金融英語泛讀:堅(jiān)忍、品質(zhì)、天賦——環(huán)球影城總裁羅恩·梅耶爾

Ron Meyer：The President of Universal Studios堅(jiān)忍、品質(zhì)、天賦——環(huán)球影城總裁羅恩·梅耶爾

Gumption and Guts

Ron Meyer was 14 when a friend gave him his first tattoo, a crude design done with ink and a needle. Like many of the guys he hung out with in West Los Angeles, Meyer was a high school dropout, a kid quick with his fists who seemed to get into fights somewhat regularly.

Today, Meyer is the president and COO of Universal Studios. As one of the most successful business leaders in Hollywood, he heads up Universal Pictures and Universal Parks&Resorts.He's the guy who oversees the production of multimillion-dollar extravaganzas like“King Kong”and“Cinderella Man”.

Even though Meyer could easilly afford it, he has no interest in getting his tattoos removed. They symbolize just how far he has come, and they remind him of the choices he made-good and bad-along the way.

Meyer's story sounds like the plot of one of his motion pictures. The son of German immigrants, he grew up in a modest home where there was little disposable income.It was a big deal to go to a restaurant.At 15，he quit high school and spent his time shooting pool, boxing at a nearby gym and hanging out with the neighborhood toughs.With little education or direction and few options, he figured he'd be drafted.So when he heard about a boxing program in the Marine Corps, he signed up.

At one point, he was quarantined with the measles, with no TV and nothing to do. His mother sent him two books.One was The Amboy Dukes, a novel about kids in street gangs.The other was The Flesh Peddlers, now out of print, about a guy in the talent-agency business who was living a glamorous life.“I realized，”he says，“that I was no longer that idiot kid I had been, and I wanted to change my life.”

Meyer knew he was up against considerable odds, but he finally had a goal:to become an agent and live the sort of lifestyle described in The Flesh Peddlers. He says he must have been interviewed at all of the major talent agencies.“Everyone said no to me.I didn't have a formal education.l came from no influence, no money.There was no obvious reason to give me a job.”

Meyer took any job he could get. He worked as a busboy and short-order cook.He cleaned grease off duplicating machines.He sold shoes.“Once I got a job, I put all I had into it，”says Meyer.“When I was a busboy, l wanted to be the best busboy.”That attitude made an impression on people.While he was working at a clothing store, the Paul Kohner Agency called.Their messenger had quit, and they remembered the guy named Ron who was willing to take whatever job they offered.At the clothing store, he was making$35 a week.Kohner was going to pay him$75.That was on a Friday.He started the next Monday.

Luck and a Winning Attitude

Meyer's messenger job included chauffeuring Paul Kohner, a successful agent who represented stars like John Huston, Billy Wilder, Charles Bronson and Lana Turner. Meyer kept his eyes on the road-and his ears on the conversations in the backseat.“Paul would have meetings in his car and talk about deals.I learned the business, and got to know a lot of people.”Meyer was lucky to work with a good boss-and he had the brains to make the most of that experience.In nearly six years of driving for Kohner, Meyer became his right-hand man.By that time, though he knew the business, he still had to learn a lot about the process.

He pretended he was an agent and landed a job at Super agency William Morris in the TV talent department. After everyone left at night, he would analyze his mentor's deals and figure out how to do them.

By the 1970s, Meyer had built a lot of relationships in the business. His clients included Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner.Clearly, Meyer was becoming a leader in his industry.

He stayed at William Morris for over five years and would happily have stayed longer, but fate intervened when his mentor was fired. That presented an opportunity to start his own operation, Creative Artists Agency.Founded in 1975 with four colleagues from William Morris, CAA became a huge success, representing Hollywood legends like Cher, Madonna, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise.In the beginning, though, the staff of five struggled—18-hour days, seven days a week.They didn't draw any money out of the company for the first two years.

But Meyer had an advantage：Few people knew the business as well as he did, and few were as good with people. He built CAA client by client.He was always networking, attending anything he could get invited to-parties, dinners, screenings, and tapings.His first major clients included Charlie's Angels Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson.But his big break came when he signed Sylvester Stallone during his“Rocky”and“Rambo”years.“Everyone wanted Syl，”says Meyer.“It was a big deal to be his agent.That became my entree to representing people like Michael Douglas, Goldie Hawn and Jessica Lange.”

Twenty years later, Meyer was tapped to run Universal Studios, a position far beyond his youthful dream. But once he saw success was possible, he was driven to achieve it.It was important to him, though, that he was trusted and well-thought-of.In looking back, Meyer allows that he's never forgotten his humble beginnings.

Today, colleagues regularly attribute his success-and theirs-to his humility and perseverance. It's a level of success that takes a certain tenacity, a certain personality, a certain kind of intelligence, whether it comes from a college education or from the street.

It takes guts to make a choice and gumption to stick with it.

進(jìn)取心和勇氣

羅恩·梅耶爾第一次文身時(shí)只有14歲，那個(gè)文身是朋友用墨水和針完成的一個(gè)粗糙設(shè)計(jì)。像很多混跡于洛杉磯西部的孩子一樣，梅耶爾高中就輟學(xué)了，那時(shí)的他，還是一個(gè)似乎隨時(shí)都會迅速握緊拳頭面對打斗的孩子。

今天，羅恩·梅耶爾是環(huán)球影城的總裁和運(yùn)營總監(jiān)。作為好萊塢的杰出商業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人之一，他統(tǒng)領(lǐng)著環(huán)球影業(yè)公司、環(huán)球公園及度假村。他還負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)制了像《金剛》和《鐵拳男人》那類百萬美元巨制的奇幻大片。

盡管梅耶爾能輕易支付清除文身的費(fèi)用，但他并沒有那么做。這些文身時(shí)時(shí)刻刻告訴梅耶爾他走了多遠(yuǎn)，同時(shí)也提醒他這一路走來所做的選擇，不管是好的還是不好的。

羅恩·梅耶爾的故事聽起來像他所監(jiān)制的動作片里的情節(jié)。作為德國移民的兒子，他生長在中等水平家庭，收入剛剛夠維持生計(jì)，去餐館吃飯就是很大的奢侈了。15歲那年，梅耶爾高中輟學(xué)，他常在臺球廳、周邊的拳擊館和一些附近的小混混閑混來打發(fā)時(shí)間。沒受過太多教育，既無目標(biāo)也無選擇，他覺得他的人生也就這樣了。所以當(dāng)聽說海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)有拳擊項(xiàng)目時(shí)，他就報(bào)名參加了。

有一次，梅耶爾因?yàn)榈寐檎疃桓綦x，沒有電視，也沒什么別的事情可做。他母親給他帶了兩本書去，一本是關(guān)于街頭暴力下的孩子們的小說《安博公爵》。另一本是《人肉販子》，這是一本關(guān)于一個(gè)有著天才代理才能、過著精彩生活的人的小說，不過這本書現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不再出版了?！拔乙庾R到，”他說，“我不能再像以前那么無知了，我要改變我的生活?！?/p>

梅耶爾知道他面臨的困難很多，但他最終確定了一個(gè)目標(biāo)：他要成為一個(gè)經(jīng)紀(jì)人，要過上《人肉販子》里面描述的那種精彩的生活。他說他拜訪過所有大型人才機(jī)構(gòu)?！懊總€(gè)人都對我說不，我沒受過正規(guī)的教育，也沒什么影響力，更沒錢。沒有任何理由能讓我得到一份工作?！?/p>

梅耶爾愿意接受任何他能找到的工作，他在餐館打過工，也做過快餐店的工作。他擦過機(jī)器上的油，賣過鞋子?！耙坏┑玫揭环莨ぷ鳎揖蜁硇牡赝度?，”梅耶爾說，“即使做餐館工，我也要努力成為最好的餐館工。”

他的這種態(tài)度給人留下了深刻的印象。他在一家服裝店工作的時(shí)候，保羅·科赫納代理行給他打來電話。他們那兒跑腿送信的人辭職了，他們想起了有個(gè)名叫羅恩的人愿意做任何工作。在服裝店，他的收入是每周35美元，而保羅·科赫納會給他75美元。那天是周五，下一個(gè)周一他就開始了這份新的工作。

運(yùn)氣和成功的態(tài)度

梅耶爾做跑腿送信的那份工作也包括為保羅·科赫納開車，他是一位成功的經(jīng)紀(jì)人，約翰·休斯頓、比利·懷爾德、查爾斯·布朗森和拉娜·特納都是他代理的明星。梅耶爾專注開車，雙耳就留意后座的談話?！氨Ａ_會在他的車?yán)镩_會，并討論細(xì)節(jié)，我學(xué)會了生意上的很多東西，也認(rèn)識了很多人。”

梅耶爾很幸運(yùn)，可以與一個(gè)好老板共事，同時(shí)他也很聰明，充分利用了那段經(jīng)歷。在為保羅·科赫納開車近六年后，梅耶爾成了他的得力助手。那時(shí)，梅耶爾已經(jīng)了解了商務(wù)上的往來，但他仍要學(xué)很多關(guān)于過程、細(xì)節(jié)方面的內(nèi)容。

他佯裝成一個(gè)代理人，并在電視臺人才部的超級代理威廉·莫里斯那兒找了份工作。等晚上大家都離開后，他就開始分析他師傅的生意并研究應(yīng)該怎么做。

到了20世紀(jì)70年代，梅耶爾的人際關(guān)系已經(jīng)很廣了。他的客戶包括莎莉·史特瑟斯和羅布·賴納。梅耶爾在他的行業(yè)里已經(jīng)是一位領(lǐng)軍人物了。

他在威廉·莫里斯代理行待了五年多，并很樂意待更長的時(shí)間，但命運(yùn)弄人，不久他的師傅被解雇了。這使他有機(jī)會開始他自己的公司——?jiǎng)?chuàng)意藝術(shù)家代理行。1975年成立初期，公司只有四個(gè)從威廉·莫里斯代理行出來的同事，但創(chuàng)意藝術(shù)家代理行卻獲得了巨大的成功，為好萊塢傳奇人物雪兒、麥當(dāng)娜、湯姆·漢克斯和湯姆·克魯斯等巨星代理。在最開始，只有這五個(gè)員工共同奮斗，一天18個(gè)小時(shí)，一周工作七天。他們在頭兩年里沒向公司要一分錢。

梅耶爾有一個(gè)優(yōu)勢：很少有人能像他一樣了解生意，也很少有人能像他一樣與人為善。梅耶爾逐漸地建立了創(chuàng)意藝術(shù)家代理行的客戶群，他總在與人拉關(guān)系，參加他被邀請的任何活動——聚會、會餐、電影、錄音。

他第一位重要的客戶有《查理的天使》的主演費(fèi)拉·福賽特和凱特·杰克遜。但他的重大轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)是他簽下了西爾維斯特·史泰龍——在他拍《洛奇》和《第一滴血》的那幾年。“每個(gè)人都想做西爾的代理，”梅耶爾表示，“作為他的經(jīng)紀(jì)人實(shí)在是太棒了。那成了我能夠代理邁克爾·道格拉斯、歌蒂·韓和杰西卡·蘭格等巨星的開始?！?/p>

20年以后，梅耶爾被任命經(jīng)營環(huán)球影城，這是一個(gè)遠(yuǎn)超出他夢想的職位。但一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)成功變得有可能，他就感到有一種力量驅(qū)使他去獲得成功。這一點(diǎn)對他來說很重要，盡管他已經(jīng)是一位受大家信賴和尊重的成功人士了。回顧過去，梅耶爾始終銘記他最初那段卑微的時(shí)光。

直到今天，同事都一致將他和他們的成功歸結(jié)于梅耶爾的謙恭和堅(jiān)定。這是一種需要堅(jiān)忍、某種品質(zhì)和某類天賦才能取得的成功，不管你是大學(xué)畢業(yè)生還是來自街頭的混混。

做一個(gè)選擇需要勇氣，而堅(jiān)持下去則需要毅力。

實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升

核心單詞

dropout['dropaut]v.漏失

disposable[di'sp?uz?bl]adj.可支配收入

glamorous['gl?m?r?s]adj.富有魅力的；迷人的

intervene[,int?'vi:n]v.干涉，干預(yù)；調(diào)停

財(cái)經(jīng)知識一點(diǎn)通

代理行（correspondent bank）

是指與其他國家建立往來賬戶，代理對方的一些業(yè)務(wù)，為對方提供服務(wù)的銀行。對一家銀行來說，代理行實(shí)際上不附屬于本銀行，代理行關(guān)系就是不同國家銀行之間建立的結(jié)算關(guān)系。

運(yùn)營總監(jiān)（Chief Operating Officer，縮寫COO）

該職位要全面負(fù)責(zé)公司的市場運(yùn)作和管理；參與公司的整體策劃，健全公司各項(xiàng)制度，完善公司運(yùn)營管理；推動公司銷售業(yè)務(wù)，推廣公司產(chǎn)品，組織完成公司整體業(yè)務(wù)計(jì)劃；建立公司內(nèi)部信息系統(tǒng)，推進(jìn)公司財(cái)務(wù)、行政、人力資源的管理；負(fù)責(zé)協(xié)調(diào)各部門工作，建立有效的團(tuán)隊(duì)協(xié)作機(jī)制；維持并開拓各方面的外部關(guān)系；管理并激勵(lì)所屬部門的工作業(yè)績。

翻譯練習(xí)

With little education or direction and few options, he figured he'd be drafted.

But Meyer had an advantage：Few people knew the business as well as he did, and few were as good with people.

But once he saw success was possible, he was driven to achieve it.