Not East Or West

摘要

When william j. Amelio was being vetted for the top job at computer maker Lenovo three years ago, his first interview was with founder Liu Chuanzhi. Liu, who started Lenovo as one of Chinas first quasi-private enterprises in 1984, quizzed the American on PC trends, Amelio's work at competitor Dell, even the prickly state of U.S.-China relations. After a while Amelio wasn't sure where he stood. Then Liu broke the ice. Through a translator, he casually told the nearly bald, bearded Amelio that he resembled someone famous: "Vladimir Lenin," Amelio recalls. The American was tickled by the joke, and in December 2005 he was named chief executive.