谁是最伟大的美国企业家?

Who Are The Greatest American Entrepreneurs Ever? 谁是最伟大的美国企业家？

If U.S. presidents are studied, evaluated, and ranked, shouldn ’t we do the same for our entrepreneurs and businesspeople? After all, they built the U.S. from the ground up into a great economic power. The state of business affects our quality of life as much, if not more, than whomever sits in the Oval Office. We need to know where to give the credit for American achievement and how to rank its value.

如果历届美国总统都在被我们研究、评估和排名，难道不应该对美国企业家和商界人物也如法炮制吗？毕竟，是他们从根本做起，将美国打造成一个经济强权。商业状况对我们生活质量的影响比起坐在白宫椭圆形办公室里的那个人来可谓有过之而无不及。我们需要知道美国的成就是谁的功劳以及该如何对其价值进行排名。

Ten years ago, we asked 58 historians, economists, and management experts to rank their top ten American entrepreneurs. This poll was among the first attempts to assess greatness among American entrepreneurs, and we have repeated it again this year with surveys from 41 business experts from history, economics, and management.

十年前，我们邀请58位历史学家、经济学家以及管理专家排出他们心目中的十大美国企业家。那次调查是评估美国企业家影响力的一次初步尝试，今年我们又做了一次调查，采访了41位历史、经济以及管理方面的业内专家。

In both polls, our experts gave Henry Ford first place. His assembly-line production transformed American life when he put a car in almost every garage. Also, his $5.00 day innovated in labor relations, and put high value on stable and productive workers. Ford ’s competitor, Alfred Sloan of General

Motors, ranked in eighth place in our first poll, but fell out this year—perhaps in the wake of the GM bankruptcy and government bailout. Ford Motor Company was recently the only one of the Big Three to shun federal aid —which repeats Henry Ford ’s refusal to follow FDR ’s National Recovery Act in the 1930s.

在两次调查中，专家们都将亨利•福特（Henry Ford）排在首位。当他让福特汽车进入美国家家户户时，他的流水线生产改造了美国人的生活。此外，他将工人日薪提高至5美元之举实乃劳动关系上的一大创新，并且强调了员工稳定性及工作效率的重要性。福特的竞争者——通用汽车（General Motors）总裁阿尔弗雷德•斯隆（Alfred Sloan ）——在我们第一次的调查中排名第八，但在今年的调查中却跌出前十名，也许是由于通用汽车的破产以及政府援助的缘故。近来，福特公司是美国汽车三巨头中唯一一家拒绝联邦政府援助的公司，与上世纪30年代亨利•福特对罗斯福总统的《国家复兴法案》（National Recovery Act）拒不买账如出一辙。

Most of the top ten entrepreneurs, like Ford, started great American companies. Bill Gates at Microsoft, John D. Rockefeller at Standard Oil, and Andrew Carnegie at Carnegie Steel (later U.S. Steel) lead the way. All three of these men kept American business in the forefront by dominating the world with their products. Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs championed multiple industries: Edison with recorded sound, electric lights, and motion pictures; Jobs with personal computers, computer animation, digital music, and more. Ray Kroc leveraged contributions from meatpackers (Gustavus Swift), soda bottlers (Asa Candler), and condiment makers (H. J. Heinz) into something bigger.

像福特一样，大多数美国十大企业家都创办了伟大的美国公司。比尔•盖茨（Bill Gates ）有微软，约翰•D.洛克菲勒（John D. Rockefeller）有标准石油（Standard Oil ），安德鲁•卡内基（Andrew Carnegie）有卡内基钢铁（后来的美国钢铁公司），他们都成为了领路者。上述三人均通过让自己产品独霸世界

使美国企业站在了最前沿。托马斯•爱迪生（Thomas Edison ）和史蒂夫•乔布斯（Steve Jobs）在多个行业中拔得头筹：爱迪生在录音、电灯和电影行业的成就无人能及；乔布斯则在个人电脑、计算机动画、数字音乐等行业所向披靡。雷•克罗克（Ray Kroc ）借助于肉类加工商（古斯塔夫•斯威夫特）、汽水罐装商（阿萨•凯德勒）、调味品制造商（亨氏公司）做成了一桩更大的生意——麦当劳连锁王国。

The emergence of Steve Jobs at number five shows that this is a living poll. Both Jobs and Michael Dell were among our top 25 ten years ago, but Jobs rose and Dell faded during the last decade. The decline of J. P. Morgan suggests that fewer experts appreciate his (and perhaps other people ’s) financial wizardry. Also, despite Walmart stock trading around an all-time high, Sam Walton slipped slightly with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos closing in at #11. 史蒂夫•乔布斯位居第五表明了该调查的当代背景。十年前，乔布斯和迈克尔•戴尔（Michael Dell）都跻身前25名之中，但这十年来乔布斯的排名上升，而戴尔的光芒渐渐黯淡下去。J. P . 摩根（J. P . Morgan ）的排名下滑说明了欣赏其金融巫术的专家越来越少了（也许其他金融界精英给人的看法也概莫能外）。此外，尽管沃尔玛（Walmart ）的股价正处于历史新高，山姆•沃尔顿（Sam Walton）和亚马逊（Amazon ）的杰夫•贝索斯（Jeff Bezos ）排名均略有下滑，后者今年排在了第11位。

What else can we learn from these expert polls? First, that greatness is more than amassing wealth. Warren Buffett and John Paul Getty were among the richest Americans of their generations, but almost none of our experts called them great. Second, the mantle of greatness is not bestowed upon traditional “vice ” industries like tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and pornography. Each of those industries has prominent figureheads: Duke, Busch, and Hefner for example. Our experts ignored them, but did choose Walt Disney, upon whose Magic Kingdom the sun never sets. Third, no minorities or women have cracked the top ten yet (although Oprah Winfrey is gaining). Fourth, only two of our top ten finished college (Sam Walton and J. P. Morgan). The other

entrepreneurs did value knowledge very highly, but, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they wanted to create something, not sit in classrooms.

首先，伟大不仅仅是指积累了巨大财富。沃伦•巴菲特（Warren Buffett ）和约翰•保罗•盖蒂（John Paul Getty ）都是同时代最富有的美国人，但是受访的专家们几乎无一认为他们伟大。其次，伟大的称号不会授予“不健康”的传统行业，如烟草、酒类、赌博和色情行业。上述这些行业均有突出的代表：比如，杜克（Duke ）、百威（Busch ）、海夫纳（Hefner ）等等。我们的专家无视他们而对华特•迪士尼（Walt Disney ）青睐有加，他创建了日不落的魔法王国（Magic Kingdom ）。第三，没有少数族裔或者女性入围前十名（尽管奥普拉•温弗瑞的排名正在上升）。第四，我们评出的前十名中，只有两人完成了大学学业（山姆•沃尔顿和J. P. 摩根）。其他企业家虽然也的确很看重知识，但像比尔•盖茨和史蒂夫•乔布斯等人总惦记着创造点什么，而不是老实地坐在课堂里。

Finally, those entrepreneurs and businesspeople labeled great had very little to do with the federal government —whether wartime or peacetime they received almost no federal aid, and sometimes had to overcome regulations and political intervention. Instead, these entrepreneurs tried to improve American lives by making a quality product at a competitive price. They did indeed build that.

最后，这些被评为“伟大”的企业家和商界人士与联邦政府鲜有瓜葛——无论是战时还是和平时期，他们几乎都没接受联邦政府援助，而且有时还不得不克服一些规管和政治干预。相反，这些企业家通过以有竞争力的价格制造高品质产品来努力提高美国人的生活水平。他们的确当之无愧。