent division. Fiorina was chosen to spearhead the planning and execution of the initial public offer. It turned out to be the most successful IPO ever and she went on to be president of Lucent's Global Service Provider business. Previously, Lucent had been a sluggish telephone division with a drab image. Under Fiorina's stewardship the division dramatically increased its growth rate, rapidly expanded its international revenues, and gained market share in every region across every product line.
In 1999, her appointment as CEO of HP made her a household name in the U.S. HP was one of the cornerstones of Silicon Valley and dominated the printer business. The egalitarian management style, pioneered by its two founding members, had a huge influence on corporate America and became known as 'the HP Way'. However, by the mid-nineties, HP had a reputation for being staid and unable to cope with the vast changes of the tech era. It was still a company of engineers competing against more business savvy rivals in a market that had dramatically changed from when the company had been established 60 years before. Profits were dropping and targets for quarters were not being met. This is where Fiorina came in.
When HP announced that Fiorina would lead them into the new century it caused quite a stir. The company that came to be known as old-fashioned and stodgy was choosing a woman, and an outsider, to be its CEO. HP needed to change its image and style if it wanted to be a major player in the technology industry. There was a desire to break out of the narrow confines of producing printers and make an attempt to rival IBM in dominating the entire computer industry. Fiorina's track record with Lucent is what attracted HP to her. If she could do it for AT&T she could do it for HP. Or so they thought.
Her record at HP, overall, was good. By 2004 the company's profits were up 38%. On the other hand, their share price was down 55%. The turning point came in 2002 with the $18 billion dollar HP-Compaq merger. It was the largest IT merger ever but it also sealed Fiorina's fate. The merger caused bitter divisions in HP with the founding member's families ardently opposing it. After a six-month battle, Fiorina had her way and the merger went ahead. The result was that Compaq's sluggish computer business benefited ⑥at the expense of HP's lucrative printer business and the profits promised by Fiorina failed to materialize. One week after her ousting, HP's stock price jumped by 10%.
The Compaq deal was a gamble and Fiorina lost. She wanted to make HP dominate the tech industry and in order to do this she needed to make HP bigger. In the process she alienated too many people. Her management style is also blamed for alienating people within HP because it clashed with the legendary 'HP Way'. While traditionally HP treated its staff more like family members, Fiorina could be quite ruthless. She was known to reward success with personal gifts but was intolerant of poor performance. She was not afraid to streamline the workforce with lay-offs which had been practically unknown to HP prior to her appointment. She has been accused of trying to destroy 'the HP Way'.
But wasn't this the reason she was hired? Fiorina was brought into HP to change it. Her attempts to change it caused divisions and rivalries within the company. It was these divisions that led to her downfall. Furthermore, HP has not indicated that they would change their strategies now that she has gone.
What's in store for Fiorina in the future? Some say that this fiasco has doomed her future in the business world and she will probably retire with her $21m severance pay. It seems highly unlikely that someone of her character will ⑦stay out of the limelight for too long. Some analysts predict a career in government for Fiorina. Who knows? Maybe leaving HP will turn out to be the best thing that happened to her.
自从在1999年被惠普公司任命为首席执行官兼董事会主席之后，作为美国商界最有权势的女人之一的卡莉・费奥利那便频频在新闻中亮相。而今年二月，她在“会议室事件”后丢掉了那个职位。这六年来变故不断，费奥利那引发了很多争论，并在此间大量树敌。她曾连续五年在《财富》美国商界女性榜中折桂，并且还是《财富》500强企业中仅有的八名女性首席执行官之一。然而，在她被迫辞职的消息传出后，却没有人替她难过。昨日的宠儿怎么就变成今天的恶徒了呢？
对于50岁的费奥利那的童年人们知之甚少，只知道她的父亲――一位著名的联邦法官，对她的智力发展产生过重大的影响。她曾在斯坦福大学修读中世纪历史和哲学学位。此后，她开始在加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校学习法律，然而两星期后，她就意识到她并不适合这一领域。她花了很长时间才鼓起勇气对父亲说，她不会再步其后尘，而其父用了10年时间才承认弃学法律是个好主意。费奥利那继续进修，取得了工商管理学硕士学位和理科硕士学位。
25岁时，她结束了在意大利为期一年的英语执教生涯，回到美国并在通信巨头――美国电话电报公司找到了一份接待员的工作。她原来只是打算短期从事这项工作，但这却带她走上了一条历经20年、使其打入该公司和美国企业界高层的道路。
进入美国电话电报公司后，她不久转到了销售岗位，正是在那里她大放光芒。随后，她成了财务主管。在此期间，她结了婚，生了两个女儿，后又离婚并再婚。她的第二任丈夫，也是美国电话电报公司的高层，为了照顾他的两个女儿并使费奥利那在事业上更上一层楼，就提前退休了。
当美国电话电报公司于1996年决定将朗讯部门拆分出来时，她迎来了一个巨大的机遇，而此前，她在公司许多高级岗位上都曾任过职。费奥利那被选中负责“首次公开募股”的规划与实施。结果这成为有史以来最成功的一次“首次公开募股”活动，而她则继而担任了朗讯公司全球服务供应商业务的总裁。此前，朗讯一直都是一个发展缓慢的电话部门，给人留下了枯燥的印象。而在费奥利那的带领下，公司大大提高了发展速度，迅速扩大了其国际收入，并使各系列产品在各地都赢得了市场份额。
1999年，她被任命为惠普公司的首席执行官，从而成为美国家喻户晓的人物。惠普公司是硅谷的奠基者之一，在打印机业务上占有统治地位。由其两位创始人开创的平等主义管理风格，对美国企业界产生了巨大的影响，被称为“惠普之道”。然而，到了90年代中期，惠普公司却获得了一个死板呆滞，不能因应科技时代巨大变革的名声。它仍旧是一个工程师主导的公司，在一个自该公司于60年前成立后就已发生巨大变化的市场中，与更具商业头脑的对手竞争着。利润正在下降，而季度指标也完成不了。而这就是费奥利那加盟时的情况。
当惠普公司宣布费奥利那将代领他们迈进新世纪后，这激起了轩然大波。这家已被看作是守旧、呆滞的公司选择了一位女性，一个外人，来担任其首席执行官。如果惠普公司想在科技行业中成为主力军，它就要改变其形象和风格。在那里曾出现了一种打破制造打印机的局限并尝试与国际商用机器公司争夺整个计算机行业的统治权的热望。而费奥利那在朗讯公司的业绩正是其吸引惠普公司的地方。如果她可以为美国电话电报公司办到那一点，那她也可以为惠普公司办到那一点。也许，他们就只是这么想的。
她在惠普公司的表现，大体上是不错。到了2004年时，公司利润上升了38%。另一方面，他们的股价却下浮了55%。2002年，总值180亿美元的惠普-康柏并购案成为了一个转折点。这是IT行业有史以来的最大并购案，但它也注定了费奥利那的命运。由于创始人家族强烈反对，这次并购导致了惠普公司出现严重的分裂局面。在经过六个月的斗争之后，费奥利那如愿以偿，并购得以继续。结果，康柏公司发展缓慢的计算机业务赢利了，而惠普公司赢利的打印机业务为此付出了代价，并且费奥利那承诺的利润未能实现。在她下台一个星期之后，惠普公司的股价上扬了10%。
购入康柏是一次赌博，而费奥利那输了。她本想让惠普公司控制科技行业，为此她就需要扩大惠普公司的规模。在此过程中，她疏远了太多人。她那种在惠普公司内部疏远员工的管理风格也受到了指责，因为它与具有传奇色彩的“惠普之道”相冲突。惠普公司传统上对待员工就更像是对待家人，而费奥利那可能是太无情了。众所周知，她会用私人礼物来对佳绩进行奖赏，但却不能容忍欠佳的表现。她并不顾忌用下岗的方式来优化劳动力结构，而这在她接受任命之前对惠普公司来说实在是闻所未闻的事情。她一直就受到试图毁灭“惠普之道”的谴责。
然而，这不就是她受聘的原因吗？惠普公司任用费奥利那就是要其改造惠普公司。而她改造公司的企图导致了公司内部的分裂和敌对状态。就是这些分歧致使她。此外，在她离开后，惠普公司并未表示他们将改变其策略。
费奥利那的未来将会怎样？有人说，这次惨败已经毁了她在商界的未来，她可能会带着她的2100万美元遣散费退休。而像她这种性格的人将会在很长一段时间内淡出视线，似乎是极不可能的。有些分析家预计，费奥利那会在政府中就职。谁知道呢？或许离开惠普公司是费奥利那碰到的最好的一件事情。
boardroom /`b5dr6m/ n.（董事会）会议室
coup /k6/ n.出乎意料的行动；
eventful /i`ventful/ adj.变故多的
villain /`vil9n/ n.恶徒
stint /stint/ n.限量
land /l2nd/ v.获得；取得
spearhead /`spi9hed/ v.充当先锋
sluggish /`sl7GiH/ adj.行动迟缓的；缓慢的
revenue /`revin(/ n.收入
cornerstone /`k5n9st9un/ n.奠基石；基石
Silicon Valley硅谷(美国的一个高科技区)
egalitarian /iG2li`te9ri9n/ adj.平等主义的
staid /steid/ adj.沉静的；呆板的
savvy /`s2vi/ n.头脑；理解
stodgy /`st4_i/ adj.呆板的；枯燥的
track record （个人、团体在某方面的）成就
ardently /`3d9ntli/ adv.热烈地
① no small amount of 很多
② shed a tear 悲伤；难过
③ pluck up the courage鼓起勇气
④ follow in one's footsteps 追随某人的脚步
⑤ spin off创造新的事物而不影响原物
⑥ at the expense of 以……为代价
materialize /m9`ti9ri9laiz/ v.实现
oust /aust/ vt.驱逐；撵走
clash /kl2H/ v.冲突
ruthless /`r6Flis/ adj.无情的
streamline /`str1mlain/ vt. 使（企业、组织等）简化并更有效率
downfall /`daunf5l/ n.衰败；
fiasco /fi`2sk9u/ n.惨败
severance pay /`sev9r9ns pei/ n. 遣散费
limelight /`laim,lait/ n.引人注目的中心
⑦ stay out of置身于……之外