Some chief executives rescue a company from the brink of collapse.

有的首席执行官将公司从崩溃边缘拯救出来，有的首席执行官带领着已经很优秀的公司走向伟大，但很少有人两样都能达成，

Others lead already good companies to greatness.

而约尔根.维格.克努斯托普(Jørgen Vig Knudstorp)过去12年在乐高(Lego)就做到了。

But few, like Jorgen Vig Knudstorp at Lego in the past 12 years, do both.

但很少有人两样都能达成，而约尔根.维格.克努斯托普(Jørgen Vig Knudstorp)过去12年在乐高(Lego)就做到了。

In a valedictory interview before stepping down as chief executive to become chairman at the year’s end, Mr Knudstorp details how he revived the maker of plastic bricks and turned it into the most profitable toymaker in the world — and how his management challenges have shifted over time.

克努斯托普在年底将卸下首席执行官职务，成为董事长，他在一次告别采访中详述了自己如何让这家塑料积木制造商重新振作，变成全球最赚钱的玩具制造商，以及他面临的管理挑战是怎样随时间推移而改变。

Sitting in his office in Lego’s home town of Billund in the heart of rural, central Denmark —

克努斯托普的办公室在乐高的比隆总部，这里位于丹麦中部乡村地区的核心。

surrounded by sets that include a gigantic Disney castle — the spiky-haired 48-year-old retains a boyish air.

这个48岁、头发支楞着的首席执行官坐在自己的办公室里，看上去仍像个男孩，周围摆满了乐高积木系列，其中包括一座巨大的迪士尼城堡。

He was introduced to the toymaker as a child by his teacher and engineer parents when initially all he wanted was a racing car.

童年时，他那对教师和工程师父母将这家玩具商介绍给他——而他一开始想要的是一辆赛车。

But Mr Knudstorp is no wide-eyed romantic.

但克努斯托普绝非天真浪漫，他还为乐高带来了自己身为麦肯锡(McKinsey)咨询顾问的大量专业背景。

He also brought to Lego much of his professional background as a McKinsey consultant.

克努斯托普自2004年执掌乐高，带领乐高走过了五个阶段，他分别简洁概述为：生存、目标、释放增长、加速、腾飞。

He gives each of the five phases he has led Lego through since 2004 a pithy description — survive, purpose, let growth loose, step up, leap — before adding: I apologise for the management lingo.

说完他补充道：请原谅这些管理术语。

The first person outside the founding family to run Lego, his initial task was to staunch the bleeding, as journalists prepared obituaries for the lossmaking and over-extended toymaker.

作为执掌乐高的第一位非创始家族成员，克努斯托普的头一个任务就是止血，当时记者们已经为这家连续亏损、过度扩张的玩具制造商准备好了讣告。

Mr Knudstorp adopted a strict focus on cash, selling off peripheral businesses such as theme parks and video games, and cutting the number of parts Lego made.

克努斯托普对现金严加关注，卖掉了主题公园、视频游戏等周边产业，减少了乐高零件生产量。

Foreign outposts were scaled back or closed down.

国外机构或缩小规模，或关闭。

Tiny Billund again became the heart of the group.

小小的比隆再次成为乐高集团的心脏。

In a second phase, he worked on productivity and identity

在第二个阶段，克努斯托普致力于提高生产率，建立品牌身份。

by moving much of Lego’s production to countries such as Hungary and Mexico, and boosting the brand.

他将乐高大部分生产转移到匈牙利和墨西哥等国，同时提升品牌形象。

Only in the third period — 2009-11 — did he feel the toymaker could look to growth again.

到2009年至2011年的第三个阶段他才觉得，这家玩具商可以再次期待增长。

Every time you grow, you are hiding your problems.

他说：每次你增长时，你都隐藏了自己的问题。

Growth is like sugar-coating your problems, he adds.

增长就像给问题裹上糖衣。

As Lego became more successful, so the problems changed.

随着乐高越来越成功，所面临的问题也在改变。

By 2012, the issue was responding to growth rates

到2012年，问题变成了如何响应增长率。

that have seen Lego’s revenues increase by an average 17 per cent a year under Mr Knudstorp.

在克努斯托普带领下，乐高的收入以年均17%的速度增长。

He decided to create what he calls a circular management team in which the 20 people who reported to the top handful of managers on the executive committee met once a month.

他决定打造一个循环管理团队，团队由向执行委员会的少数最高级别高管述职的20人组成，每月开一次会。

The idea was to allow Lego’s supply chain to continue humming even as it expanded into the likes of Asia.

这一想法旨在保证即使乐高扩张到亚洲等地，其供应链依旧保持运转。

If you make a decision in product design, you need to mirror it in manufacturing, says Mr Knudstorp.

克努斯托普说：如果你在产品设计上作出一个决定，你需要在制造上反映出来。

The latest phase, beginning last year, was born out of the difficulties of becoming so big.

最新阶段始于去年，它脱胎于乐高规模庞大后面临的诸多难题。

Small problems developed: Lego was fined EURO130,000 for preventing German stores from offering discounts; employee satisfaction levels were flat, and the number of staff increased by a quarter in just one year.

一些小问题开始出现：乐高因阻止德国商铺打折而被罚款13万欧元，员工满意度走平，员工人数在短短一年内增加了四分之一。

Mr Knudstorp says he worries about what consultants at Bain call the westward winds, forces that push bigger companies away from what made them successful in the first place.

克努斯托普表示，他担心贝恩(Bain)的咨询顾问所称的东风，即推动大型企业脱离起初让它们获得成功的东西的力量。

It is bureaucracy, it is because you are getting bigger, the pressure of scaling, of finding the right talent, of having the entrepreneurial spirit despite being a very big company, Mr Knudstorp adds.

他补充道：是因为官僚主义，是因为企业做得越来越大，还有扩大规模、找到对的人才、以及尽管公司非常大但仍要保持创业精神的压力。

As Lego opens a new factory in China to service its rapidly growing Asian business, Mr Knudstorp and his successor Bali Padda — the current chief operating officer — work hard to ensure it has the same culture and values as its other factories, as well as a good supply chain.

随着乐高在中国建设新工厂以满足公司快速增长的亚洲业务，克努斯托普及其继任者、现任乐高首席运营官巴利.帕达(Bali Padda)正全力以赴，确保中国工厂与其他工厂保持相同的文化和价值观，同时也保持良好的供应链。

Under its two in a box principle, an experienced Lego general manager works alongside a new Chinese general manager.

根据双重管理的原则，一名经验丰富的乐高总经理将与一名新的中国总经理并肩工作。

Some of the same issues that confronted Mr Knudstorp in 2004 are creeping back in.

克努斯托普2004年遭遇过的一些问题正在悄然再现。

The number of parts used by Lego has increased, but he stresses that so has turnover.

乐高使用的零件数量增加了，但他强调，销售额也增加了。

Offices have been opened in London, Singapore and Shanghai but Billund remains the company’s centre.

乐高在伦敦、新加坡、上海设立了办事处，但仍以比隆为中心。

A new headquarters is being built, and an architecturally impressive Lego House to show off the brand.

一座新的总部正在建设，还有一座展示乐高品牌的、建筑风格令人印象深刻的Lego House。

We are careful about not losing our soul, Mr Knudstorp says.

我们小心翼翼避免丢失自己的灵魂，克努斯托普说。

He also stresses humility, saying Lego has learnt that it cannot do everything.

他还强调了谦虚，称乐高明白自己并非无所不能。

It is a wonderful thing to have Legoland [the theme park].

拥有乐高乐园(Legoland)是件好事。

But Lego wasn’t a great owner, Mr Knudstorp says.

但乐高过去并不是一个很好的所有者，克努斯托普说。

Films and video games have followed the same model of having another company better suited to those fields using the Lego brand.

在电影和视频游戏方面，乐高也遵循同样的模式，即让另一家更适合这些领域的公司使用乐高品牌。

With scale has come the potential to attack Lego in various ways.

伴随规模的扩大，乐高开始受到各种各样的攻击。

In recent years, it has faced controversy for not supplying Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (the company later agreed to the request, blaming a misinterpretation of company policy on political neutrality for the mistake); has been the butt of gender protests over pink toys for girls in the Lego Friends range, and stopped collaborations with Royal Dutch Shell and the Daily Mail newspaper after those companies faced public protests.

近年来，乐高曾因拒绝向中国艺术家艾未未供货而面临争议（公司后来同意了艾未未的要求，并将这一错误归咎于对公司政治中立政策的曲解）；因在乐高好朋友(Lego Friends)系列中为女孩推出粉红色玩具而成为性别抗议人士攻击的对象，并被迫停止与遭到公众抗议的荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)、《每日邮报》(Daily Mail)等公司的合作。

Mr Knudstorp says: There is no doubt that being such a popular brand we are a good target for so-called brand hijacking.

克努斯托普表示：毫无疑问，作为一个如此受欢迎的品牌，我们是所谓品牌劫持的好靶子。

Lego now follows popular opinion closely on Twitter and Mr Knudstorp personally answers some letters sent in by children and parents.

如今，乐高密切关注Twitter上的公众舆论，克努斯托普亲自回答孩子和家长们发来的部分信件。

It’s really important to listen.

倾听真的非常重要。

Twitter and social media give us the possibility to gauge the issue.

Twitter和社交媒体使我们能够评估这一问题。

Sometimes we are caught off guard, he adds.

有时我们也会措手不及，他补充道。

Stepping back from the day-to-day business will allow Mr Knudstorp to focus on new business areas.

从日常事务中退下来可以让克努斯托普专注于新的业务领域。

As well as being chairman of the toymaker, he will head the new Lego Brand Group, an entity that pools all the founding family’s Lego-related interests.

在担任这家玩具制造商董事长的同时，他将执掌新成立的Lego Brand Group——汇集创始家族与乐高相关的所有利益的一个实体。

Mr Knudstorp says it will ensure the family is an active owner, one who smells the roses, who knows what the business, the culture are like.

克努斯托普表示，Lego Brand Group将确保整个家族成为一个活跃的所有者，一个能欣赏平凡事物、熟悉公司业务和文化的家族。

The crucial balance for him will be between brand protection and brand development.

对克努斯托普而言，关键是要在品牌保护与品牌发展之间实现平衡。

The split will allow Lego to concentrate purely on plastic bricks.

新成立Lego Brand Group可以让乐高完全专注塑料积木业务。