Tin Toy

《锡铁小兵》

Not all of Jobs’s relationships at Pixar were as good. His worst clash came with Catmull’s cofounder, Alvy Ray Smith. From a Baptist background in rural north Texas, Smith became a free-spirited hippie computer imaging engineer with a big build, big laugh, and big personality—and occasionally an ego to match. “Alvy just glows, with a high color, friendly laugh, and a whole bunch of groupies at conferences,” said Pam Kerwin. “A personality like Alvy’s was likely to ruffle Steve. They are both visionaries and high energy and high ego. Alvy is not as willing to make peace and overlook things as Ed was.”

乔布斯在皮克斯的人际关系并非都这么好。最严重的一次冲突是同阿尔维·雷·史密斯——卡特穆尔的联合创始人。史密斯来自得克萨斯州北部农村，在浸信会的熏陶下长大，是一个拥有自由精神的嬉皮士，担任电脑图像工程师。他身材高大，笑声爽朗，很有个性，有时也很自负。“阿尔维光芒四射，笑容友善，在会议中有一大堆拥护者。”帕姆·克尔温说道，“阿尔维这样的个性可能会触怒史蒂夫。他们都是有远见的人，精力旺盛，非常自负。阿尔维不愿意像埃德一样息事宁人，无视一些不高兴的事。”

Smith saw Jobs as someone whose charisma and ego led him to abuse power. “He was like a televangelist,” Smith said. “He wanted to control people, but I would not be a slave to him, which is why we clashed. Ed was much more able to go with the flow.” Jobs would sometimes assert his dominance at a meeting by saying something outrageous or untrue. Smith took great joy in calling him on it, and he would do so with a large laugh and a smirk. This did not endear him to Jobs.

史密斯认为，乔布斯的领袖魅力和自负致使他滥用权力。“他就像一个电视节目中的布道者史密斯表示，“他要控制别人，但是我不愿意做他的奴隶，因此我们发生了冲突。而埃德更愿意顺其自然。”开会时，乔布斯有时会说一些离谱或不真实的东西来确立自己的主导地位。史密斯喜欢在这种情况下和乔布斯叫板，他会边笑边说，最后露出得意的笑容。这让乔布斯感到很不爽。

One day at a board meeting, Jobs started berating Smith and other top Pixar executives for the delay in getting the circuit boards completed for the new version of the Pixar Image Computer. At the time, NeXT was also very late in completing its own computer boards, and Smith pointed that out: “Hey, you’re even later with your NeXT boards, so quit jumping on us.” Jobs went ballistic, or in Smith’s phrase, “totally nonlinear.” When Smith was feeling attacked or confrontational, he tended to lapse into his southwestern accent. Jobs started parodying it in his sarcastic style. “It was a bully tactic, and I exploded with everything I had,” Smith recalled. “Before I knew it, we were in each other’s faces—about three inches apart—screaming at each other.”

有一次董事会会议上，因为新版皮克斯图像电脑的电路板遭遇延期，乔布斯开始训斥史密斯和皮克斯的其他髙管。当时，NeXT电脑的电路板也推迟了很久。史密斯指出了这一点：“嘿，你们的NeXT电路板更迟呢，所以别对我们大呼小叫了。”乔布斯顿时大发雷霆，或者用史密斯的话来说“完全不可理喻”。当史密斯觉得被攻击或遭遇对抗时，会不由自主地冒出西南部口音。乔布斯于是挖苦着模仿史密斯。“这简直就是欺负人，我完全爆发了。”史密斯回忆道，“我还没反应过来，我们俩就已经面对面了，相隔只有3英寸，朝着对方大吼。”

Jobs was very possessive about control of the whiteboard during a meeting, so the burly Smith pushed past him and started writing on it. “You can’t do that!” Jobs shouted.

乔布斯对于会议中的白板极具控制欲，于是魁梧的史密斯推开他，开始在白板上写写画画。“你不能这样！”乔布斯大喊。

“What?” responded Smith, “I can’t write on your whiteboard? Bullshit.” At that point Jobs stormed out.

“什么？”史密斯回击道，“我不能在你的白板上写字？放狗屁！”听到这话，乔布斯摔门而出。

Smith eventually resigned to form a new company to make software for digital drawing and image editing. Jobs refused him permission to use some code he had created while at Pixar, which further inflamed their enmity. “Alvy eventually got what he needed,” said Catmull, “but he was very stressed for a year and developed a lung infection.” In the end it worked out well enough; Microsoft eventually bought Smith’s company, giving him the distinction of being a founder of one company that was sold to Jobs and another that was sold to Gates.

史密斯最终辞了职，成立了一家新公司，制作数字绘图和图像编辑软件。乔布斯拒绝史密斯使用他在皮克斯时编写的代码，这又进一步加深了彼此的敌意。“阿尔维最终得到了他需要的东西，”卡特穆尔说，“但是，他这一年的压力都很大，坯患上了肺部感染。”最后，结果还算不错，微软收购了史密斯的新公司。自己成立的公司，一家卖给乔布斯，另一家卖给盖茨，这样的人也只有史密斯了吧。

Ornery in the best of times, Jobs became particularly so when it became clear that all three Pixar endeavors—hardware, software, and animated content—were losing money. “I’d get these plans, and in the end I kept having to put in more money,” he recalled. He would rail, but then write the check. Having been ousted at Apple and flailing at NeXT, he couldn’t afford a third strike.

不过，即便在境况最好的时候，乔布斯的脾气也很暴躁。因此，当皮克斯的三项努力——硬件、软件和动画内容——都在赔钱时，乔布斯就越发如此了。“我制订了这些计划，结果却得不停地投钱进去。”他回忆说。他会责骂皮克斯的人，但还是会给他们开支票。已经被苹果驱逐，又被困在NeXT，他不能接受再一次打击了。

To stem the losses, he ordered a round of deep layoffs, which he executed with his typical empathy deficiency. As Pam Kerwin put it, he had “neither the emotional nor financial runway to be decent to people he was letting go.” Jobs insisted that the firings be done immediately, with no severance pay. Kerwin took Jobs on a walk around the parking lot and begged that the employees be given at least two weeks notice. “Okay,” he shot back, “but the notice is retroactive from two weeks ago.” Catmull was in Moscow, and Kerwin put in frantic calls to him. When he returned, he was able to institute a meager severance plan and calm things down just a bit.

为了止损，乔布斯下令进行一轮大规模裁员。他缺乏对待他人的同情心，冷酷地执行了这一决定。正如帕姆·克尔温所形容的：“对于要解雇的人，他在感情和财务上都不留余地。”乔布斯坚持裁员立即开始，且不支付遣散费。克尔温拽着乔布斯在停车场周围散步，请求他至少提前两周告知员工们这一消息。“好吧，”乔布斯回答道，“但通知应该倒推回两周生效。”卡特穆尔当时在莫斯科，克尔温疯了似的跟他打电话。卡特穆尔回来后，研究出一个遣散计划，给予被解雇员工微薄的补偿，稍微平息了事态。