The Metamorphosis of Silicon Valley C.E.O.s: From Big to Boring

后乔布斯时代的硅谷领袖：平淡无奇是一种新时尚

When Joe Barton, a Republican congressman from Texas, greeted Jack Dorsey at a congressional hearing last week, he sounded flummoxed.

当德克萨斯州共和党众议员乔·巴顿在上周的国会听证会上开始向杰克·多尔西提问时，这位议员听起来有点困惑。

“I don’t know what a Twitter C.E.O. should look like,” Mr. Barton said. “But you don’t look like what a C.E.O. of Twitter should look like.”

“我不知道Twitter的首席执行官该是什么样子，”巴顿说，“但你看上去不像是Twitter首席执行官应该有的样子。”

The congressman had a point. Mr. Dorsey – who sported a nose ring, a popped-collar shirt and a craggy Moses beard – looked more like a hipster version of a Civil War officer than a tech icon. Yet more striking than his look was his manner before skeptical lawmakers.

这位国会议员说的有道理。戴着一枚鼻环、穿着一件翻领衬衫、留着一把摩西式大胡子的多尔西，看上去更像是美国内战时代军官的潮人翻版，而不是科技偶像。然而，比他的外表更异乎寻常的，是他在持怀疑态度的立法者们面前表现的举止。

Faced with tough questions, Mr. Dorsey did not mount an aggressive defense of his company and his technology, as an earlier generation of tech leader might have. Instead, he demurred, conceded mistakes and generally engaged in a nuanced and seemingly heartfelt colloquy on the difficulties of managing tech in a complex world. Even in response to Mr. Barton’s comment about his look, Mr. Dorsey was solicitous. “My mom agrees with you,” he said.

面对严厉质问时，多尔西没有像上一代科技领袖们可能做的那样，为自己的公司和自己的科技大力辩护，而是表达怀疑，承认错误，并就在一个复杂世界中管理科技的困难与议员们展开了一场细致入微、似乎发自内心的对话。就连回应巴顿对自己外貌的评论时，多尔西也表现出一种对他人的关切。“我妈妈同意你的看法。”他说。

Mr. Dorsey’s testimony prompted questions about what we expect from tech leaders today –and how thoroughly what we expect has been upturned in the last few years. Since the 1980s, a common leadership archetype has loomed over the tech business: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Sometimes unconsciously and often deliberately, a generation of tech leaders attempted to ape the Apple and Microsoft founders’ charisma, their quirks, their style and above all their irrepressible, hard-charging confidence, to say nothing of arrogance.

多尔西的听证会表现，引发了有关我们如今对科技行业领袖做何期待的问题，以及我们的期待在过去几年里发生了怎样彻底的转变。自20世纪80年代起，科技行业赫然耸现的常见领袖典型是史蒂夫·乔布斯和比尔·盖茨。一代科技领导们曾试图模仿苹果和微软创始人的魅力，模仿他们的怪癖、他们的风格，尤其是他们十足的、全力进取的信心，更不用说他们的傲慢。这种模仿有时是无意识的，但通常是故意的。

Mr. Dorsey returned to a company he co-founded in order to save it – has long drawn comparisons to Mr. Jobs. Yet the congressional testimony marked a surprising rhetorical shift. Instead of the black-turtlenecked Mr. Jobs, Mr. Dorsey sounded more like Tim Cook, the understated operations manager who replaced him (and who is holding his umpteenth iPhone event on Wednesday).

人们长久以来一直把多尔西与乔布斯相比，与已故的乔布斯一样，多尔西为了挽救自己参与创建的公司，重返公司工作。然而，他在国会听证会上的言辞标志着一个令人惊讶的转变。多尔西听起来不像是穿着黑色高领套头衫的乔布斯，而更像是蒂姆·库克，也就是接替了乔布斯的那位行事低调的运营经理人。（周三，他将举行自己的第无数次iPhone发布会）。

That is, Mr. Dorsey sounded less like a quotable visionary who can see beyond the horizon and more like what he actually is and ought to be – a thoughtful, accessible, transparent and, despite the beard and nose ring, kind of boring manager of a serious company whose decisions have world-changing consequences.

也就是说，多尔西听起来不大像一位视野超越地平线的、时有名言警句的预言家，而更像他实际上的本人和他应该成为的人——一个关心别人、易于接近的、透明的人，而且，尽管他留着胡子、带着鼻环，多尔西更像一个重要公司的无聊经理人，做出改变世界的决策。

When it comes to tech C.E.O.s, boring is the new black. Under the glare of global scrutiny, the daring, win-at-all-costs ethos that defined so much of the tech industry in the last couple of decades has been undergoing a thorough metamorphosis.

当涉及科技行业首席执行官时，平淡无奇是一种新时髦。在全球的密切关注之下，过去几十年里定义了科技行业大部分的那种大胆、不惜一切代价取胜的信念，正在经历一个彻底的质变。

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