前行——史蒂夫·鲍尔默

　　Moving forward

　　"I am excited by our mission of empowering the world and believe in our futuresuccess."

　　——Steve Ballmer

　　“我为我们驱动世界的使命而兴奋不已，并相信未来终将成功。”

　　——史蒂夫·鲍尔默

　　背景资料

　　史蒂夫·鲍尔默（Steve Ballmer），微软公司前首席执行官兼总裁，在2006年亿万富翁列表中，被福布斯杂志排在24位，拥有资产136亿美元。鲍尔默于1980年加盟微软，先后担任微软公司销售支持执行副总裁，微软公司总裁。2014年2月退任。

　　史蒂夫·鲍尔默最引人注目的特点就是“易于激动”。激动的时候，鲍尔默习惯于把任何东西都强调三遍，他是天生的销售明星和演说家，一站上演讲台就会有难以抑制的澎湃活力。本文为史蒂夫·鲍尔默的告别声明和告别演讲。演讲中他身着一件黄色Polo衫，嗓门洪亮，含泪告别。这一次不再是向Google或苹果宣战，没有豪言壮语，只有七尺男儿解甲归田前的不舍。他连声感谢自己的员工，并称微软是他的“whole professional world”，是他的孩子。这是典型的Steve Ballmer——激情四射，情绪化，他独具个人特色的演讲风格一直饱受争议，但当他离开这个舞台后，兴许所有人都会怀念他。

　　鲍尔默的告别演说以电影Dirty Dancing的片尾曲Time of my life结束。他说这是他最爱的一首歌，他之前始终找不到机会来播放，但在这一刻他认为是完美的。

　　Moving forward——Steve Ballmer

　　Aug. 23, 2013

　　I am writing to let you know that I will retire as CEO of Microsoft within the next 12months, after a successor is chosen. There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, butnow is the right time. My original thoughts on timing¹ would have had my retirement² happen inthe middle of our transformation³ to a devices and services company focused on empoweringcustomers in the activities they value most. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for thisnew direction. You can read the press release on Microsoft News Center.

　　This is a time of important transformation for Microsoft. Our new Senior Leadership team isamazing. The strategy we have generated is first class. Our new organization, which is centered onfunctions and engineering areas, is right for the opportunities and challenges ahead.

　　Microsoft is an amazing place. I love this company. I love the way we helped invent andpopularize computing⁴ and the PC. I love the bigness and boldness of our bets . I love our peopleand their talent and our willingness to accept and embrace their range of capabilities⁵, includingtheir quirks⁶ . I love the way we embrace and work with other companies to change the world andsucceed together. I love the breadth and diversity of our customers, from consumer to enterprise, across industries, countries, and people of all backgrounds and age groups.

　　I am proud of what we have achieved. We have grown from $7.5 million to nearly $78 billionsince I joined Microsoft, and we have grown from employing just over 30 people to almost100,000. I feel good about playing a role in that success and having committed 100 percentemotionally all the way. We have more than 1 billion users and earn a great profit for ourshareholders . We have delivered more profit and cash return to shareholders⁷ than virtually anyother company in history.

　　I am excited by our mission of empowering the world and believe in our future success. Icherish my Microsoft ownership, and look forward to continuing as one of Microsoft's largestowners.

　　This is an emotional and difficult thing for me to do. I take this step in the best interests of thecompany I love; it is the thing outside of my family and closest friends that matters to me most.

　　Microsoft has all its best days ahead. Know you are part of the best team in the industry andhave the right technology assets . We cannot and will not miss a beat in these transitions. I amfocused and driving hard and know I can count on all of you to do the same. Let's do ourselvesproud.

　　演讲文本

　　Ballmer: I just want to enjoy this for a minute.

　　Audience: (Cheers.)

　　Ballmer: Soak it in! All of you. Soak it in.

　　Audience: (Cheers.)

　　Ballmer: You work for the greatest company in the world. Soak it in. And I want to say thankyou. I want to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

　　Audience: We love you! We love you! (Cheers.)Ballmer: This isn't about any one person, it's about this company. It's about a company that'simportant, that's forward-thinking, that's innovative⁸ , that's ethical⁹ , that hires great people andlets them lead great lives, that helps people around the word realize their full potential. It's mywhole professional world. Microsoft's like a fourth child to me. Children do leave the house. Inthis case I guess I'm leaving the house.

　　Audience: (Chuckles.)

　　Ballmer: My last song is one I've always wanted to use, but it was always deemedinappropriate. It's a great song!

　　Audience: (Laughter, applause.)

　　Ballmer: Not that kind of inappropriate!

　　And I wanted to pick a song that was exactly perfect: a song that let me say thank you, songthat looked back retrospectively , and a song that celebrated¹⁰ the future. It's from one of myfavorite movies. It's one of my favorite songs. And I think it has all that in it. It's a song that comesat the very end of the movie, where one of the actors gets up on stage and talks about kind of howhe likes to do things. Well, I want to end with this song. Respectful -a song that talks about whatyou've done for me and what you've meant for me. You've made this the time of my life. (Chokesback tears.) I love you.

　　参考译文

　　前行

　　——史蒂夫·鲍尔默

　　2013年8月23日

　　我现在写这封邮件想告诉大家，我将在未来12个月内卸任微软CEO，在此期间，微软将寻找新的CEO。永远没有完美的时间点来进行这种过渡，但现在是正确的时刻。我最初以为我的退休会发生在微软向设备和服务公司转型的中途，而转型后的微软将为消费者带来价值最大化。但我们现在需要一个新的CEO长期专注于这一转型。你能在微软新闻中心读到关于我退休的新闻稿。

　　这是微软转型的重要时期，我们新的高级领导团队让人惊叹，同时我们制定的公司战略也是一流的。我们新的组织结构重点关注功能和工程领域，这正适合面对未来的机遇和挑战。

　　微软是一家神奇的公司，我热爱它。我热爱我们帮助发明并普及运算和个人电脑的方式。我热爱我们伟大而勇敢的赌注。我热爱我们的员工和他们的才华，我们愿意接受并包容他们的各种特点，甚至包括他们的怪癖。我热爱我们与其他公司携手共进，共同改变世界，最终取得成功的方式。我热爱我们客户呈现的广度和多样性，从消费者到企业用户，横跨各个行业、各个国家以及各种背景、各种年龄的人群。

　　我为我们取得的成就感到自豪。自我加入微软以来，公司从年收入750万美元壮大到接近780亿美元，同时员工人数从30人多一点，增长到近10万。我为能参与到这样的成功中而感到十分高兴，并且一直100％地全身心投入。我们拥有超过10亿用户，同时为股东们获取了大量的利润。我们比历史上几乎任何一家公司带给股东的实际财富都要多。

　　我为我们驱动世界的使命而兴奋不已，并相信未来终将成功。我珍视我在微软的身份，而且期待继续成为微软最大的所有者之一。

　　对于我而言，这（退休）是伤感而困难的决定。踏出这一步，是基于我所热爱的这家公司利益最大化来考虑；在我的家人以及最亲密的朋友之外，微软是我最关心的。

　　微软最美好的日子在前方。要知道你们是在业界最棒的团队里，而且拥有正确的科技资产。我们不能，也不会错失这样的转变。我专注于此并努力向前迈进，同时我知道我可以依赖你们所有人去采取同样的行动。一起做我们感到自豪的事情吧！

　　演讲文本：

　　鲍尔默：我只是想享受这一分钟。

　　观众：（欢呼。）

　　鲍尔默：沉浸其中！所有人都沉浸其中吧！

　　观众：（欢呼。）

　　鲍尔默：你们为世界最了不起的公司工作。全身心地投入其中。我想说谢谢你们，我想说谢谢你们。谢谢，谢谢……谢谢你们！

　　观众：我们爱你！我们爱你！（欢呼。）

　　鲍尔默：这不是关于某个人，这是关于这个公司，这是关于一个能高瞻远瞩的、有创新精神的、又有伦理的公司，它雇佣了了不起的人并使他们过上美好的生活，它还帮助全世界的人们认识到了自己潜力。它是我一生全部的职业。微软就像我的孩子，孩子大了总要离家的，此时是该我离开的时候了。

　　观众：（咯咯地笑）。

　　鲍尔默：我最后的歌曲是一首我总想引用、却又总不合时宜的歌曲，那是一首不朽之曲！

　　观众：（笑声、掌声）

　　鲍尔默：并非那么不合时宜！我想选一首此时此刻再适宜不过的歌曲，让我用这首歌来表达我对你们的谢意，一首既能回顾过去，又能庆祝未来的歌曲。它出自我最喜欢的一部电影，也是我最喜欢的歌曲。我想此时此刻它能表达我想表达的一切。这是一首电影的片尾曲，那时一个演员登上舞台谈论他是多么能干。好吧，我就想用这首歌来结束。尊重——一首谈论你对我所做的一切，对我来说意义多么重大的歌曲。是你们成就了我的人生。（忍回泪水。）我爱你们。

 

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