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That was the one-word answer given by Apple (AAPL) chairman Arthur D. Levinson when asked to describe his experience running the company's board of directors since Steve Jobs's death. Levinson, who joined the board in 2000, was a colleague and close friend to Apple's legendary founder and CEO. On Tuesday, he said that Jobs's absence remains tough to ignore even as the company has continued introducing new products and making fresh announcements. "I'm still not to the point where I walk into that boardroom and don't miss Steve," said Levinson, who finally started but has so far failed to finish reading Jobs's biography. "He was a one of a kind guy ... The Steve Jobs that was in the public eye was not, for the most part, the Steve Jobs that I knew."
这个词就是自乔布斯去世后，阿特·莱文森管理苹果公司（Apple）董事会的感受。莱文森2000年加入公司董事会，是传奇人物乔布斯——苹果创始人兼首席执行官的同事兼密友。他上周二表示，尽管公司不断推新品、搞发布会，但终究很难让人忽略乔布斯已经不在了的事实。莱文森说：“我还是没办法在走进董事会房间时不想起乔布斯。”而且，他也终于拿起《乔布斯传》，不过目前还未读完。“他是独一无二的...... 很大程度上，公众眼中的乔布斯和我知道的那个乔布斯是不一样的。”
Levinson spoke openly about Jobs, Apple's recent earnings, and the board's role in product creation Tuesday afternoon at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Apple's chairman was interviewed on stage by a Stanford student, Vicki Slavina, and took questions from an audience that consisted mostly of university students.
上周二下午，在斯坦福大学商学院（Stanford's Graduate School of Business），莱文森畅谈了乔布斯、苹果近期的收益以及董事会在产品创新中的作用。这位苹果公司的董事会主席在台上接受了该校学生维姬·斯拉维娜的采访，还参与了斯坦福学生的问答环节。
Throughout the conversation, which also touched on Levinson's role as chair and former CEO of Genentech, he reiterated that a company's short-term earnings -- including those recently announcement by Apple -- mean very little. Apple reported $13.1 billion in profit on $54.5 billion in revenues in a quarter Levinson described as "phenomenal." But results that would likely be celebrated by most executives left Apple investors disappointed. The company's stock dropped more than 10% in after-hours trading following the announcement, and since its all-time high of $705.07 in September, the price has fallen nearly 35%.
整场对话还谈及了莱文森在基因技术公司现任董事会主席兼前任首席执行官的角色。他反复强调，公司的短期收益——包括苹果公司近期发布的收益状况——其实并不重要。他将苹果公司每季度131亿美元的利润和545亿美元的营收称为“现象级”表现。但这个可能会让大多数高管弹冠相庆的结果却依然让投资人感到失望。财报发布后，苹果公司股票在盘后交易中下跌了10%以上，与去年9月创下的历史新高705.07美元相比，跌幅近35%。
It's reasonable to associate investor worry with changes at Apple since Jobs's passing, most notably the company's botched Maps application this past fall that prompted CEO Tim Cook to issue an apology and encourage users to download competitors' applications. Both the defective product and the mea culpa were signs that Apple is indeed changing in a post-Jobs world. Not surprisingly, Levinson struck a confident note about the company's long-term pursuits. "There [are] long-term signs of how a company is doing and whether or not Apple sells 47 or 48 million iPhones -- let somebody else worry about that," he said.
乔布斯离世后，投资人有所担忧也可以理解。去年秋天的苹果地图风波使首席执行官蒂姆·库克不得不出面致歉，同时鼓励用户下载竞争对手的应用程序，这愈发加重了投资人的疑虑。不论瑕疵产品，还是道歉认错，都表明后乔布斯时代的苹果正在悄然发生改变。尽管如此，莱文森对公司的长远发展还是充满信心。他说：“我们应当目光长远，至于公司是卖出了4,700万、还是4,800万台手机，还是让其他人去操心吧。”
So how much input does Apple's board have in the creation of its new products· Not a whole lot, according to Levinson, though new products are presented to the board between 6 to 18 months prior to launch. If presented early enough, some board insights are taken into account, and those on the board with expertise in certain product areas may have more influence, he added. But while long-term direction and planning fall under the board's jurisdiction, individual product review isn't a top priority. "The board is not there to define product specs," said Levinson. "It's there as a sounding board. It's there as a resource. And ultimately, the board is there to hire and fire the CEO." If it's a good board, which Levinson said many companies are without, then it won't get in the way of the CEO and executive team.
那么，在新品开发中，苹果公司董事会作用几何呢？ 莱文森表示，虽然在新品投放市场前的6到18个月内董事会可以拿到样机，但董事会的作用有限。如果时间充裕，公司会将董事会的意见纳入考虑，那些精于某些产品领域的董事会成员也会因此发挥更大影响，他补充表示。但是，个别产品的审查并非董事会的管辖重点，公司的长期发展方向和规划才是重中之重。“董事会不是用来定义产品规格的，”莱文森说。“它更像一个参谋和后援。最重要的是，董事会可以任免首席执行官。”莱文森表示，一个称职的董事不会去妨碍首席执行官和管理团队的工作，而现在许多公司的董事会却并不是这样。
