如何激勵(lì)“鋼鐵俠”？

Elon Musk has set a new bar in the dubious science of benchmarking executive pay. Electric carmaker Tesla has laid out a 10-year deal for its chief executive that could bury him in more than $50bn worth of shares. 埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)在高管薪酬基準(zhǔn)比較的可疑科學(xué)中設(shè)置了新的標(biāo)桿。電動(dòng)汽車制造商特斯拉(Tesla)為其首席執(zhí)行官制定了一項(xiàng)為期10年的協(xié)議，可能給后者帶來(lái)超過(guò)500億美元的股票。

The entrepreneur has renounced a salary or bonus for the potential reward of 12 tranches of Tesla stock, tied to galaxy-sized targets based on the group’s value, earnings and revenue. To receive the full amount, Mr Musk would, among other things, have to increase Tesla’s value by about $600bn to $650bn — roughly the market capitalisation of Amazon today. 這位企業(yè)家放棄了薪水或獎(jiǎng)金，以爭(zhēng)取潛在獎(jiǎng)酬：分12批授予的特斯拉股票，與基于集團(tuán)價(jià)值、利潤(rùn)和收入掛鉤的宏偉目標(biāo)。要獲得全額獎(jiǎng)酬，馬斯克除滿足其他條件外，必須將特斯拉價(jià)值提高到6000億至6500億美元左右，大致相當(dāng)于亞馬遜(Amazon)當(dāng)前的市值。

One question is how the unsalaried Mr Musk will pay for his groceries. The answer: under California state law, he has to receive the minimum wage of $37,000, but for now, according to an interview with the New York Times, he stocks his fridge by borrowing against his shares. 一個(gè)問(wèn)題是沒(méi)有薪水的馬斯克如何應(yīng)付日常開支。答案是：根據(jù)加州法律，他必須得到3.7萬(wàn)美元的最低工資，但就現(xiàn)在而言，根據(jù)《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》(New York Times)的采訪，他通過(guò)抵押自己的股票來(lái)借款購(gòu)買食品。

A more relevant puzzle is the extent to which money motivates a man like Mr Musk at all. Strip away the targets and the pay package seems aimed as much at Tesla shareholders as at its mercurial leader. The deal may be unconventional, but it fits a recognisable template: pay is aligned to performance of the stock the investors themselves hold. 一個(gè)更相關(guān)的難題是，金錢在何種程度上激勵(lì)像馬斯克這樣的人。若除去那些目標(biāo)，上述獎(jiǎng)酬方案似乎不僅針對(duì)其變幻莫測(cè)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人，而且還針對(duì)特斯拉的股東。協(xié)議可能是非常規(guī)的，但它符合一個(gè)讓人眼熟的模板：薪酬與投資者所持股票的表現(xiàn)掛鉤。

More important, it binds Mr Musk to the company in an executive role. Tesla has even added a five-year holding period, to ensure he shares investors’ pain if the carmaker’s breakneck race to become a sustainable energy company ends in a crash after he has earned his reward. 更重要的是，它將馬斯克綁定在特斯拉的執(zhí)行職務(wù)上。特斯拉甚至還增添了五年的鎖定期——如果特斯拉飛速轉(zhuǎn)型為可持續(xù)能源公司的努力最終失敗，馬斯克即便拿到獎(jiǎng)酬也得和投資者一樣感受到痛苦。

Tesla claims an earlier performance award was “instrumental in motivating” Mr Musk. But most evidence suggests other forces drive him. “He’s the possessed genius on the grandest quest anyone has ever concocted,” writes Ashlee Vance in his excellent 2015 biography. “He’s less a CEO chasing riches than a general marshalling troops to secure victory.” 特斯拉聲稱，早先的績(jī)效獎(jiǎng)酬對(duì)于激勵(lì)馬斯克“十分關(guān)鍵”。但大多數(shù)證據(jù)似乎表明，還有其他力量在驅(qū)動(dòng)他。阿什利•萬(wàn)斯(Ashlee Vance)在2015年為馬斯克撰寫的出色傳記中寫道：“他是著了魔的天才，從事著任何人能夠想象出來(lái)的最宏大的探索。與其說(shuō)他是追逐財(cái)富的首席執(zhí)行官，還不如說(shuō)他是一名指揮軍隊(duì)取得勝利的將軍。”

This overarching sense of mission seems to loom larger for Mr Musk than the financial perks. There’s a message here for all boards: you need to provide more than a big cash cushion to keep your restless executives keen. 對(duì)于馬斯克來(lái)說(shuō)，這種宏大的使命感似乎比財(cái)務(wù)福利更重要。所有董事會(huì)都應(yīng)該知道：要讓你的焦慮不安的高管保持熱情，你需要提供的不止是龐大的現(xiàn)金墊。

As Dan Pink memorably laid out in his book Drive 正如丹•平克(Dan Pink)在《動(dòng)機(jī)》(Drive)一書中令人難忘地列舉的那樣，內(nèi)在動(dòng)力——個(gè)人成功渴望加上行動(dòng)自主、精通任務(wù)以及目的明確——是非常強(qiáng)大的。我們所認(rèn)為的包括經(jīng)濟(jì)激勵(lì)在內(nèi)的胡蘿卜加大棒的生硬方法可能會(huì)適得其反，或者只適用于簡(jiǎn)單直接的任務(wù)。

, intrinsic motivation — the individual’s desire to succeed, combined with autonomy of action, mastery of the task, and purpose — is very powerful. What we think of as blunt carrot-and-stick methods, including financial incentives, can be counter-productive, or apply only to straightforward tasks. 平克承認(rèn)受到了道格拉斯•麥格雷戈(Douglas McGregor)的啟發(fā)，后者在1960年提出了傳統(tǒng)的X理論管理(胡蘿卜和大棒，如果你喜歡，也可以稱為指揮和控制)和創(chuàng)新的Y理論方法(強(qiáng)調(diào)工作者的自主性)之間的區(qū)別。

Pink acknowledges a debt to Douglas McGregor, who in 1960 laid out the distinction between traditional Theory X management (carrot-and-stick — or command-and-control, if you prefer) and the innovative Theory Y approach, emphasising worker autonomy. 特斯拉以及馬斯克的火箭企業(yè)SpaceX似乎都是按照另一種理論——“馬斯克理論”(Theory Musk)來(lái)運(yùn)作的。它們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人有時(shí)會(huì)像一個(gè)真正信奉X理論的經(jīng)理那樣發(fā)號(hào)施令。在他的傳記中，一位特斯拉的員工回憶說(shuō)，他在因孩子出生而錯(cuò)過(guò)一次企業(yè)活動(dòng)后，被馬斯克在電子郵件中責(zé)罵(馬斯克寫道：“你要么全身心投入，要么就別干了”)。

Tesla, and SpaceX, Mr Musk’s rocket venture, seem to operate according to another theory — Theory Musk. Their leader sometimes speaks with the authoritarian rasp of an authentic Theory X manager. In his biography, one Tesla employee recalls being dressed down in an email after missing a corporate event for the birth of his child (“You either commit or you don’t,” Mr Musk wrote). 然而，馬斯克立志改變世界以及他對(duì)工程技術(shù)人員的信任是強(qiáng)大的Y理論管理工具，Alphabet首席執(zhí)行官拉里•佩奇(Larry Page)認(rèn)為這是一種競(jìng)爭(zhēng)優(yōu)勢(shì)：“當(dāng)你能夠?yàn)橐粋€(gè)想要去火星并為此竭盡全力的家伙工作的時(shí)候，你為什么想要為一家軍工承包商工作呢?”

Yet Mr Musk’s world-changing goals and his trust in his engineers are powerful Theory Y tools that Larry Page, Alphabet’s chief executive, has identified as a competitive advantage: “Why would you want to work for a defence contractor when you can work for a guy who wants to go to Mars and he’s going to move heaven and earth to make it happen?” 馬斯克在特斯拉和SpaceX綜合應(yīng)用的管理風(fēng)格與更廣泛的研究是吻合的。克里斯托弗•切拉索利(Christopher Cerasoli)、杰茜卡•尼克林(Jessica Nicklin)和邁克爾•福特(Michael Ford)在2014年發(fā)表的分析動(dòng)機(jī)的研究報(bào)告中指出，外部激勵(lì)和內(nèi)在動(dòng)力共同影響著業(yè)績(jī)表現(xiàn)。內(nèi)在動(dòng)力很重要，但與胡蘿卜加大棒的使用并不矛盾。

Mr Musk’s application of a blend of management styles at Tesla and SpaceX fits the wider research. In a 2014 analysis of published studies about motivation, Christopher Cerasoli, Jessica Nicklin and Michael Ford concluded that performance was shaped by the joint impact of external incentives and internal drive. Intrinsic motivation was important, but not at odds with the use of carrots and sticks. 金錢在“馬斯克理論”中排在什么位置?高于你的預(yù)期，但不是出于那種激勵(lì)普通高管的“我的獎(jiǎng)金比你多”的俗氣理由。對(duì)馬斯克來(lái)說(shuō)，金錢像是火箭燃料，能把他帶到無(wú)限的境地。

Where does money rank in Theory Musk? Higher than you might expect, but not for the banal “my bonus is bigger than yours” reasons that motivate ordinary executives. It is the rocket fuel that will take Mr Musk to infinity and beyond. 馬斯克以將先前創(chuàng)業(yè)所得投入下一個(gè)計(jì)劃而聞名——他砸錢的魄力之大，即使在硅谷的冒險(xiǎn)者當(dāng)中也是聞所未聞的。

The entrepreneur is known for pouring gains from prior ventures into his next plan — to a degree unheard of even among Silicon Valley risk-takers. 他對(duì)《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》表示：“(獎(jiǎng)酬計(jì)劃)對(duì)我個(gè)人來(lái)說(shuō)很重要的原因是，我想做一些大事。”幫助人類變成“多星球物種……顯然需要一定數(shù)量的資本”。

“The reason that [the incentive plan is] important to me personally is that there’s some pretty big things that I want to do,” he told the New York Times. Helping to turn humanity into “a multi-planet species . . . obviously requires a certain amount of capital”. 特斯拉董事可能覺得他們的工作已經(jīng)完成了。但他們最重要的職責(zé)既不是履行這份獎(jiǎng)酬協(xié)議的財(cái)務(wù)條款，也不是生硬地把馬斯克與特斯拉綁在一起，而是在他仰望星空的時(shí)候，激勵(lì)他應(yīng)對(duì)地面上的挑戰(zhàn)。

Tesla directors may feel their job is now done. But their most important duty is neither fulfilling the financial side of the pay deal, nor crudely tethering Mr Musk to Tesla. It is motivating him to meet its earthbound challenges, when his eyes are really fixed on the stars. 譯者/裴伴