Jorma Ollila—An Innovator of Courage and Insight
约玛·奥利拉——有勇有谋的创新者
Jorma Ollila， former CEO of Nokia， specializes in challenging the impossible. Against the odds he took a cumbersome Finnish company and dragged it into the 21st century. Stripping out unnecessary businesses， he ditched the company's low-tech departments and remodeled the company as a hi-tech mobile manufacturer.
It was a transformation accomplished by a mixture of brilliant brand development， radical organizational restructuring， and astute strategic thinking， and made him one of the most talked about managers in Europe. Now Ollila has moved on to a fresh challenge， leaving Nokia to become chairman of Shell Oil. At Nokia he leaves behind some instructive lessons in doing business the Ollila way.
Ollila's education was a little more unorthodox than most， but one which started honing his leadership skills early in life. Aged 17， he was recommended for a scholarship at Atlantic College by his school headmaster. Ollila was part of the school's first intake. Atlantic College， situated in Wales， is an educational establishment founded by Kurt Hahn in 1962， a German national， who evolved a distinctive educational philosophy. The rationale behind the college is to bring together individuals with leadership qualities who then go on to become political or commercial leaders throughout the world.
When Ollila took over Nokia's mobile phone business it was a particularly bleak period in the company's history. The company's fledgeling mobile phone business was in trouble， struggling to meet demand and losing market share to Motorola. Fortunately for Nokia， Ollila is a man who likes a challenge and is not afraid to take some bold decisions. At that time the easiest thing would have been to sell the poorly performing mobile phone department. But instead he made a brave decision： keep the mobile phone unit and make it the company's core activity.
Becoming CEO in 1992， Ollila gradually ditched the company's non-core departments like paper manufacturing， forestry and rubber boot manufacturing. He also jettisoned the computer and TV businesses. The stripped down strategy paid dividends. Between 1994 and 1999， the share price rose over 2，000 per cent. And Nokia continues to dominate the mobile phone market with a market share almost double its nearest rival.
In January 2004， Nokia announced that its nine business units would be restructured into four： Mobile phones， multimedia， enterprise solutions and networks. The customer and market operations， product development， operations and manufacturing， logistics and support activities were also reorganized into three horizontal business units. Usually， such a big restructuring would take several weeks to implement. Nokia completed the organizational change within a week. About 100 employees were given new jobs.
Ollila always emphasized the company's Finnish roots. London， New York， Tokyo， Frankfurt， these are the world's leading financial and commercial centers， and many of the world's leading companies have their headquarters located there. But not Nokia. The company has even refused Finland's capital Helsinki， for the small city Espoo， on the south coast of Finland.
Being based in this Finnish technology cluster means that there is inevitably a high level of local employees， which in turn has served to preserve the unique culture of the company. Finland， like the other Scandinavian countries， has a very special set of cultural values. There is a belief in the freedom of the individual， for example. Values like trust， respect and directness permeate Nokia's organizational environment and culture. These values， nurtured by Ollila， continue to play an important role in Nokia's success.
Ollila has his own unique take on strategy creation. At Nokia， strategy creation takes place every six months， and involves up to 400 people at all levels. The participants are selected from across the company and divided into teams tasked with exploring a number of themes identified as crucial to the company's future by the senior executive team.
Team members take two months to interview a range of internal and external experts. The teams report their findings to the executive board and the information is incorporated into “strategy road maps” which are shared with key employees. At this rate， Ollila would have got a thorough view of such a wide range of employees before their implement. Therefore， Ollila is a brave CEO.
约玛·奥利拉，这位诺基亚前任执行总裁最为擅长的便是挑战不可能。面对着诸多不利因素，奥利拉接手了这家麻烦重重的芬兰公司，并把它带进二十一世纪。舍弃可有可无的业务，解散低科技部门，奥利拉塑造诺基亚，使其成为高科技移动电话制造商。
辉煌的品牌发展，彻底的机构重组，机敏的战略思考，所有这些融和在一起共同成就了这次改革。而奥利拉也成为欧洲最为人称道的职业经理人之一。如今，奥利拉将面临一次全新的挑战——离开诺基亚，到壳牌石油公司出任主席。然而，奥利拉的经营风格却留在了诺基亚，让人受益匪浅。
奥利拉并非科班出身，但他很早便开始研习领导才能方面的技巧。17岁时，他在中学校长的推荐下，获取了大西洋学院的一项奖学金，成为该项奖学金的第一批学生。位于威尔士的大西洋学院是由德国人库尔特·汉恩于1962年建立的一所大学。库尔特·汉恩有着一套与众不同的教育哲学体系。学院的基本原则是招募那些有着领导才能且今后会成为全球政治或商业领袖的学生。
奥利拉刚接手诺基亚移动电话业务之时，正值这家公司有史以来最为惨淡的时期。公司刚刚起步的移动电话业务陷入了困境，一方面需求难以得到满足，另一方面市场份额又输给了摩托罗拉。诺基亚很幸运，因为它遇到了喜欢挑战又敢于大胆决策的奥利拉。那时，最为简单可行的解决方法便是卖掉经营不善的移动电话部门。但奥利拉却做出了一个大胆的决策：保留移动电话部门，并使它成为全公司的核心。
自1992年出任诺基亚的执行总裁以来，奥利拉解散非核心部门，造纸、林业以及胶靴制造等，裁掉电脑、电视等方面业务。这种丢车保帅的策略收到了成效。1994至1999年间，诺基亚的股价上涨了2000个百分点。诺基亚仍旧统领着移动电话市场，市场份额几乎是它最强劲的对手的两倍。
2004年1月，诺基亚宣布进行部门重组，把原来九个业务部门缩减到四个：移动电话、多媒体业务、企业策划及网络通讯。市场部、产品开发、制造部、物流等业务部门经过整合，组成三个同级部门单位。一般而言，这样大规模的重组得花上几周的时间。然而，诺基亚却在一周内就完成了此项工作。大约一百名员工调到新岗位工作。
奥利拉总是反复强调芬兰才是公司的根基所在。全球多家大公司都在伦敦、纽约、东京、法兰克福这些金融商业中心设立了总部。诺基亚却不效仿。公司甚至拒绝将总部设在芬兰首都赫尔辛基，而是选择了位于芬兰南海岸线上的一座小城埃斯波，将其作为总部所在地。
扎根芬兰，对这个科技集散地而言，就意味着要有很大比例的本地员工；反过来，这些员工又有助于促成公司独特的文化传承。芬兰，和其他斯堪的纳维亚半岛国家一样，有着独特的文化价值观。例如，在芬兰，人们崇尚个人自由。信任、尊敬、率直等这些价值观都已渗透到了诺基亚的工作氛围及企业文化当中了。奥利拉培育的这些价值观念，对诺基亚的成功继续发挥着重要作用。
奥利拉在策略创新方面有其独特之处。在诺基亚，每半年便举行一次战略创新，会有多达400多名来自不同层次的员工参与其中。这些参与者是在全公司范围内挑选出来的，他们会被分成各个小组，然后由高级执行小组给定任务，由各个小组去探索一些事关公司未来的重要课题。
小组成员耗时两个月，去采访一些业内外专家。然后各小组将他们的调研结果汇报给执行委员会，这些信息最后汇总成一幅“策略路线图”，供核心雇员商讨。这样，奥利拉就会完全了解所有层面的员工如何工作了。可见，奥利拉是一位有胆识的执行总裁。
译者感言
诺基亚，这个全球著名的移动通讯电话品牌，也许谁都不陌生。但那位令诺基亚起死回生的传奇CEO——约玛·奥利拉可能并不为人所共知。起步于芬兰小城的这家电信企业，最初只不过是一家小型木材厂。现如今，诺基亚已发展成了一家年销售额达到1180亿瑞典克朗的国际著名移动通讯公司。诺基亚经历了最为低靡的时期，是奥利拉颇具胆识的激进改革将诺基亚从低谷中拯救了出来。1993年，奥利拉放弃移动通信业务以外的部门，确保移动电话业务的持续发展。一石激起千层浪，但改革仍旧在员工们的抱怨声中推进。最终，这一决策使诺基亚步入了快车道，成为了移动通讯市场的领军企业。奥利拉的果敢决断也为他赢得了“富有胆识的改革者”的美誉。可见，胆识与魄力往往会在最为关键的时刻起到至关重要的作用。
