理查德·布蘭森爲何不讓女兒上太空

The entrepreneur talks to Amy Chozick about airplanes, spaceships, submarines and second chances.

企業家同艾米·柯西克(Amy Chozick)暢談飛機、太空飛船、潛水艇和第二次機會。

A poll in Britain found that one in four respondents chose you as their “dream boss.” Is that what inspired you to write this book on management, “The Virgin Way”?

問：一項英國的調查表明，1/4的應答者認爲你是他們的“理想老闆”。這是否啓發你寫下了這本關於管理的書《維珍之路》(The Virgin Way)?

Well, polls are always flattering when they’re nice. I’ve been an entrepreneur for nearly five decades, so I’ve learned quite a bit over those years. I think, by and large, people who work for Virgin are happy. They enjoy working for Virgin. They don’t like leaving Virgin.

答：好吧，調查結果如果很好，總是讓人高興的。我當企業家已經有快50年了，所以也學到了不少東西。我覺得總體來說，在維珍工作的人都很快樂。他們喜歡爲維珍工作，也不想離開維珍。

When I fly, I often get the sense that people are unhappy working in the airline industry.

問：坐飛機的時候，我總覺得航空業的人都不快樂。

It’s not necessarily the staff’s fault they’re disgruntled. They’re not given the tools to do the job properly. For example, if somebody wants a kosher meal and it’s not on the plane, the crew member has to explain that to the passenger, and the passenger takes it out on the crew member. If that happens day after day, you soon turn a friendly person into someone defensive and unfriendly.

答：有情緒不一定是機組人員的錯。並沒有可以讓他們自動完成好工作的工具。比如說，如果有人想要猶太餐，飛機上沒有，空服人員就得向乘客解釋，乘客就會拿這個空服人員出氣。如果這樣的事經常發生，你很快就會從一個友善的人變成一個戒心強、不怎麼友好的人。

You’ve floated the idea of starting a “Kids’ Cabin.” When can we expect it?

問：你想過設立“兒童艙”的主意，什麼時候能實現呢？

We’re still pushing regulators to allow us to do that. They’re nervous that if there’s an incident, you know, parents are going to be running in one direction and kids in another direction. We’ve been flying for 30 years without an incident. And in any event, we’ve got cabin crew to look after them. Have you got children?

答：我們仍在致力於推動監管者，讓我們能夠實現這個想法。他們對此感到不安，因爲如果發生事故，父母們會往一個方向跑，孩子們又往另一個方向跑。但我們飛行了30年都沒有事故。如果真有什麼事，機組人員會照顧他們的。你有孩子嗎？

I don’t. I’m one of those travelers who don’t want to sit next to little kids.

問：沒有。我是那種不希望和孩子坐在一起的乘客。

O.K., perfect. We’ll put them in the back of the plane for you.

答：太棒了。爲了你這樣的人，我們會把孩子放在飛機後部的。

In the book, you tell a story about an employee at Virgin Records who stole from you. You didn’t fire him, and he went on to discover Boy George. Should managers follow your example?

問：在這本書裏，你講了個故事：有個維珍唱片的僱員偷東西，你並沒有解僱他，後來他發掘了喬治男孩(Boy George)。管理者們應該學習你的榜樣嗎？

We hire a lot of ex-convicts, and not one of them has reoffended. They’re just human. I messed up with the tax man when I was a teenager, and I was given a second chance then. If I hadn’t had that second chance, there wouldn’t be 60,000 people working for Virgin today. We wouldn’t be going to space in a few months’ time. Second chances should be allowed. But, I mean, not always.

答：我們僱過不少犯過罪的人，他們後來沒有人再犯。他們只是普通人。我十幾歲的時候曾經逃稅，後來我得到了第二次機會。如果我沒有得到這個機會，就不會有如今擁有6萬名僱員的維珍公司，我們就不會在幾個月之後登上太空。人們應該得到第二次機會。不過，這也不絕對。

You asked Twitter to come up with potential titles for your book. I think my favorite was “I’m Considerably Richer Than You.”

問：你在Twitter上向粉絲徵集書名。我最喜歡的是《我可比你有錢多了》。

Wealth is something that Americans dwell on. But most entrepreneurs don’t. They love to create things they’re proud of. And they hope that more money will come in than go out.

答：財富是所有美國人都渴望的東西。但大多數企業家並不是這樣。他們熱衷於創造能讓自己爲之自豪的東西。他們只希望賺的錢比花的多。

Was selling your record label to save the airline in 1992 a difficult decision?

問：1992年你賣出唱片廠牌去拯救航空公司，這是一個艱難的選擇嗎？

People thought we were absolutely mad taking our money out of a really successful industry and putting it into a very perilous industry. But it turned out to be the right decision.

答：人們都覺得我們把資金從一個很成功的行業撤出來，投入一個非常危險的行業，這是發瘋。但最後證明這是一個正確的選擇。

Is Virgin Galactic’s maiden space voyage really going to happen soon?

問：維珍銀河公司的處女太空航行真的就快到來了嗎？

It has taken longer than we thought, but we have a date in mind.

答：它花費的時間已經比我們預想的要長了。但我們心裏有數。

Do you worry that you’ve turned a trip to space, which costs $250,000, into just another luxury product?

問：你推出的太空遊開價25萬美元，你會不會擔心到頭來它只會成爲一件奢侈品？

Not at all. If you go back to the 1920s, when aviation started, it cost the equivalent of about $200,000 to cross the Atlantic. Over the years, the price has come down. You’ve got to start somewhere.

答：根本不會。回到20世紀20年代飛行事業剛剛開始的時候，飛躍大西洋需要花費相當於20萬美元。這麼多年來，價格下降了很多。總得有起步階段。

The British tabloids have been speculating about whether you would allow your pregnant daughter to travel to space or not. Would you?

問：英國小報都在推測，你會不會讓自己懷孕的女兒上太空，你會嗎？

My wife definitely would not allow my pregnant daughter to go to space. And in truth her father would not like to see his daughter in space right now. I think the pressure most likely wouldn’t be ideal for twins.

答：我妻子肯定不會讓我們懷孕的女兒上太空。說實話，她爸爸也不會讓女兒現在就上太空的。我覺得太空的壓力對雙胞胎來說不是很理想。

You’ve also looked into submarine tourism with Virgin Oceanic. Is that easier than going up into space?

問：你還想過用“維珍海洋”開發潛水艇遊？這是不是比太空遊容易一點？

It’s difficult. I mean, it’s easy to put — well, not easy — it’s easy-ish to put a lump of metal to the bottom of the ocean, hit the bottom, come back up again. But to get a submarine that you can see out of and can travel at the bottom, to build it strong enough to withstand 1,600 times the pressure of an airplane, that’s hard.

答：這也很難，我是說，把一大堆金屬弄到海下，觸到海洋最底部，然後再回來，這很容易——好吧 ，也不容易，就是看上去容易一些。難的是怎樣建一艘讓人能看到外面的潛水艇，可以在海地旅行，讓它結實到足以承受海底巨大的壓力，這種壓力相當於飛機所承受壓力的1600倍。

You could incorporate that into your Virgin cruise ships.

問：你可以把它和你的維珍遊輪結合起來。

We may launch spaceships from our cruise ship. Who’s to know?

答：我們也可以從遊輪上發送太空船，誰知道呢！