Tin Toy

《錫鐵小兵》

Not all of Jobs’s relationships at Pixar were as good. His worst clash came with Catmull’s cofounder, Alvy Ray Smith. From a Baptist background in rural north Texas, Smith became a free-spirited hippie computer imaging engineer with a big build, big laugh, and big personality—and occasionally an ego to match. “Alvy just glows, with a high color, friendly laugh, and a whole bunch of groupies at conferences,” said Pam Kerwin. “A personality like Alvy’s was likely to ruffle Steve. They are both visionaries and high energy and high ego. Alvy is not as willing to make peace and overlook things as Ed was.”

喬布斯在皮克斯的人際關系并非都這么好。最嚴重的一次沖突是同阿爾維·雷·史密斯——卡特穆爾的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人。史密斯來自得克薩斯州北部農村，在浸信會的熏陶下長大，是一個擁有自由精神的嬉皮士，擔任電腦圖像工程師。他身材高大，笑聲爽朗，很有個性，有時也很自負。“阿爾維光芒四射，笑容友善，在會議中有一大堆擁護者。”帕姆·克爾溫說道，“阿爾維這樣的個性可能會觸怒史蒂夫。他們都是有遠見的人，精力旺盛，非常自負。阿爾維不愿意像埃德一樣息事寧人，無視一些不高興的事。”

Smith saw Jobs as someone whose charisma and ego led him to abuse power. “He was like a televangelist,” Smith said. “He wanted to control people, but I would not be a slave to him, which is why we clashed. Ed was much more able to go with the flow.” Jobs would sometimes assert his dominance at a meeting by saying something outrageous or untrue. Smith took great joy in calling him on it, and he would do so with a large laugh and a smirk. This did not endear him to Jobs.

史密斯認為，喬布斯的領袖魅力和自負致使他濫用權力。“他就像一個電視節(jié)目中的布道者史密斯表示，“他要控制別人，但是我不愿意做他的奴隸，因此我們發(fā)生了沖突。而埃德更愿意順其自然。”開會時，喬布斯有時會說一些離譜或不真實的東西來確立自己的主導地位。史密斯喜歡在這種情況下和喬布斯叫板，他會邊笑邊說，最后露出得意的笑容。這讓喬布斯感到很不爽。

One day at a board meeting, Jobs started berating Smith and other top Pixar executives for the delay in getting the circuit boards completed for the new version of the Pixar Image Computer. At the time, NeXT was also very late in completing its own computer boards, and Smith pointed that out: “Hey, you’re even later with your NeXT boards, so quit jumping on us.” Jobs went ballistic, or in Smith’s phrase, “totally nonlinear.” When Smith was feeling attacked or confrontational, he tended to lapse into his southwestern accent. Jobs started parodying it in his sarcastic style. “It was a bully tactic, and I exploded with everything I had,” Smith recalled. “Before I knew it, we were in each other’s faces—about three inches apart—screaming at each other.”

有一次董事會會議上，因為新版皮克斯圖像電腦的電路板遭遇延期，喬布斯開始訓斥史密斯和皮克斯的其他髙管。當時，NeXT電腦的電路板也推遲了很久。史密斯指出了這一點：“嘿，你們的NeXT電路板更遲呢，所以別對我們大呼小叫了。”喬布斯頓時大發(fā)雷霆，或者用史密斯的話來說“完全不可理喻”。當史密斯覺得被攻擊或遭遇對抗時，會不由自主地冒出西南部口音。喬布斯于是挖苦著模仿史密斯。“這簡直就是欺負人，我完全爆發(fā)了。”史密斯回憶道，“我還沒反應過來，我們倆就已經面對面了，相隔只有3英寸，朝著對方大吼。”

Jobs was very possessive about control of the whiteboard during a meeting, so the burly Smith pushed past him and started writing on it. “You can’t do that!” Jobs shouted.

喬布斯對于會議中的白板極具控制欲，于是魁梧的史密斯推開他，開始在白板上寫寫畫畫。“你不能這樣！”喬布斯大喊。

“What?” responded Smith, “I can’t write on your whiteboard? Bullshit.” At that point Jobs stormed out.

“什么？”史密斯回擊道，“我不能在你的白板上寫字？放狗屁！”聽到這話，喬布斯摔門而出。

Smith eventually resigned to form a new company to make software for digital drawing and image editing. Jobs refused him permission to use some code he had created while at Pixar, which further inflamed their enmity. “Alvy eventually got what he needed,” said Catmull, “but he was very stressed for a year and developed a lung infection.” In the end it worked out well enough; Microsoft eventually bought Smith’s company, giving him the distinction of being a founder of one company that was sold to Jobs and another that was sold to Gates.

史密斯最終辭了職，成立了一家新公司，制作數(shù)字繪圖和圖像編輯軟件。喬布斯拒絕史密斯使用他在皮克斯時編寫的代碼，這又進一步加深了彼此的敵意。“阿爾維最終得到了他需要的東西，”卡特穆爾說，“但是，他這一年的壓力都很大，坯患上了肺部感染。”最后，結果還算不錯，微軟收購了史密斯的新公司。自己成立的公司，一家賣給喬布斯，另一家賣給蓋茨，這樣的人也只有史密斯了吧。

Ornery in the best of times, Jobs became particularly so when it became clear that all three Pixar endeavors—hardware, software, and animated content—were losing money. “I’d get these plans, and in the end I kept having to put in more money,” he recalled. He would rail, but then write the check. Having been ousted at Apple and flailing at NeXT, he couldn’t afford a third strike.

不過，即便在境況最好的時候，喬布斯的脾氣也很暴躁。因此，當皮克斯的三項努力——硬件、軟件和動畫內容——都在賠錢時，喬布斯就越發(fā)如此了。“我制訂了這些計劃，結果卻得不停地投錢進去。”他回憶說。他會責罵皮克斯的人，但還是會給他們開支票。已經被蘋果驅逐，又被困在NeXT，他不能接受再一次打擊了。

To stem the losses, he ordered a round of deep layoffs, which he executed with his typical empathy deficiency. As Pam Kerwin put it, he had “neither the emotional nor financial runway to be decent to people he was letting go.” Jobs insisted that the firings be done immediately, with no severance pay. Kerwin took Jobs on a walk around the parking lot and begged that the employees be given at least two weeks notice. “Okay,” he shot back, “but the notice is retroactive from two weeks ago.” Catmull was in Moscow, and Kerwin put in frantic calls to him. When he returned, he was able to institute a meager severance plan and calm things down just a bit.

為了止損，喬布斯下令進行一輪大規(guī)模裁員。他缺乏對待他人的同情心，冷酷地執(zhí)行了這一決定。正如帕姆·克爾溫所形容的：“對于要解雇的人，他在感情和財務上都不留余地。”喬布斯堅持裁員立即開始，且不支付遣散費。克爾溫拽著喬布斯在停車場周圍散步，請求他至少提前兩周告知員工們這一消息。“好吧，”喬布斯回答道，“但通知應該倒推回兩周生效。”卡特穆爾當時在莫斯科，克爾溫瘋了似的跟他打電話。卡特穆爾回來后，研究出一個遣散計劃，給予被解雇員工微薄的補償，稍微平息了事態(tài)。