????2. 人才只是成功的一部分因素。

????一位首席執行官需要招聘最優秀的人才，圍繞自己組建一支團隊，這一點毋庸置疑。但鮑爾默警告，僅有人才還不夠。

????他說：“不能說，你看，我聘請了三位最優秀的人才。我要放手讓他們大干一場，這樣必能成就一番偉業。必須讓他們與其他人融洽相處。而CEO自己也要與他們進行磨合。”

????鮑爾默任職期間，微軟在多位知名度頗高的人才身上投下重注，其中包括Windows部門負責人史蒂文?辛諾夫斯基；Xbox首席技術官J?阿拉德；首席軟件架構師雷?奧茲。如今他們都離開了微軟。我問鮑爾默他是否會特別想到某個人，他沒有回答。

????鮑爾默說：“人才選擇是關鍵，人才的提拔也是關鍵。不論人才在哪個崗位工作，不要把他們看作是一個個體，看成是可以獨自一人工作的工匠。”處在微軟這樣一家公司，很容易讓人產生虛構的錯覺——微軟靠的就是幾位超級巨星，憑借少數幾個人的努力來為公司排憂解難。在一個規模化經營的行業，這并不是有效的經營方式。

????鮑爾默說：“我們嘗試過。我和比爾嘗試過一段時間。我們發現，如果我們擁有天才的員工，而且我們也能夠與他們很好地銜接配合，我們的表現就會更出色。”

????3. 再評估，再評估，再評估

????“以前，人們說軟件將是最賺錢的行業；放棄硬件吧。結果今年最有利可圖的兩家公司都是硬件公司，”鮑爾默說，眼下之意暗指微軟的兩個競爭對手，也就是蘋果（Apple）與三星（Samsung）。“后來又有人說，哦，原來還是廣告最重要。”

????“有些人確實從廣告業務獲得了豐厚收入，但有些公司在這方面卻差強人意，” 他補充說，同時還不忘諷刺一下競爭對手谷歌（Google）。

????他到底想說什么？從來沒有某一種商業模式能夠完美地適合一切公司、一切時代。

????鮑爾默說，相比汽車或醫藥行業，科技行業的開發、融資與營銷模式更加靈活。不論哪個領域的CEO，在對公司的模式進行評估和調整時，都應該保持警惕和嚴謹。

????4. 短期長期兩手抓

????鮑爾默表示，每一家公司都有長短兩個周期。他說：“長周期是要把能賺錢的大事做好。”而“短周期是要以真正有效的方式去執行。”

????有些產品有短周期節奏；而其他產品則可能有長周期節奏。鮑爾默認為，速度并不是一切。相反，一位首席執行官的關注點應該是“決定策略、工程和執行的正確節奏。”

????這方面，微軟的“Longhorn”項目災難無疑是最好的佐證。“Longhorn”最終變成了飽受詬病的Windows Vista操作系統。鮑爾默承認，公司當時制定的計劃太過激進，花了太長時間才來糾正策略和交付計劃，而且等了太長時間才將微軟的精英團隊解放出來，重新參與其他項目和產品。

????5. 了解自己的不足

????鮑爾默總結道：“很明顯，我對商業方面的理解要遠遠多于技術方面。但我也在不斷成長，而一個人在成長的過程中會說：‘哇，原來我有這么多不懂的東西。’”（財富中文網）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????2. Talent is only one part of success.

????A chief executive needs to recruit and hire the best people to surround him; that is without doubt. But that alone isn't enough, Ballmer cautioned.

????"It's not like you want to say, Hey, look, I've hired three of the best people, and I'm just going to leave them completely alone, and then great things are going to happen," Ballmer said. "You have to mesh them with other people. You've got to mesh them with yourself."

????Under Ballmer, Microsoft made some very big bets on a few high-profile individuals, among them Steven Sinofksy, the head of Windows; J Allard, the Chief Technology Officer in Xbox; and Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect. All are no longer with the company. When I asked Ballmer if he was thinking of anyone in particular, he declined to name names.

????"People selection is key, moving people on is key, and not viewing people as individuals, sort of artisans to be left alone, in any job, in any one of the jobs," Ballmer said. It is a myth that a company is built on the backs of a few superstars who "go and get the tablets from the mount and bring them back." In an industry that operates at scale, that's just not the way things really work.

????"We tried it," Ballmer said. "We tried it with me and Bill for a while. We're better when we have very talented people who we also stitch together."

????3. Reevaluate, reevaluate, reevaluate.

????"There was a day when people said all the money is in software; get out of hardware. Well, the two most profitable companies this year in our business will be hardware companies," Ballmer said, referring rivals to Apple (AAPL) and Samsung. "Then somebody will say, Oh, it's all about advertising."

????"Some guys really do make good advertising money, but some businesses are poorly funded," he added, taking a dig at rival Google (GOOG).

????His point? There is no single business model that's perfect for every company or every era.

????There is more flexibility in the technology industry around developing, funding, and marketing models than there may be in the automotive or pharmaceutical industries, Ballmer said. Still, CEOs in all areas need to remain vigilant and rigorous when it comes to evaluating and adjusting their models.

????4. Bet for the short and long terms.

????Every company has a long cycle and a short cycle, Ballmer said. "Getting the big things right that make all the money, that's long cycle," he said. But "really executing in a way that allows you to do it, that's short cycle."

????Some products have short cycle rhythms; others have long cycle rhythms. Speed isn't everything, Ballmer said. Instead, a chief executive's focus needs to be on "determining correct cadence of strategy, correct cadence of engineering, and correct cadence of execution."

????This was no more evident than around Microsoft's "Longhorn" debacle, which would arrive to market as the ill-fated Windows Vista operating system. Ballmer conceded that the company set too ambitious a plan, took too long to correct its strategy and delivery plans, and waited too long before reassigning its "A" team on other projects and products.

????5. Know your limits.

????"I obviously understand the business stuff better than the technology stuff," Ballmer concluded. But "I've grown, and when you grow, you say, 'Wow, I didn't know what I didn't know.'"