一位CEO的管理秘诀：边做边学

    这种知识传递是双向的。拉斯科夫认识在线零售商Wayfair公司CEO尼拉杰•沙赫，后者最近刚刚提交了上市申请。拉斯科夫主动向沙赫提出，他乐意帮助该公司完成繁琐的上市流程。

    不断给予、分享、学习、反思的拉斯科夫，还是一家公司的经营者。Zillow与Trulia的竞争已经持续了9年。两家公司合并后，Zillow的股东将占新公司的三分之二。我曾问他为什么最后Zillow变成了“捕食者”，而不是“猎物”。他表示：“因为我们的业务范围更广，而对方的范围较为狭窄。”他解释称，Trulia的重点是待售房屋，而Zillow则提供所有房屋的数据，包括待售房屋和其他房屋。那么为什么要收购Trulia？他说道：“我之所以希望收购Trulia，是因为作为一家媒体公司，我希望拥有更多品牌。我们出售的是广告，而不是住房。”他的意思是说，“货架空间”越多，Zillow便能吸引更多购房者的关注，尤其是潜在购房者。

    访谈即将结束时，我问他为什么会成为Twitter的疯狂粉丝。他经常在社交媒体上开放地分享自己的动态，也经常大方地转发其他人的信息。他的回答充分证明了作为一名CEO的学习能力。他说，风险投资公司Benchmark的投资人比尔•科尔利曾经致电Zillow公司董事长里奇•巴顿，询问他对Twitter的看法。（科尔利后来投资了Twitter；巴顿与Benchmark一直保持联系）。而巴顿则去询问拉斯科夫的意见。拉斯科夫向一位了解Twitter的实习生请教。这位实习生将自己对Twitter的看法告诉了拉斯科夫。“我与她交流了两个小时。现在她管理着一支5人团队。”Twitter对于Zillow内部与外部沟通的社交媒体策略至关重要。拉斯科夫说道：“如果没有一个社交媒体策略，公司什么也做不了。”他列举了公司社交活动和季度收入电话会议这两个例子。

    接下来，拉斯科夫想学习什么？他说道：“我最近向她打听过有关图片分享应用Instagram的情况。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    The knowledge transfer goes both ways. Rascoff knows Niraj Shah, CEO of the online retailer Wayfair, which recently filed documents with regulators for an IPO. He called him up to offer assistance in the arduous going-public process.

    Amid all this learning and giving and sharing and ruminating, Rascoff also is running a business. Zillow has been battling Trulia for nine years. I asked him how it came to be that Zillow, whose shareholders will end up with two thirds of the combined company, became the gobbler rather than the gobbled. “We are broader, they are narrower,” he said, explaining that Trulia focuses on homes that are for sale while Zillow provides data on all homes, for sale and otherwise. So why buy Trulia at all? “The reason I want to own Trulia is that as a media company I want to own multiple brands,” he said. “We sell advertising, not homes,” he added, meaning that the more “shelf space” the better for Zillow to attract the attention of home buyers and, importantly, potential home buyers.

    At the end of our conversation I asked Rascoff about his rabid embrace of Twitter. He is a frequent and open sharer on the social-media network, as well as a generous re-tweeter. His response speaks volumes about the CEO’s capacity for learning. It started, he said, when Benchmark investor Bill Gurley called Zillow Chairman Rich Barton to ask his opinion of Twitter. (Gurley later invested in Twitter; Barton has a longtime association with Benchmark.) Barton in turn asked Rascoff who in turn asked a particular summer intern who knew a lot about Twitter to teach him what she knew. “I spent two hours with her. Today she has a team of five people working for her.” And Twitter is critical to Zillow’s social-media strategy for both internal and external communications. “Nothing happens at the company without a social media strategy,” says Rascoff, citing companywide social events and quarterly earnings calls as two examples.

    So what’s next for Rascoff to learn? “I recently asked her to explain Instagram,” he says.