從很大意義來說，全世界或許有成千上萬，甚至幾百萬企業家都在經歷福特汽車公司CEO馬克?菲爾茨正在經歷的一切。但從菲爾茨身上，我們能夠更加清晰，更加銳利地提煉出他們都在面臨的所有這些問題的實質。就這一點來說，就連一位好萊塢編劇恐怕也不能做得更好。

先說一些基本要素：他正在經營一家歷史悠久的大型成功企業，它所處的是一個堪稱20世紀最成功的行業。幾十年來，福特很清楚自己的競爭對手是誰。但現在，汽車行業突然冒出一些令人難以想象的公司，而競爭的戰場也正在從這家公司此前胸有成竹的問題，轉移到一些原本對于汽車行業并不重要，甚或聞所未聞的問題。

菲爾茨必須帶領公司從舊時代過渡到新時代，同時他還要繼續給股東帶來利益——當然，其中最著名的一位，就是那位代表福特家族的常務董事長。

正如好萊塢常說的一句話，這真是一個“強場景”，不是嗎？

我很喜歡菲爾茨正在做的事。為了節約你的時間，請查閱我們近期發表的多篇報道。一個重點是，相較于其他主要汽車制造商的掌門人，他正在以更大的熱情，推動福特公司進入未知的未來。他似乎已經接受了汽車行業正在進行根本性轉型這一事實。比如，他剛剛推出一款名叫FordPass的免費移動應用。這款應用可以幫助你在外出時租借車輛，找地方付費泊車，以及預約服務等等——不管你是不是福特的車主。

他這樣做的原因在于，如果這款應用真的火起來了（當然這還是一個大大的未知數），福特就能夠掌握大量關于消費者用車行為和偏好的數據。你想與6個朋友一起租車嗎？福特公司剛剛推出一個類似計劃，目前正利用聯網自行車進行試驗。所有這些舉措乍一看非常詭異，除非這是一家正在深入反思業務轉型的公司。

菲爾茨正在做的事情還有很多，但這些例子至少能夠顯示他的改革方向。這些舉措說起來容易，做起來難。他正在尋求的轉型，首先需要一場文化變革，而對于一家大型工業公司來說，這顯然是個巨大的挑戰。另外，它還需要福特更加明智地分配資本。所有這些東西都不是免費的，都需要付出一定代價。此外，在籌謀未來的同時，菲爾茨還需要在當下就拿出績效。而他也正是這樣做的：上周二，福特宣布公司斬獲創紀錄的利潤水平，并計劃在正常分紅之外，另拿出10億美元，作為回饋給股東的特別分紅。

菲爾茨的故事之所以格外引人關注，還因為我們尚不知道他的轉型大計能否成功。目前看來，他做的每件事似乎都是正確的，但正確不代表成功。真實的世界畢竟沒有那么簡單。菲爾茨的故事很適合拍成電影，但我們還不知道，這部電影是否會有個好萊塢式的完美結局。（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：任文科

Thousands, or perhaps even millions, of business leaders around the world are, in a large sense, going through what Ford F -5.06% CEO Mark Fields is going through. But we could not have a clearer, sharper distillation of the issues they’re all facing than what we get in the person of Fields. A Hollywood script writer couldn’t do better.

Here are the essential elements: He’s running a big, old, successful company in an industry that was arguably the most important one of the 20thcentury. For decades, his company knew who its competitors were, but now it’s under threat by companies that no one ever dared to imagine were in the car business, and the competitive battlefield is shifting from issues that his company had utterly mastered to issues that were mostly insignificant or unheard-of in the industry.

Fields has to lead this company from the old era into the new while continuing to deliver for his shareholders, the most prominent of which is represented by an executive chairman whose last name is Ford.

As they used to say in Hollywood, a strong scenario, no?

I like what Fields is doing. For an efficient rundown, check our recent coverage here, here, and here. The big picture is that he’s pushing Ford into an unknowable future more enthusiastically than any other big automaker’s chief. He seems to embrace the reality that his business is being fundamentally transformed. For example, he just introduced a free mobile app called FordPass, which helps you borrow and share vehicles while traveling, find and pay for a place to park, schedule service, and more—regardless of whether you’re a Ford customer.

Why would he do that? Because if the app catches on—a big if—think of all that Ford will learn about driver behavior and preferences. Want to lease a car with six friends? Ford just introduced a plan for that. It’s experimenting with Internet-connected bicycles. All this is decidedly weird unless a company is deeply rethinking its business.

Fields is doing a great deal more, but these examples at least convey his direction. His actions are easy to talk about and hard to do. The transformation he’s attempting requires above all a culture change that’s hugely challenging in a big industrial company. It also requires wise capital allocation; none of this stuff is free, and Fields has to deliver performance today while preparing for the day after tomorrow. He’s doing it: On Tuesday, Ford announced record profits and said it will send shareholders a special dividend of $1 billion on top of its normal dividend.

What makes Fields’ story especially gripping is that we have no idea how it will turn out. He seems to be doing everything right; if only that meant it will work. Real life isn’t like that. The Fields story is made for the movies, but we just don’t know if it will have a Hollywood ending.