政治家戈爾ｖｓ富豪戈爾

59歲的前美國副總統(tǒng)戈爾，讓我想起魯迅先生的一句話:“跑在最后卻堅持跑完的，乃是中國的脊梁。”這位“美國脊梁”，跑了兩次。他一直在努力奔跑，平靜地接受結果，默默地微笑——雖然很多人看起來他像個陪跑的。這種人總是讓我肅然起敬。

勝者好像理應可以為王，敗者(假如我們以競選的結果來定義成敗)卻不一定都要落草為“寇”。比如戈爾，他不落草，卻落了“鈔”，于一般人在如此狀況中都會產(chǎn)生的壓抑和委屈中，很負責任地為自己發(fā)掘了商業(yè)才華。

我們可以參加既定游戲規(guī)則的游戲，比如戈爾參加總統(tǒng)選舉，然后接受游戲規(guī)則的評判;我們也可以換種游戲，換種心情，如果這場游戲我們輸了，并不表示天下只有這么一種游戲或者只有這么一套規(guī)則;或者，我們也可以開辟游戲的藍海，比如戈爾自己開創(chuàng)了CurrentTV，愛播什么、播給誰看，他可以自己訂規(guī)則。

接受了一重身份，并不代表我們以后一直要照這條路走下去。生活的精彩，需要自己定義給自己。

這也是職場，這也是舞臺。

Funny guy， indeed. In one well-delivered anecdote， Gore manages to make fun of himself， the election， his relationship with his former boss， the Bush administration， and the media--and still come out on top. Gone is the robo-candidate who provided fodder for conservative bile and late-night merrymaking. (For a good time， google \"SNL\" and \"lockbox.\") After the 2000 election， Gore might have slunk away to a loser's life: a memoir here， a visiting professorship there， the occasional keynote speech or celebrity golf tournament. Instead， in what may be the greatest brand makeover in history， Gore is being hailed as a visionary who was right about everything from global warming to Iraq. At 59， he's an Academy Award winner， a bestselling author， a front-runner for the Nobel Prize， and a concert promoter who turned out to be a bigger rock star at this year's Grammys than the rock stars themselves.

What no one is talking about is that he has also become a stunningly successful businessman--and that has fueled his comeback. Since his nonelection， Gore has become a millionaire many times over， bringing him， in financial terms， shoulder to shoulder with the C-suite denizens he used to hit up for campaign cash. In addition to the steady flow of six-figure speaking gigs， he has become an insider at two of the hottest companies on the planet: at Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)， where he signed on as an adviser in 2001， pre-IPO (and received stock options now reportedly worth north of $30 mil ion)， and at Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)， where he joined the board in 2003 (and got stock options now valued at about $6 mil ion). He enjoyed a big payday as vice chairman of an investment firm in L.A.， and， more recently， started a cable-television company and an asset-management firm， both of which are becoming quiet forces in their fields.

Financial disclosure documents released before the 2000 election put the Gore family's net worth at $1 million to $2 million. After years of public service--and four kids needing high-priced educations--Al and Tipper used to fret occasionally about money. Not anymore. They have a new multimillion-dollar home in a tony section of Nashvil e and a family home in Virginia， and have recently bought a multimilion-dolar condo at the St. Regis condo/hotel in San Francisco. Available data indicate a net worth wel in excess of $100 mil ion.

One problem he had in politics， he says， was identifying an issue too early--\"'predawn' is the term I use\"--to be able to act on it. But \"in the business world， particularly at a time when things are moving so swiftly， if you can see it early， you can make a business opportunity out of it.\" He pauses. \"For whatever reason， the business world rewards a long-term perspective more than the political world does.\"

His most public effort was dusting off a slide show on global warming he had put together in 1989. It was full of depressing data about melting ice caps and killer hurricanes--not a likely vehicle to spark a resurrection. As recently as May 2004， he took some serious ribbing for presenting a version of it at an event timed to coincide with the goofy global-warming film The Day After Tomorrow.

What has changed since then is， in part， political: John Kerry fared worse than Gore at the polls， and President George W. Bush has seen his approval ratings tumble. Hurricane Katrina played a role， too， stirring fears of climate change.

Joel Hyatt is comfortably ensconced in his loft-style San Francisco office at Current TV， Al Gore's now-profitable cable network. Hyatt， the CEO， is a longtime friend of Gore's who made his millions by founding Hyatt Legal Plans， a provider of low-cost legal services that was acquired by MetLife (NYSE:MET) in 1997. He has taught entrepreneurship at Stanford's business school and chaired the Democratic finance committee during the 2000 election. He doesn't talk easily about his front-row view of Gore's disputed loss， and when he does， his voice shakes with emotion. \"It's hard to move on from something like that，\" he says.

But he did. After the election， Hyatt began talking with Gore about the sorry state of television and the role that the broadcast media play in the public sphere. \"The line between news and entertainment is blurred，\" as Gore now puts it. \"Much of TV is mind deadening. It's a one-way conduit of knowledge.\" The two men discussed what Hyatt calls \"an utter lack of innovation in the media industry\"--a barely disguised oligopoly， as they saw it， controlling both content and competition. \"We decided that we wanted to build a new kind of media company to democratize--small d--television first and the media industry generally，\" Hyatt says. They would give viewers from 18 to 34 the means to create and control what went on the air--a user-generated model now familiar thanks to the likes of YouTube and MySpace， but a shot in the dark for TV back in 2002.

Undaunted， Gore and Hyatt went looking to buy a cable-TV network. The effort quickly became a disaster. Meetings were taken， favors were called in， but nobody wanted them. \"We were told repeatedly， 'You're not going to start a cable-television company，'\" Hyatt recalls. \"'There's no room in the industry for you. Period.'\" The only possibility they could find was a yawner of a Canadian news network， called Newsworld International， or NWI， owned by the French company Vivendi. Yet even here， Gore and Hyatt were initially rebuffed. Gore had to tap then French president Jacques Chirac to arrange a meeting with Vivendi executives. Negotiations dragged on for months. \"There were probably at least seven or eight times when [the deal] was dead and all but buried，\" Gore recalls. Finally， after nearly a year of nail biting and a cameo appearance by Barry Diller， who owned a part of the entities--Gore lobbied him in person--Gore and Hyatt snagged NWI in May 2004 for $70 million.

They had the network， renamed Current TV， but they still didn't know precisely what it would air . At a meeting around Hyatt's kitchen table in the summer of 2004， the nascent management team kicked around ideas--and kicked them to the curb. One option was to give 200 talented unknowns all around the world video equipment， train them， and set them loose to tell stories. Hyatt and Gore's response: Not good enough. Gore was looking for something \"transformational，\" recalls Current exec Joanna Drake Earl， a veteran of Paul Allen's Moxi media startup. \"Transformational?\" Earl remembers with a laugh. \"I mean...that's hard to manage to.\"

As Current's August 1， 2005， launch date approached--the old Canadian news programming would end July 31--tensions ran high. \"At one point，\" says president of programming David Neuman， who had produced sitcoms on NBC and Fox， \"I got down on my hands and knees and begged for more time.\" Finally， the team agreed on a formula. They would hire a crew of \"vanguard journalists，\" but work toward the goal of creating a network largely shaped by its viewers， via a Web site that functioned like a production community.

Current TV， Gore's cable channel， turned a profit in only two years.

Today， less than two years in， at least 30% of the network's content is viewer generated， called VC2. Amateur filmmakers， some in their teens， upload three- to eight-minute documentary-style nonfiction segments， called \"pods，\" to the Current Web site. Online modules help aspiring filmmakers navigate everything from framing a shot to negotiating music rights. The online community comments on the videos and votes to \"green-light\" pods that they want to see on air. Makers of the pods that are aired get $500; Current gets a library of content to use in perpetuity--with no production costs.

The result is surprisingly engaging and unlike anything else on TV. The pods shuffle through everything from cutting-edge bands and dogsled races， to African villagers struggling with HIV/AIDs and dispatches from soldiers serving in Iraq.Gore is clearly happy with Current TV's progress and optimistic about its future. Current TV is now in 38 mil ion U.S. homes via DirecTV， Comcast， Dish Network， ATT U-Verse， and Time Warner Cable. Its expansion this year to the UK and Ireland on BSkyB and Virgin Media will put it in another 8.2 mil ion homes.

While Gore was struggling to launch his cable network in late 2003，he was also moving on another front: starting an investment firm based on a new definition of sustainability. Metropolitan West Financial， an L.A.-based asset-management outfit where he'd been vice chairman for two years， had just been sold to Wachovia (NYSE:WB). (Gore's former Senate chief of staff， Peter Knight， was a Met West managing director and had recruited him.) Gore had his hefty payout from the deal， plus a desire \"to incorporate sustainability values into the financial-services work that I was doing.\" Goldman's Murphy introduced him to David Blood， then CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. \"They were both talking to me about similar things，\" Murphy recalls， \"deep conversations about emerging markets， sustainability issues， and new ways of making investments. They were both asking， 'Can this make money? Can this be a business?'\"

Rather than rely on short-term earnings projections， they thought long-term investment potential--and good management--could be better gauged by looking at factors such as whether a company was preparing for a carbon-neutral future. Environmental stewardship， though， is just part of how Generation defines sustainability. \" We think about how businesses attract and retain employees ， governance ， branding ; how they operate in the community; and how all of that drives their business strategy，\" Blood explains. \"We have a belief that explicit recognition of environmental， social， governance， economic， and ethical factors affect business . \" Generation's research team， led by Colin le Duc， has both environmental economists and traditional buy-side equity analysts， who have learned to ask a wider range of questions of the companies they cover. The firm plans to build a long-term portfolio of only 30 to 50 companies. Blood claims that returns so far have exceeded expectations， although he won't divulge specifics. (See \"An Inconvenient Portfolio\" for some of the firm's holdings.)The firm now has nearly $1 billion under management， from 15 institutions ， plus a few individuals. And it has turned down some investors. Says Blood: \"Anybody who is expecting a monthly report on how their stocks are doing isn't for us.\"

Back in New York， I ask Gore to explain what he meant when he said he wanted Current TV to be transformational. He answers with a 10-minute history lesson on the computer. \"It's a geeky analogy， but you're from Fast Company， so you'll like it，\" he says good-naturedly. Sketching a diagram on a file folder， he reveals just how geeky he is himself. He certainly needs more than 30 seconds to get his point across.

That helps explain why， despite the interest from so many Democrats in his political aspirations， he seems genuinely distanced from the idea of running for President--at least for now. \"What politics has become，\" Gore explains at one point during our discussion， \"is something that requires a kind of tolerance for artifice and manipulative communications strategies that I just find I have in very short supply. I just don't have the patience for things that seem to be greatly rewarded in today's political system.\"

Political y， his outsider status makes him a potential kingmaker.

If this is sour grapes over 2000， it doesn't sound like it--at least not from the vantage point of 2007. \"A politics of ideas， driven by passion， seems to encounter a headwind，\" he tells me. \"I do think that the Internet is bringing revolutionary transformation. I have not ruled out the possibility of getting into politics sometime in the future，\" he says， \"but I don't expect to. Because I don't expect things to change. If they did change， then I would feel differently.\"

As a political figure， Gore may be more palatable as a possible dark horse than an actual candidate--precisely because he seems incapable of turning his passions into sound bites. And in any campaign， he might find himself on the defensive for his business activities. In his slideshow tour， he has been paid by many companies， which could be used to chal enge his integrity. (He routinely cuts or eliminates his fee for schools and other nonprofits.) He also headed the Apple board committee that cleared Steve Jobs of wrongdoing in the stock-options backdating scandal.

Gore sees no reason to apologize f or not wanting to jump into the electoral fray. As a businessman， he can speak with a candor few successful politicians can maintain. He has made an enormous amount of money and achieved positions of influence from technology to financial services to media. He and Tipper are even setting themselves up as angel investors for a few early-stage tech companies they believe in. In doing one end run after another around the status quo， he has created a new life: a perfect amalgam of environmental activism and a new type of capitalism in which there is more than one bottom line to consider， more than one master to serve.

2007 MANSUETO VENTURES LLC， AS FIRST PUBLISHED IN FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES.

LANGUAGE TIPS

anecdote 趣聞

keynote 主旨

hail 致敬

denizen 使定居fret 激怒

fray 爭斗

assault 攻擊

philanthropy 慈善

artifice 策略

palatable 受歡迎的

front-runner 競賽中領先的

comeback 恢復

metaphorically 隱喻地

戈爾從甚囂塵上的政治評論中拍拍土站起來過起了別人不清楚的另一面生活，這個有意思的家伙，把自己的品牌做了一番徹頭徹尾的修改。他總是從自己身上找樂子，比如競選，比如他原先的頂頭上司布什政府，比如跟媒體的關系。

他總是因為準確的政治預見性而被廣大公眾擁護，無論是全球氣候變暖還是對伊戰(zhàn)爭。現(xiàn)年59歲的他，同時還是學術大獎章的獲得者、暢銷書作者、諾貝爾獎角逐的熱點人物。為音樂會做推廣時，居然自己也不小心成了年度格萊美獎上的“搖滾明星”，風頭甚至蓋過了那些真正的搖滾歌手。

戈爾身上還有個天賦不得不提——他是個非常成功的生意人。

他頗有預見性地早早成為了兩家最熱門公司的董事會成員。一家是谷歌，他當年加入時的股票現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)飆升得厲害，同時還是洛杉磯的一家投資公司的副主席。家中的房產(chǎn)也在急劇擴張。

戈爾說自己在政治生涯中有一個習慣或者毛病:把問題揭示得太早但效果并不是非常好。“可是現(xiàn)在在商業(yè)領域，尤其在現(xiàn)在這樣一個事物發(fā)展都非常迅速的時期，如果你可以比對手更早地發(fā)現(xiàn)問題，你就可以從中發(fā)現(xiàn)機遇!”

“也許其中有很多種原因，但結果總是商業(yè)世界給予長期投入的回報比政治肯給予的要慷慨得多。”

戈爾現(xiàn)在更樂意談論對全球經(jīng)濟的看法:“我實在是非常享受這個商業(yè)世界!我對商業(yè)的熱愛程度甚至連我一開始都沒有預料到!”

Joel Hyatt，戈爾Current電視公司的首席執(zhí)行官，也是他長期以來的老朋友。當時二人認為電視新聞與娛樂越來越接近，所以希望可以給年輕觀眾一些更加明確的引導。兩人想買下一家有線電視網(wǎng)絡，可情況沒有他們想象得那么容易。他們約見過很多人，投注了大把精力，但這個門檻并不好進。

最后，還是通過與希拉克的關系，從一個法國公司擁有的新聞網(wǎng)絡公司手中實現(xiàn)了夢想。買下所有權后，起名CurrentTV，意為著眼于當下。

2005年8月1日，戈爾的電視頻道VC2終于開播了。在短短兩年后，就贏利至少30%。

Current TV也會選擇吸引眼球的節(jié)目，與此同時它對環(huán)保和公益也十分注重:與艾滋病斗爭的非洲小村落和從對伊戰(zhàn)爭前線回來的士兵都上過他們的電視。

今年電視業(yè)務已經(jīng)拓展到英國和愛爾蘭，意味著另外又有820萬戶將看上他們的電視。

2003年末戈爾還在盤算著另一個計劃:投資公司。在參考了幾家銀行的經(jīng)營理念后，他選擇了可持續(xù)發(fā)展這一信條。

這時候David Blood被引薦了過來。戈爾說:“我對于為投資和慈善這兩項我喜歡的事物創(chuàng)造一個良好的商業(yè)環(huán)境很感興趣!”

他們相信長期投資和適宜的管理會對一家公司在未來的競爭力有長遠的影響。

其中不需要付錢的初始資本就是戈爾本人自己的付出。

戈爾漸漸發(fā)現(xiàn)他的興趣和特質可能更適合現(xiàn)在的商業(yè)領域。

作為一個政治人物，戈爾大概要比現(xiàn)在那些真正在摩拳擦掌的競選候選人更討人喜歡。

旅行中被許多公司邀約演講和經(jīng)濟上酬謝時(這也是對他自己的一個考驗)，他只象征性地收一點錢，或者說服那些公司把本打算給他的酬金捐助給學校或者其他非營利性組織。

戈爾現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)在經(jīng)商中體會到了更大的樂趣，他現(xiàn)在賺的錢多到數(shù)不清，也通過商業(yè)在其他領域，諸如科技、金融和媒體上取得了一席之地。他和妻子蒂柏甚至還當起天使投資人，為那些創(chuàng)業(yè)初期的小公司進行投資。

他已經(jīng)用環(huán)保主義和另一種方式的資本主義為自己的生活開創(chuàng)出了新的意義:考慮更多，服務更多。