CEO 如何與明星爭輝？

■ 摘自培生教育出版 Moaning about sports stars' earnings, as well as those of pop singers and television celebri-ties, was once the preserve of British chief executives. When, about 15 years ago, top UK executives starting earning more than ￡1m a year, many of them ascribed the resulting out-cry to Britain's anti-business bias and its cul-ture of envy. Why shouldn't business people, responsible for tens of thousands of jobs, earn as much as someone who kicked a ball or pranced around a stage for a living？Ameri-cans, they pointed out, did not whine about their chief executives' pay. 過去，英國的執行長總是對體育明星、流行歌手、電視名人的收入口誅筆伐。大概在15年前，頂尖的企業執行長們年薪開始上百萬的時候，如有不平者，他們則以反商歧視、妒忌文化這樣的說法來解釋。他們說，運動員踢幾腳球，演員在舞台上蹦蹦跳跳，就能賺進大把錢，生意人負責管理成千上萬的職位，為什麼就不能拿高薪？他們還說，美國人就不會對執行長們的收入犯嘀咕。 ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ They do now, as a recent commentary from Wharton business school noted. "Oprah Win-frey, Michael Jordan, Richard Grasso. What do these three have in common？All have been paid astounding amounts of money, yet only one has been openly criticised and ridiculed because of it,"the commentary said. 但美國人現在也開始發起牢騷來了。最近華頓商學院的一篇評論中寫道：「歐普拉、麥可‧喬登、理查‧葛拉索三人有何共同點？他們的收入都是天價，但是只有其中一人為此遭到公開的批評和挖苦。」 ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ Mr. Grasso was forced out of office for ac-cepting a pay package worth $187.5m as head of the New York Stock Exchange. Jack Welch, much admired for his achievements as chair-man of General Electric, was later derided for his retirement perks. 葛拉索先生因接受總價值達1.875億美元的高薪，被迫辭去紐約證券交易所主席一職。傑克‧威爾許在任奇異電器董事長期間其成績大受褒獎，但最後卻因退休金過高而遭人非議。 ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ "Why is it, then, that corporate executives are coming under fire for excessive pay when athletes like Michael Jordan and entertainers like Oprah Winfrey seem to stir no such feel-ings of resentment？"the Wharton school asked. 華頓商學院在評論中接著問：「那麼，為什麼企業總裁薪水過高會遭到猛烈攻擊，而麥可‧喬登這樣的運動員和歐普拉這些娛樂界人士同樣拿著天價報酬，卻並未招人嫉恨？」 ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ One reason, Wharton said, was that what athletes and entertainers did for a living was"clearly evident to their fans". Chief exec-utives are mostly out of sight, in their offices, in meetings, or on aircraft. Even those who see them up close struggle to work out what they do. More than 30 years ago, Henry Mintzberg, the Canadian management professor, studied what chief executives did and conclud-ed that they did not do anything for very long, hopping from one task to another every few minutes. 華頓表示，其中一個原因就是運動員和娛樂人士謀生之術在「崇拜者的眼中一覽無遺。」執行長們卻常常不見蹤影，他們不是在自己的辦公室，就是在會議室或者飛機上。即使人們能親眼看到他們，也弄不明白他們究竟在做什麼。30多年前，加拿大管理學教授亨利‧明茲伯格就對企業執行長所做的事進行過研究，結論是執行長們什麼事都幹不長，總是隔幾分鐘就從一件事跳到另一件事上。 ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ ‧‧‧ A second reason people find it easier to ac-cept athletes' and entertainers' financial re-wards is that their success or failure is so clear-cut. 體育娛樂界人士成功就是成功，失敗就是失敗，一目了然，這也是人們比較容易接受明星高薪的另一個原因。 For losing athletes, there are no excuses. Unlike chief executives, they cannot blame ad-verse market conditions, currency movements, SARS, the Iraq war, the wet summer or the mild winter. 運動員一旦失敗，是沒有藉口可講的。他們不同於執行長們，不能去歸咎不利的市場形勢、匯率變動、SARS、伊戰、夏季多雨，或是暖冬。 （本文摘自培生教育出版《看金融時報學英文1》） 【2006/07/23 經濟日報】