????2004年，我來阿斯彭研究所工作之后，有一天我接到了喬布斯打來的一個電話。他說他想跟我出去散散步。我說：“沒問題”。我當時并不知道所謂的散步其實就是他與朋友會面的方式。我之前寫過一本關(guān)于本杰明·富蘭克林的書，并且即將完成一本阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦傳記。他說：“接下來，我想讓你為我寫傳記。”我最初的反應(yīng)是：“可以啊，本杰明·富蘭克林、阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦，然后是你……。”我半開玩笑地問喬布斯他是否認為自己理應(yīng)成為這個序列的繼承人選。我說：“或許再過二三十年吧，當你退休后再寫也不遲。”

????后來，他的太太對我說：“要是你打算寫一本關(guān)于史蒂夫的書，最好現(xiàn)在就開始行動。”到那時，公眾已經(jīng)知道他生病了。她說：“他不想讓大家知道，但他進行癌癥手術(shù)之前卻要給你打電話。”

????蘇安迪：約翰，你和山姆·沃爾頓是什么情況呢？你們怎么認識的？

????約翰·休伊：1988年11月，我去《財富》工作。當時，他們決定評選沃爾瑪為“最受贊賞的公司”。一般情況下，假如我們給某家公司打電話說：“我們打算評選你們當“最受贊賞的公司”，上《財富》的封面。”接下來的事就不用我們操心了，對方自然會安排。但是，沃爾瑪卻回復說：“不感興趣。我們不想跟這事兒扯上關(guān)系。”

????雜志社的編輯說：“這事兒必須得他們配合，”因為山姆·沃頓從來沒有面對過媒體的鏡頭。他一直躲著媒體。編輯說：“你是南方人，你得親自去阿肯色州跑一趟，說服他。”

????于是，我就去了。當時再過兩個禮拜就到圣誕節(jié)了。天氣非常糟糕。我跑到沃爾瑪，老老實實地敲門。他的助手——她叫貝琪——說：“他打獵去了。現(xiàn)在不在。”

????一連幾天都是這樣。雨一直下個不停。我知道他開一輛破皮卡，所以常常開車往那路過，找那輛破車。

????十天后，我告訴攝影師：“我們再跑一趟，如果還是看不到那輛車，我們就撤。”

????我們開著車過去，看見了那輛車。山姆·沃爾頓肯定在樓里。我們進了樓，我操起電話話筒，說：“我能跟貝琪通話嗎？”接電話的是山姆·沃爾頓。我說：“您是山姆·沃爾頓嗎？”他說：“我是。”我說：“我是《財富》雜志的約翰·休伊。我在這兒已經(jīng)待了十天了。天一直在下雨。我老婆正在跟我鬧離婚。如果我拍不到你的照片，他們就會炒了我。那我今年的圣誕節(jié)就沒法過了。但其實，我只需要十分鐘就能完事。”

????你明白，干記者這行沒必要講面子。

????I got a phone call?when I went to the Aspen Institute in 2004. He said he wanted to take a walk. I said, "Sure." I didn't know that taking a walk was the way he had meetings. I'd written a book about Benjamin Franklin. I was just finishing up a biography of Albert Einstein. He said, "I want you to do my biography next." My initial reaction was "Yeah, okay, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, you …" I wondered, half-jokingly, whether he saw himself as the natural successor in that sequence. I said, "Maybe in 20 or so years, when you retire."

????Later his wife said to me, "If you're going to do a book on Steve, you had better do it now." By then it had become public that he was sick. She said, "He didn't want people to know, but he called you right before he was operated on for cancer."

????Serwer: John, what about you with Sam Walton? How did you guys get acquainted?

????John?Huey: I went to work for?Fortune?in November of 1988, and they decided they wanted to make Wal-Mart the "most admired company." Usually when you call up a company and say, "We're going to make your company the 'most admired company' on the cover of Fortune," they roll out everything. Wal-Mart said, "Not interested. We don't want anything to do with it."

????And the editor said, "We have to have cooperation," because there's never been a posed photograph of Sam Walton. He's avoided the press. The editor said, "You're a Southerner -- you go down to Arkansas and talk him into it."

????I went down there. It was two weeks before Christmas. It was horrible weather. I went over to Wal-Mart, and I just basically knocked on the door. His assistant -- her name was Becky -- said, "He's hunting. He's not available."

????This went on for days. Rain kept on going. I knew that he drove this old pickup truck. So I kept riding by there looking for the pickup truck.

????Ten days into this I said to my photographer, "We're going to go back over there, and if we don't see that truck, we're getting out of here."

????So we rode by, and there was the truck. Sam Walton was in the building. We went in, and I picked up the vendor phone and said, "May I speak to Becky?" Sam answered the phone. I said, "Is this Sam Walton?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Well, this is John Huey from?Fortune?magazine. I've been here 10 days. It's raining. My wife is going to leave me, and if I don't get this picture, they're going to fire me and I'm going to have a terrible Christmas, and all I need is 10 minutes."

????You know, journalists have no pride.