For Jeff Bezos， a New Frontier 杰夫·貝索斯：不按常理出牌的亞馬遜總裁

One summer day as a kid riding in the back seat of his grandparents’ car， the young Jeff Bezos， a natural at math， made a morbid1） calculation. How much was his grandmother’s life expectancy diminished by her cigarette smoking？ As he had heard it， every puff took two minutes or so off your life. Multiply that by the number of puffs per cigarette. Multiply that by the number of cigarettes per day. Divide the minutes to get hours， and then days， and then years. He tapped her on the shoulder. “At two minutes per puff， you’ve taken nine years off your life！” He expected appreciation for his arithmetic. But his grandmother burst into tears and an excruciating2） silence followed. His grandfather pulled the car off the highway. “Jeff， one day you’ll understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever，” he said.

The inquisitive child has since become the creator of Amazon.com， a virtual retail empire built of that same determination and cleverness. He is now a billionaire. Others had thought of selling things online； Bezos perfected the business with attention to low prices， Web site design， a technologically advanced warehouse operation and devoted customer service.

In one sense， because of his success， he is a well-known figure. His face has peered out from the cover of national magazines. He has sat for interviews on Charlie Rose3） at least four times. The Harvard Business Review4） has listed him as the best living chief executive. But on August 5th， 2013， the announcement that he was acquiring The Washington Post5） for $250 million invited another level of scrutiny， one that goes well beyond what attends being a business titan.

But exactly why he is acquiring The Post—and what he plans to do with it once he owns it—remains mostly a mystery. For now， the best anyone can do to divine his motives is to look at his past.

Controversy behind Success

What emerges from dozens of interviews with friends and colleagues from every stage of his life is a portrait of a curious mind attracted to grand schemes. He is a tenacious6） businessman， too， tough on employees who don’t measure up， ruthless with competitors and willing to take risks.

“One thing that makes him different is he does have his mind in the future，” said Danny Hillis， a California inventor and futurist. “Jeff has some vision about how he’d like the world to be different， how he’d like the world to be better.” But the daring， drive and single-mindedness that have defined these ventures have also spawned rounds of criticism.

While the company has attracted legions of grateful customers， some publishers view him as a bully who has unfairly used Amazon’s scale to deprive them of profits. Competing retailers say he has used tax advantages to decimate7） their businesses. Within Amazon， moreover， some former employees say his intensity could at times escalate into tirades8） that humiliated colleagues. Workers at some of his warehouses have complained of relentless demands for efficiency.

Even some of his fans paint a complex picture. “Bezos could be a royal …” said Ellen Ratajak， one of the company’s early employees. She was referring primarily to the way he could chew out9） subordinates at a meeting. “But I do see a heart in Jeff，” said Ratajak. “Jeff didn’t want to just please customers or build loyalty. He wanted to delight customers.”

Life of a Young Genius

Even from childhood， people could tell there was something different about Jeffrey P. Bezos. His mother said that one day she found her toddler son trying to take apart his crib with a screwdriver. He was a garage tinkerer， inventing a solar cooker using tinfoil and an umbrella. He was a Trekkie10）， too.

After one summer toiling at McDonald’s during high school， he and his girlfriend at the time decided to start a summer camp for science-inclined children. They called the camp the Dream Institute. The children read selections from books such as Gulliver’s Travels， Dune11） and Watership Down12）. They studied black holes. They wrote simple programs on an Apple computer that made their names scroll down the screen.

Camp was “inspiring for a lifetime，” said James Schockett， 41， who attended when he was 9. “Imagine spending virtually all day with， Jeff Bezos—an incredibly brilliant， incredibly knowledgeable person， and talking about anything.” Now an assistant treasurer at a company in North Carolina， Schockett has a line about it on his résumé：“Introduced to computers by Jeff Bezos.”

Bezos was also determined to be the best in high school academics. “He wasn’t a nerd—he moved easily from some group to some group—but he was very focused on being number one in our class，” said Joshua Weinstein， a close friend from high school. There were a few other people in the running， “but Jeff was certainly the most competitive，” Weinstein said.

But in college， the young Bezos must have come to a disheartening realization： He no longer could consider himself the smartest kid in the class， at least in his chosen field. He had gone to Princeton for physics， but when the classes turned to quantum mechanics13） he noticed he was being outdone. “One of the great things Princeton taught me is that I’m not smart enough to be a physicist，” he later recalled， clearly in awe of his betters. “There were three or four people in the class whose brains were so clearly wired differently to process these highly abstract concepts.” He graduated instead with a BS in electrical engineering and computer science.

His first years after Princeton marked a somewhat restless time. Bezos worked for a start-up and then a financial firm in New York. He got married， too. He had a good job. He could have become comfortable. But the emerging possibilities of the Internet and its rapid growth tantalized14） the entrepreneurial garage inventor. He wanted in on the revolution.

Founding the Amazon Empire

The origins of the empire he began in Bellevue， Wash. are part of the company’s well-known lore. What’s less known are the differences in the visions that Bezos and some of the earliest employees had for the company. They encapsulate15） the ambition that distinguishes Bezos.

Some of the early Amazonians have said they thought they were creating the virtual equivalent of a quirky independent bookstore—not crushing existing bookstores. “To this day， whenever I walk into a bookstore I like I hang my head in secret shame，” said one of the earliest employees. Another early employee， Nicholas Lovejoy， has questioned the company’s mission to become the “Wal-Mart of the Internet.”

But Bezos had always aimed for a vast retail empire， pursuing that vision relentlessly. Once， when an employee wanted to plan a barbecue to celebrate the company’s first $5，000 day， Bezos’ response was， “We don’t do that. We needed to be bigger and better. We needed to deliver more.”

Even those early Amazonians who had not held vast ambitions for the company said they eventually had to concede that the empire had its social virtues. “We started getting these e-mails from people thanking us—the woman in the Midwest who was 200 miles from the nearest bookstore， the military people stationed overseas—who could suddenly get any book they wanted，” one recalled. “We all—Bezos included—celebrated this. People being able to get books they want to read is great.”

The fledgling16） Amazon would soon prosper， carried aloft in part by the Internet boom as much as its own efficiency. Just a few years after its founding， the company earned millions in revenue， though not yet profits. But then the Internet bubble popped and companies that had been lifted up by the tech enthusiasm were suddenly in free fall. In one day， the company lost $3 billion in stock value. Analysts derided the company as “Amazon. toast.”

Inside the company， employees were growing worried. Some wanted to head for the exits. “When we were declared ‘Amazon.toast，’ I think we had 150 employees and Barnes Noble17） had 30，000 employees，” Bezos recalled during one of his Charlie Rose appearances. “And someone wrote an article that said Amazon has had a great two-year run but now the big boys have shown up and they’re going to steamroll18） them.”

Bezos called an employee meeting. “I said： ‘Look， you should wake up worried， terrified every morning. But don’t be worried about our competitors because they’re never going to send us any money anyway. Let’s be worried about our customers and stay heads-down focused.’ ”

He projected a similar sang-froid19） to the outside world. When a BusinessWeek20） reporter asked a question about Amazon’s lack of profits and doubts about its business model， Bezos was succinct. “Can I give you a one-word answer？” Bezos said， “Baloney21）.” Indeed， since then Bezos has outdistanced the naysayers and the company has grown to become a colossus22）， with more than 90，000 employees and $61 billion in revenue last year.

Beyond Amazon

Bezos is now 49， and the life of the once-curious child seems remarkably full. His wife， MacKenzie， is a novelist whose books have earned admiring reviews. They have four children. As one of the world’s wealthiest men， moreover， Bezos can indulge his rampant curiosity in a number of ways.

With Blue Origin23）， his spaceflight company， Bezos is seeking to advance human exploration of the solar system. He also has invested tens of millions in the “Clock of the Long Now，” a piece of machinery supposed to work for 10，000 years.

This spring， Bezos’ curiosity led him into the rapidly changing world of journalism. Since his deal to purchase The Washington Post was announced， newspaper readers who have found Bezos’ e-mail address have started to pepper him with questions， and Bezos， true to his reputation for customer service， has been responding. A number of customers have e-mailed him this past week and “he has responded to everyone，” said Post publisher Katharine Weymouth.

A man who had paid several hundred dollars to place a marriage announcement did not like how the paper treated him. He wrote to Bezos saying， “Thank god you’re getting involved. You understand customer service！” Weymouth wrote back to the man， but within “two seconds，” so did Bezos. “Thank you for your input，” Bezos told him. “Keep your ideas coming！”

杰夫·貝索斯從小就是個數學天才。在一個夏日里，年幼的他坐在祖父母的汽車后座上，進行了一次病態的計算：吸煙會讓他祖母的預期壽命減少多少年？他曾聽說過，每吸一口煙，人的生命會減少大約兩分鐘。將這個數字乘以每支煙所需要吸的次數，再乘以每天吸煙的支數，然后將分鐘數換算成小時數，再換算成天數，最終換算出了年數。他拍了拍祖母的肩膀說：“按照每吸一口煙會減少兩分鐘壽命的算法，吸煙已經奪走您九年的生命！”他原本期望自己的演算技巧能得到贊賞，不料祖母卻突然失聲痛哭，一陣令人難以忍受的沉默接踵而至。貝索斯的祖父將車停在公路旁，他說：“杰夫，有一天你會明白，做一個善良的人要比做一個聰明的人難?！?/p>

這個生性好奇的孩子后來創辦了亞馬遜網上商城，一個憑借著同樣的堅定和聰慧打造而成的虛擬零售帝國。如今貝索斯已成為一名億萬富翁。線上銷售是別人想出來的，而他則通過專注于低價、網站設計、高科技倉儲運營以及熱忱的客戶服務來完善這種交易方式。

從某種意義上說，他是憑借自己的成就成了家喻戶曉的人物。他曾多次登上全國性雜志的封面，至少參加過四次《查理·羅斯訪談錄》節目，還被《哈佛商業評論》雜志評為最佳現任首席執行官。然而，當他在2013年8月5日宣布以2.5億美元收購《華盛頓郵報》時，他又一次成為公眾矚目的焦點。而這一次，在人們看來，他已不僅僅是一位商業巨頭。

不過，他到底為何要收購《華盛頓郵報》，擁有這份報紙后他的計劃又是什么，這幾乎都還是個謎。就目前而言，我們要揣測他的動機，最好的辦法就是回顧一下他的過去。

成功背后的爭議

在對貝索斯人生各個時期的朋友和同事進行多次采訪后，我們腦海中會浮現出一個充滿好奇心、鐘情于宏偉計劃的人的形象。他也是一個強硬的商人，對不合格的員工要求嚴格，對競爭對手冷酷無情，而且樂于冒險。

“他最與眾不同的地方在于他總是一心想著未來，”加利福尼亞州的發明家和未來學家丹尼·希利斯說，“對于如何讓世界變得不同，如何讓世界變得更美好，杰夫有自己的某種看法。”然而，他在這些冒險行為中體現出的膽識、干勁和專心致志也引發了諸多批評。

盡管亞馬遜公司招徠了大批忠實用戶，但一些出版商仍將貝索斯視為惡霸，認為他憑借亞馬遜的規模，以不公平的手段剝奪了他們的利潤。而那些與亞馬遜競爭的零售商則稱，他憑借稅率優勢毀了他們的生意。此外，在亞馬遜內部，一些以前的員工說，貝索斯的強硬有時會演變成喋喋不休的指責，讓同事們顏面掃地。他的某些倉庫的員工也抱怨說，他總是沒完沒了地要求提高效率。

就連一些支持他的人對他的描述也十分復雜。埃倫·拉塔沙克是亞馬遜公司早期的一名員工，她說：“貝索斯可能是有些高高在上……”她主要是指貝索斯在會議上嚴厲責罵下屬的方式。“但我看得出杰夫有副熱心腸，”拉塔沙克說，“他想要的不僅僅是讓客戶滿意或是讓他們建立忠誠度，他是想讓客戶感到愉悅。”

天才少年成長記

甚至從童年時代開始，人們就知道杰弗里·P·貝索斯身上有某些與眾不同的地方。他的母親說，有一天她發現她那蹣跚學步的兒子正試著用一把螺絲刀拆掉自己的嬰兒床。貝索斯喜歡在車庫里鼓搗一些小發明，曾經用錫箔紙和一把傘造出了一個太陽能灶。他還是《星際迷航》的粉絲。

上高中時，在麥當勞辛苦打工了一個夏天之后，他和當時的女友決定為愛好科學的孩子們創辦一個夏令營。他們給夏令營起名為“夢想協會”。在那里，孩子們可以讀到《格列佛游記》、《沙丘》、《沃特希普荒原》等書的精選篇章。他們研究黑洞，還在蘋果電腦上編寫簡單的程序，讓自己的名字在屏幕上滾動。

現年41歲的詹姆斯·肖克特在九歲時參加過那個夏令營，他說夏令營“激勵了他的一生”?！跋胂笠幌?，你幾乎整天都和杰夫·貝索斯待在一起啊。他是一個極其睿智、極其博學的人，你可以和他談論任何話題。”肖克特現在是北卡羅來納州一家公司的助理財務總監，在他的簡歷上有這樣一句話：“在杰夫·貝索斯的引領下認識計算機。”

貝索斯還曾立志成為中學時代學習方面的佼佼者?！八皇菚糇?，對各種社團活動都能應付自如。但他非常專注于成為班里的第一名。”他中學時的好友喬舒亞·溫斯坦說。還有好幾個人也在競爭之列，“但杰夫肯定是最有競爭力的”，溫斯坦說。

但是，上了大學后，年輕的貝索斯不得不漸漸認識到一個令人沮喪的事實：他再也不能自認為是班里最聰明的學生了，至少在他所選的專業領域是這樣。他去普林斯頓大學時選的是物理學，但在學量子力學時，他意識到自己開始落后于他人?！捌樟炙诡D大學教給我的最重要的一點是，我還沒聰明到能成為一名物理學家，”他后來回憶道，言語之間流露出對比他更優秀的人的敬畏，“班上有那么三四個人，他們的頭腦顯然天生與眾不同，就是用來處理這些高度抽象的概念的?！碑厴I時，他拿到的是電子工程和計算機科學專業的理學學士學位，而非物理學專業的學位。

在從普林斯頓大學畢業后的頭幾年里，貝索斯的生活多少有些躁動不安。他先是供職于一家初創企業，后來又加入紐約一家金融公司。他結了婚，有一份好工作。他本可以過上舒適自在的生活。然而，互聯網不斷展露的可能性及其飛速發展讓這位有著創業天賦的車庫發明家心癢難耐。他要投身于這場革命。

開創亞馬遜帝國

貝索斯在華盛頓州貝爾維尤市開創的亞馬遜帝國有著廣為人知的傳奇故事，該公司的起源便是其中之一。但鮮為人知的是，貝索斯和一些最早期的員工在關于公司的諸多理念上存在分歧。而這些分歧概括性地顯示出了貝索斯那特征鮮明的勃勃雄心。

一些亞馬遜早期的員工曾說，他們認為自己要打造的是新奇、獨立的虛擬書店，而不是去沖擊現有的實體書店。“直到今天，我無論何時走進自己喜歡的書店，都暗暗覺得不好意思，抬不起頭?！币晃蛔钤缙诘膯T工說道。另一位早期員工尼古拉斯·洛夫喬伊則質疑公司要成為“互聯網上的沃爾瑪”這一使命。

然而，貝索斯的目標始終是要建立一個龐大的零售帝國，并為實現這一夢想付出了不懈的努力。有一次，當一名員工打算安排一次燒烤野餐來慶祝公司日交易額第一次達到5000美元時，貝索斯回應說：“這不是我們要做的。我們需要變得更強、更好。我們需要提供更多的服務?！?/p>

就連那些對公司不抱有太大野心的早期員工也說，他們最終不得不承認，亞馬遜帝國確實為社會做出了有益的貢獻。“我們開始收到人們用電子郵件發來的感謝信，發信人中有住在中西部、距離最近的書店也要200英里的女士，還有駐海外的軍人。他們忽然之間可以買到任何想要的書籍，”一名員工回憶說，“我們所有人，包括貝索斯在內，都為此慶祝了一番。人們能買到他們想看的書——這是一件很棒的事?！?/p>

羽翼未豐的亞馬遜公司很快就得以繁榮發展，位居業界前茅，這既得益于互聯網的蓬勃發展，也離不開它自身的高效率。該公司在創立短短幾年后就有了數百萬美元的營收，盡管尚未實現贏利。然而，后來隨著互聯網泡沫破裂，很多受技術熱情推動的企業轉瞬之間跌落谷底。亞馬遜公司的股票市值在一天之內就減少了30億美元。許多分析人士都以“烤焦了的亞馬遜”揶揄該公司。

在公司內部，員工們紛紛焦慮起來，有的還萌生了退意?！爱斘覀儽环Q作‘烤焦了的亞馬遜’時，我意識到我們有150名員工，而巴諾書店有三萬名員工，”貝索斯在一次參加《查理·羅斯訪談錄》節目時回憶說，“還有人寫文章稱，亞馬遜雖然出了兩年風頭，但如今巨擘們紛紛登場，他們將擊垮亞馬遜?！?/p>

貝索斯召開了一次員工會議?！拔艺f：‘瞧，你們每天早晨都會帶著憂慮和恐懼醒來。不過，別為我們的競爭對手操心，因為他們永遠不會送給我們一分錢。我們還是關心下我們的客戶，專心致志，埋頭苦干吧?！?/p>

面對外界，他同樣顯得沉著冷靜。當《商業周刊》的一名記者就亞馬遜盈利不足的問題發問并質疑其商業模式時，貝索斯的回答很干脆。“我能用一個詞來回答你嗎？”他說，“扯淡！”確實，從那以后，貝索斯把那些唱反調的人遠遠拋在了后面——亞馬遜公司發展成為業界巨人，擁有九萬多名員工，去年的營收額達到了610億美元。

亞馬遜之外的精彩人生

貝索斯今年49歲，曾經的好奇男孩似乎已擁有非常完滿的生活。他的妻子麥肯齊是一名小說家，其作品廣受好評。他們育有四個孩子。此外，作為世界上最富有的人之一，貝索斯能以各種各樣的方式來放縱他那狂野的好奇心。

貝索斯正力圖通過他的航天公司——藍色起源公司來推進人類對太陽系的探索。他還給一臺據稱能運轉一萬年的機械裝置“今日永存時鐘”投資了數千萬美元。

今年春天，貝索斯在好奇心的驅使下又步入了瞬息萬變的新聞業。自他收購《華盛頓郵報》一事公之于眾以來，找到貝索斯郵箱地址的報紙讀者便開始紛紛向他發問。而以客戶服務贏得聲譽的貝索斯也名副其實，對這些問題一一作答。在剛剛過去的一周里（編注：原文發表于2013年8月11日），有許多客戶給貝索斯發來郵件，而“他回復了每一封郵件”，《華盛頓郵報》的發行人凱瑟琳·韋默思說。

有個花了幾百美元刊登結婚啟事的男士對該報的服務不太滿意。他寫信給貝索斯說：“謝天謝地你來了，只有你才知道什么叫客戶服務！”韋默思給他回了信，但“兩秒鐘內”，貝索斯也回信了?！案兄x你的來信，”貝索斯對他說，“請繼續提出您的意見！”

1.morbid [?m??（r）b?d] adj. 病態的

2.excruciating [?k?skru??i?e?t??] adj. 極痛苦的；難忍受的

3.Charlie Rose：《查理·羅斯訪談錄》，美國公共電視網的一檔議題節目

4.Harvard Business Review：《哈佛商業評論》，哈佛商學院的標志性雜志

5.The Washington Post：《華盛頓郵報》，美國華盛頓哥倫比亞特區最有聲望、歷史最悠久的報紙

6.tenacious [t??ne???s] adj. 頑強的；固執的

7.decimate [?des?me?t] vt. 大量毀滅；大大削弱……的力量

8.tirade [ta??re?d] n. 長篇的指責性發言

9.chew out：〈美口〉嚴厲責罵

10.Trekkie [?treki] n.《星際迷航》迷；對星球旅行感興趣者

11.Dune：《沙丘》，美國科幻文學巨匠弗蘭克·赫伯特（Frank Herbert， 1920～1986）的代表作

12.Watership Down：《沃特希普荒原》，英國小說家理查德·亞當斯（Richard Adams， 1920～）的處女作

13.quantum mechanics：[物]量子力學

14.tantalize [?t?nt?la?z] vt. 逗弄，使……備嘗可望而不可即之苦

15.encapsulate [?n?k?psj?le?t] vt. 概括；概述

16.fledgling [?fled?l??] adj. 羽翼未豐的，剛創辦的

17.Barnes Noble：巴諾書店，美國最大的實體連鎖書店

18.steamroll [?sti?m?r??l] vt.〈口〉以勢壓倒，壓垮

19.sang-froid [?s???frwɑ?] n. 冷靜，鎮定，沉著

20.BusinessWeek：美國《商業周刊》，全球最大的商業雜志

21.baloney [b??l??ni] n.〈美俚〉（尤指唬人的）胡扯，鬼話

22.colossus [k??l?s?s] n. 大企業

23.Blue Origin：藍色起源公司，一家由貝索斯建立的私人航天企業