PS: 8k big chapter, this is yesterday + today, there is a party in the evening, so it was sent in advance~

All in all, since Kazuo Hirai can summarize Sony's problems, it is obvious that Stringer has a context on how to "save" Sony.

Many truths in this world are the same, and governing a company, in a sense, can also be regarded as curing diseases and saving people. To treat a person, a doctor must first make a clinical diagnosis, find out the lesion, cause and pathogenesis, and then establish a treatment plan step by step.

The same is true for the governance company, Stringer can find the root cause of Sony's decline, the biggest trouble has been solved, and the rest is only to determine the "treatment" plan according to the classification and identification of "lesions" and "causes".

After such an in-depth understanding, An Junhyuk was a little relieved. Many times, the memory of dreams can only be used as a reference, and his character does not like to build the foundation of a plan on an illusory dream memory, and his ideal partner, Sony, should be weak enough, but retain a certain amount of heritage.

The requirement of "weakness" is to avoid uneven strength, the store bullying customers, and retain the "heritage", which is to plan and plan all aspects involved in the complex and complicated, at least there must be a strong skeleton, which can support the confidence.

At this time, Ahn Junhyuk, who breathed a sigh of relief, of course, did not know what to say, it was not Howard Stringer who found out the "cause" of Sony, but in the last century, just like Steve Jobs saved Apple, he also settled in a computer giant on the verge of collapse, and finally turned the tide, and was named the legendary CEO of the e-commerce giant by Time magazine.

1993 year. On April Fool's Day, a chubby old man who was originally the owner of a tobacco company and had never touched a computer stood at a press conference held at the Hilton Hotel in New York wearing a blue shirt, and then walked into the office building in Armonk, New York, which used to represent the vane of the computer industry in the United States and even the world, amid people's doubts and ridicule.

In just six months, he decisively laid off 45,000 employees. Completely destroy the old mode of production. By restructuring and cutting costs, expanding the scope of the service industry, leading the declining giant to re-launch a charge into the PC industry, in 1994. Leading the declining enterprise. Created a profit for the first time since the 90s - $3 billion.

And just before he took office. In fiscal 1992, the company had just fallen from the altar with a massive loss of $5 billion, and in his first year in office. In fiscal 1993, the company set a record loss of $8 billion and was on the verge of dismemberment.

That company is called IBM!

The fat old man who was praised by Time magazine as a legendary CEO is called Louis Gerstner!

……

……

In the evening, Narita Airport, the warm breeze from the Pacific Ocean swept across the sky in the trajectory of the sky, crossed the ninety-nine miles of sand as long as the crescent moon, blew across the Boso Peninsula, flew through the winding and rugged mountains, and blew into the deep twilight, only to see the undulating dark outline in the distance, and in addition, the Narita Airport was as open as the eye could see.

Another passenger plane with white line marks, diagonally passing through the clouds, and roaring sounds, landed, waiting in the VIP waiting hall, surrounded by several assistants in suits and leather shoes, sitting on a chair with both hands on a cane, the old man who closed his eyes and recuperated, opened his eyes slightly, saw his slight movement, stood beside him, and a middle-aged white man dressed as a secretary bent down gently: "Sir, the guest should have arrived." ”

"Hmm......"

The old man vaguely agreed, his cane on the floor, and he strained himself to his feet and looked over the passage.

It didn't take long for the originally deserted passage to gradually peel off the coldness, and some passengers who got off the plane and took the VIP passage appeared in a hurry and left in a hurry, and there seemed to be a Japanese star who caused a commotion when they walked out of the passage below. But none of that moved the old man, until, on the other side of the passage, came out of a casual gray sportswear, an inconspicuous fat old man, the old man's seemingly cloudy eyes lit up sharply, and then smiled loudly, handed the cane to the secretary beside him, and opened his arms to greet him: "Louis, my friend, welcome to Tokyo, is the trip still enjoyable?"

"Well, I slept well. Louis smacked his lips, "And free burgers, even better if there was sushi!"

"You old fellow!"

The old man laughed and scolded, and then, the two old friends who hadn't seen each other for many days hugged each other, and they laughed and laughed, and after a while, they separated.

Louis, who had short white hair and a good body, looked his old friend in front of him up and down: "Howard, it seems that you are living well in Japan, at least better than in England, oh, I saw your name in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago, old man, a lot of people are staring at you now, and everyone wants to see how you are going to drive the giant ship Sony and which direction to drive it." ”

The old man is none other than Howard Stringer, and the good friend he can call Louis is naturally his most important current thinker and adviser, Louis Gerstner!

Hearing this, he smiled bitterly: "This ship is not easy to drive, sometimes I think it is simply 'Titanic', and there are countless icebergs waiting for me in front of me...... Okay, let's go back to the car, there's still some way to get to Tokyo from here. ”

"Holy shit, my ass has been sitting in a chair for 12 hours and it doesn't want to sit anymore. ”

"Haha

"My dear sir, this is the simplicity of a Puritan's life, and the frugality and simplicity of life always remind me of my time in the church school......"

"Come on, I've heard so many stories about your youth, you don't need to show them off over and over again. ”

In the sometimes intimate, sometimes quarrelsome chat, the two walked out of the terminal, got into the car that had been waiting outside, and in a moment, a group of motorcades as dark as the gradually drowsy night slowly drove away from the terminal and turned onto the highway.

The elongated Lincoln is protected in the center by several Mercedes-Benz cars in front and behind. In the spacious carriage, Louis Gerstner looked at Stringer, who had poured himself a glass of wine, and then sat down opposite, suddenly speechless.

There were only two of them in this compartment, and the cab was also isolated by a baffle, as if because there were no outsiders, there was no need to wear a mask, and Stringer's whole spirit seemed to be withdrawn, only his fingers played with the cane over and over again, without saying a word.

He knew what this old friend was about. Gerstner raised his glass. After taking a sip, he asked in a deep voice, "It's difficult?"

Stringer nodded, handing the staff to his right hand, his left arm resting on the armrest. Rubbing the corners of his forehead: "No." I'm not going to invite you over. The situation was more difficult than I had originally estimated, and the momentary victory did not fundamentally solve the problem, and the Japanese still did not trust me. The attitude of Ryoji Nakaba is still ambiguous...... I have never encountered such a stubborn management, whether it is the bottom, the middle level, or the top level, every day one by one, I don't know how long my energy can last. ”

"So, you're ready to take back the presidency as I suggested on the phone?"

"Yes, old man, I need you to serve me, not just to consolidate power, but also to get a report card as soon as possible and as beautiful as possible!" said Stringer's eyes.

But in his bright eyes, what was reflected was Gerstner's deeply furrowed eyebrows, "Howard, I told you last year that Sony's problem is not a problem with a certain product......"

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Stringer waving his hand: "I know that Sony is very similar to the former IBM, it is in decline, because the old industrial model is out of the times, abandoned by the market, the same bureaucratic style is rampant, and there are many internal factions." But Luis, this is Japan, not the United States, I have done a lot of things according to your suggestions, but in addition to the board of directors, I can't get the slightest favor and support from those Japanese employees and engineers, don't look at them bowing and humble all day long, in fact, they are exuding a stubborn smell in their bones! Yes, transforming the corporate culture is a practical plan, but I have been reforming for two years, but I have achieved little results, and most of my time has been wasted fighting and compromising with those conservatives and neutrals...... Luis, I'm really fed up with this life, I need a report card to break this ice!"

Looking at his old friend, who has always been calm and exudes the unique and depressed temperament of British high society all the time, and has a rare look of anger and depravity, Gershner is silent.

In fact, he hasn't been working on Sony's problems for a day or two.

As early as the beginning of 05, he accepted Stringer's invitation to serve as his personal think tank to consult Sony, for more than a year, he did not ignore the trust of his old friends, he carefully analyzed the changes in Sony from its inception to its decline in recent years, and came to the same conclusion.

Sony's problem is not the problem of a certain product, but the cultural values of the entire enterprise, and even the spirit of more than 100,000 employees throughout the enterprise!

Don't think that this diagnosis is too idealistic, many times, the only difference between a multinational group and a second-rate enterprise is not capital, not the scale of business, funds can be raised, the scale can be expanded and expanded, only the "spirit", without it, the company is a plate of scattered sand, a rabble, with it, the strength of the entire enterprise will be concentrated, brave and diligent!

"Spirit" is the root of a company, and the current Sony, just like IBM in the past, is broken from the root.

The only way to save it is to wield a butcher's knife and cut out the bad roots, as he did at IBM!

After a moment of silence, Gerstner half-leaned back in his chair and asked Stringer, who was staring at him, "Do you remember what I said when I was in charge of IBM?"

Stringer was stunned, but in an instant he understood.

Gerstner's most famous statement in managing IBM is: I need 5 years to have a major operation on it!

Sure enough, 5 years later, he developed IBM from a computer manufacturer to a computer service company through the profit-sharing cooperation model he created, and created a broad customer base for IBM's servers, storage devices and databases through a huge commercial software alliance united by strategic cooperation (for example, many independent software companies provide all their commercial software to IBM servers, so customers who buy and use these software will obviously be more inclined to purchase IBM servers, the same.) Server sales also make it easier for customers to favor the software that joins them, creating revenue for the software company).

Eight years later, he pushed IBM to the peak of $86 billion in annual sales.

"Howard, it took me 5 years to complete that major operation, Sony's problem is more serious, I reminded you last year that you may need more surgery time than me......!"

"I see what you mean. Stringer pinched his eyebrows and said in annoyance, "But our situation is different. Sony is also not IBM. In your second year in office, you turned IBM into a profit......"

"It was achieved through the sale of non-core businesses, and you didn't save Sony's TV business, and you brought Spider-Man and MGM to Sony?"

“…… IBM's board of directors and entire management have been very cooperative with your reforms......"

"That's me kicking my brother out of IBM. He is the backbone of the conservative force. My own brother is still standing in my way. Who would dare to be the next one?"

“…… The corporate culture doesn't even require you to do it, you can dismantle whatever you say, but I'm at Sony. There are a lot of people who are against what I am going to do......"

"Because your methods are not ruthless enough!"

“…………”

The fierce verbal confrontation between each other came to an abrupt end in Gerstner's decisive evaluation, and Stringer, who was holding his glasses and his face was red from the dispute, was stunned, and after a long time, he sighed.

After another moment, he smiled wryly and shook his head, "Huh...... Isn't it ruthless enough......?"

In fact, he knew that in the two years he was at the helm of Sony, he had too many overly optimistic estimates and compromises, such as this time, in order to avoid the backlash of the engineer, even if he was ready to take back the position of president of Ryoji Nakashiro, he still handed over the electronics business, and let the other party's Yoshioka Hiroshi press on the head of Kazuo Hirai.

Let's substitute it, if it is Gerstner, how will he choose?

The answer is self-explanatory!

Looking at his old friend who suddenly grew old and depressed at this moment, Guo Sner leaned over and patted him on the shoulder: "I've been friends for many years, you know, I speak more straight." Howard, the cancer is there, it won't disappear automatically because your hands are soft, what you have to do is use the hardest and sharpest knife to cut it out of healthy flesh and blood, even if it's bloody!"

“…… I know how to say......" was silent for a while, and also patted the hand that Gershner held on his shoulder, and Stringer smiled reluctantly: "Thank you." ”

"Hehe, give yourself some time to rest, although you are in charge of a Japanese business, you are not Japanese, Howard, let your brain relax and relax, if the tension is too tight, it will break, let's talk about some interesting things." ”

Stringer just smiled, of course he wanted to rest, but the situation forced him to tighten his nerves.

Guo Shi Na did not care about his perfunctory, and continued to say with interest: "Old friend, guess who I met on this flight?"

"Uh...... Who?"

"Mark Zuckerberg!"

Some unfamiliar names, since two years ago, have been agonizing about the reform of Sony's Stringer, and it took a while to empty his head before digging out the vague familiarity of the name from the depths of his memory: "Hmm...... It's the ...... face."

“Facebook。 ”

"Oh yes, a weird site...... Well, I wasn't very impressed with him, but when Donald invited me to a party last year, I heard him talk about ......"

Gerstner knew who he was referring to as "Donald", the CEO of The Washington Post, whose full name was Donald Graham, the current head of the Graham family.

Of course, it is not because of Donald himself or his father's amazing talent that he is known as a family, but because of his mother, Catherine Graham.

Many people may be unfamiliar with this name, but everyone should know that the "Watergate" scandal that shocked the world during the Nixon era, one of the biggest political scandals in American history, was that Catherine Graham, CEO of the Washington Post at the time, approved the revelation, and then promoted it, she successfully kicked a US president out of the White House.

This woman, known as the "first lady of journalism", has not lost much influence even if she has been dead for a few years, and the Graham family has also been brilliant because of her, even now, she has a wide range of contacts.

As far as Gerstner knows, 05 years. Donald Graham once came close to becoming a director of Facebook, and since then, he has praised Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, on several occasions, and Gerstner himself has heard him talk about him more than once.

However, Stringer was obviously not interested in any of this, and just nodded: "Young people always have a lot of weird ideas, what funny things did he tell you?"

"Just talk about it. Gerstner laughed, "A young man with a lot of ideas, but it's still too tender, speaking of him." It's because I always think of his partner. ”

"Oh?

Ahn Joon-hyuk...... Romanization is a bit difficult to spell. It's a Korean, you haven't been paying much attention to IT lately, maybe you don't know it, but this young man is very interesting. Gerstner was very interested.

He paid attention to Ahn Joon-hyuk. It started with Steve Jobs. past few years. When outsiders mention the most charismatic and legendary CEO in the past 10 years, they will always put him and Steve Jobs alongside him. Of course, the relationship between the two is not good, after all, neither of them is mild-tempered, and when Gerstner first took charge of IBM, Steve Jobs, who was still young and vigorous, was also a member of the mockers.

Moreover, their philosophies are diametrically opposed, Gerstner advocates sales, Jobs focuses on products, and the two are natural opposites of R&D and salespeople in terms of values.

However, that doesn't stop him from admitting that Steve Jobs was a genius, a strategist!

Any praise for such a figure who is not far behind him carries a lot of weight, and at MacWorld in early February, Steve Jobs handed over the power to explain Jmap to a "little-known" newcomer, which naturally caught his attention.

After a little understanding, the concern turned into interest.

He admires the other party's courage in the face of opportunities, the wrists hidden in the courage, and the courage, and more importantly, the other party is young enough!

Many times when he saw Ahn Joon-hyuk's age, he couldn't help but think, what was he doing when he was 20 years old?

If he were 20 years younger, he might be jealous, disgusted, and even inexplicably hostile to such a young man who has shown extraordinary means at such a young age, but he is old and happy to see more talents active on the stage where he has been on the stage for decades.

Simply introduced Ahn Junhyuk's resume to Stringer, who didn't know what he was thinking after hearing Ahn Junhyuk's name, and Gerstner half-jokingly said: "He has one thing in him that you lack the most...... If possible, you might consider bringing him in to Sony as your assistant, and I'm sure he'll be at his disposal to wield a scalpel for you. Oh, just to help me disgust Jobs, you know, that guy values him very much, I really want to see Ahn Jun Hyuk poached, how wonderful his expression will be, haha!"

After laughing for a while, he realized that Stringer was not joking with him, but looked at him with a rather strange gaze.

"Howard?"

"I want to ...... What you say may be true......"

"Huh?"

"If it weren't for the same name......" Stringer waved his hands and made a few meaningless gestures, at this moment, his expression was quite complicated, and he couldn't tell what it tasted like...... Not...... This week, my right-hand man at Sony, Kazuo Hirai, has been recommending to me a young man named Ahn Joon-hyuk......"

……

……

Although Zuckerberg said that he was coming to Japan on the phone some time ago, when the doorbell of the villa rang at more than nine o'clock in the evening, he had not rested, and he was watching a Japanese drama with Xiujing, and Ahn Junhyuk, who was deeply troubled by the exaggerated stage drama style of the actors inside, saw Cha Woncheng who came in behind him, dressed in an awkward straight suit, his hair was combed and shiny, but he yawned and was depressed, he still opened his mouth slightly to express his surprise.

"Uh...... Mark, you ......"

"Don't talk yet!" As soon as he walked in, he rubbed his face vigorously, cheered up Zuckerberg, narrowed his eyes, and his gaze quickly swept over the living room, Sachiko, who had just cleaned up the dishes and came out of the kitchen, Jisoo who was sitting in a corner flipping through a book, and Lin Xiujing, who was sitting on the sofa with a big belly.

Then, he glared at Lin Xiujing with a determined face: "Let me guess, this must be my younger brother...... Brother and sister?uh...... It's called brother and sister, right?" he turned to look at Ahn Joon-hyuk.

What's this guy doing again?

Ahn Jun-hyuk nodded puzzled, and was about to speak. I saw Zuckerberg "yes" compared to a scissorhands, and trotted over with a smile: "Brother and sister are really closed...... Month...... Shy flowers, flowers...... Flower...... I recognize it at a glance!"

As soon as the words fell, Jisoo, who was holding a book on the side, was stunned and thought that a madman had come in, and laughed out loud with a "poof".

Subsequently.

"Puff Ha ......"

Lin Xiujing, who was stunned for a while, and Nanny Sachiko couldn't help but burst out laughing, and Zuckerberg looked left and right. With shiny hair on one side, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, While leaning over to Ahn Jun-hyuk, who stroked his forehead with one hand, he couldn't bear to look at him directly.

"Hey, hey, hey...... How am I doing? Is this outfit particularly mature? Do you have a bit of style?"

“…………”

"And besides, how is my idiom? Shit, I've been practicing for a week. I finally learned to pronounce it. To be the godfather of your child. I've worked so hard, have you been moved? Do you feel like you don't have to regret it in your life? Look, I'm going to cry!"

“…………”

All in all. The first meeting, Zuckerberg left a deep impression on the An family, in a sense, his efforts were not in vain, whether it was he alone through Japan, where he didn't know a big character in Japan, he took a car from Narita Airport to find An Junhyuk's place of residence, or the so-called idioms practiced hard, they were quite shocking, this performance finally prompted Lin Xiujing, who didn't care who the child's godfather was, to begin to hesitate to change his opinion......

However, although Ahn Junhyuk didn't say anything about his arrival, whether it was so-jin or Ji-so, he could sense it, and he was a little happy.

He never had any friends.

Last year, when he blew the horn to the behemoth SKT, he embarked on a road that he once did not want to go again, but could not escape after all, and was destined to be lonely.

What he thinks, what he sees in the distance, what he walks on the dew-dropped, flashes of inspiration, the occasional slaughter in his steps as he passes under the withered sycamores of the autumn leaves...... They can hear all this, but they don't understand, and he who does, he can't speak.

On this road, you can no longer pour out your heart, you can no longer share secrets, and the communication that all friends will have is no longer appropriate, because the voice of the heart involves secrets, and the value of secrets has enough bargaining chips for betrayal!

Even with the continuous success, as the status gets higher and higher, even Ahn Junhyuk himself, as well as the people around him, are constantly considering feelings into the consideration of interests. Kwon Bo-geun, who used to complain in front of him, never said a word of complaint, and Park Young-handon, who used to beat him on the shoulder and joke with him, never showed that cynical smile again.

Cha Won-sung, Kim Ran-si, Choi Wen-sung, Jeon Byung-guk...... Those who walked out with him, shouldered together, drank wine, bragged, and carried the young and frivolous and passionate era, have long since taken off their impetuousness and deeply buried their sincerity.

Even Xiujing and Zhixiu, who don't know much about management and personnel management, also understand that these changes are inevitable for the development of things, people's hearts will change, feelings will fade, and only interests will be eternal.

So I felt even more sad.

Therefore, even if there is a sense of crisis in her heart, Lin Xiujing has never interfered with his concern for the girls such as Taeyeon and Yuna, because she knows that now, only they dare to be big or small in front of him, for him, it is rare sincerity, and she doesn't want to destroy the purity of the last ray around him.

The relationship between Zuckerberg and him is obviously not up to that level, but compared to the cautiousness of others, Zuckerberg's arrival is like a fresh mountain breeze, blowing on the still lake, wrinkling and rippling.

At least the other party will not be submissive, although the personality does not seem to be very reliable......

Zuckerberg, who couldn't see through Lin Xiujing and Jisoo's inner thoughts, had been running around with great interest that night, one moment he came to Jisoo, cheeky and almost close, and the next time he took out baby products brought from the United States from his suitcase - obviously, from the phone call to learn that his future godson or goddaughter was about to be born and decided to come to Japan, during this time he was not idle except for arranging company affairs.

Originally, when I first arrived, I looked at the languishing appearance that I would die at any time, but I didn't feel sleepy until late at night, and I pulled Ahn Junhyuk, and the two of them had a beer and went to the rooftop.

At night in Shizuoka spring, the temperature is not as mild as during the day, and the mountain breeze shakes your clothes, blowing the spring cold into your bones, but the night sky is very clear, and even though Shizuoka City below releases light pollution, you can still see the starry sky on this mountain.

"I can't see the Milky Way here!"

After going up to the rooftop, Zuckerberg, who had been staring at the sky for a long time, sighed.

Ahn Junhyuk smiled, "Spring, you can't see it with the naked eye at this time, and it's too close to the city." ”

"Hey, don't be so serious. ”

"Huh?" Ahn Joon-hyuk was stunned.

Zuckerberg pouted, "Wasn't you quite humorous when we bragged and chatted like we do now in California? Now you look like an old man in everything you say and do, it's really boring! The day before you went back to Japan, you were so embarrassed to teach me to forget the past, hmph, I remember everything clearly!"

Ahn Jun-hyuk was stunned for a moment, and then smiled: "Oh, are you going to come back from the lesson?"

"Ha, I don't have so much saliva to waste!" Zuckerberg, who looked bored, poured a beer, blowing the cool wind, the oncoming wind slightly blinded his eyes, he lay down, closed his eyes for a moment, opened his eyes to look at the black sky, and sighed for a long time: "I know that you want to say, we have all changed." ”

Ahn Jun-hyuk didn't answer, taking a small sip of some cold foam, one hand in his pocket, his half-length hair messy in the wind.

"Heh, it's all changed...... I've changed, you've changed, it's good or bad, and no one can say whether it's good or bad, and I've been thinking about this every day since you went back to Japan...... Hehe, I shouldn't have studied psychology in the first place, and I was entangled all day long. Zuckerberg laughed to himself, paused for a moment, and then said again: "However, you are right about one thing, you have given me a lot of trust, and I have no position to target you with another attitude...... So ......"

He held up the bottle to Ahn Joon-hyuk: "Man, let's reconcile, how about it?"

Facing him sideways, under the dark night, An Junhyuk, staring directly at the city below, the reflection of his eyes reflected the five-color blur, and for a moment, he looked back, and the corners of his mouth hooked:

"Okay!"

"Haha......ha Hey, wait, wait, I'm going to ask you something. ”

"What?"

"You gave me my godson...... Oh, maybe it's the goddaughter, it doesn't matter, I just wanted to ask if you named them?"

"I haven't thought about it yet, what?"

"Aha! Glad bastard, Uncle Zuckerberg has already helped you think about it, in the past few days, I have studied your surname and the naming habits of Koreans and Chinese, and I have consulted some Confucian masters, how about it, if it is a boy, it will be called An...... Whole...... Te……”

"Mark ......"

"Hey, don't interrupt, I'm not done yet......"

“…… Needless to say!" Ahn Joon-hyuk categorically raised a middle finger at him. (To be continued......)