In the world of business, James Linton is precocious in the extreme. Just two years into the job of reviving one of the most illustrious name in retail finance, RoCom, he has found himself a key player in one of the richest and certainly most audacious deals in the industry: PLT's takeover of RoCom.

在商业的世界里，James Linton是一个极端早熟的人物。RoCom是零售金融领域最著名的公司之一，上任仅仅两年，James在业内最富有，也最大胆的交易之一中扮演了及其重要的角色-PLT收购RoCom.

PLT is paying 25 a share for RoCom-approximately 40 per cent more than the market value of the shares-and its offer document boasted that "PLT attaches great importance to key employees having appropriate, performance-related remuneration." Initially wary about the takeover, Linton has now negotiated a hands-off agreement with PLT, which confirms its intention to leave him very much to his own devices to continue building the business. All this and he will not turn 38 for another fortnight!

PLT付了25英镑一股给RoCom-大约比市场价格高40%-同时其报价文件夸耀的说"PLT非常重视关键雇员适当的，与绩效相关薪酬。"起初，Linton对收购持谨慎态度，现在，他与PLT谈判达成了一项不干涉协议，这证实了PLT打算让Linton完全按照自己的意愿继续发展业务。尽管如此，他在未来两周还未满38岁。

Although Linton is credited with turning RoCom around, this is more a matter of work in progress than actual achievement. Yet he does seem to have instituted the biggest top-level shake-up in its near 70-year history, promoted some big-hitters amongst key staff and transformed RoCom's way of doing business.

尽管Linton被相信能将RoCom扭亏为盈，但这更多的是一项正在进行的工作，而不是实际的成绩。然而，他确实实施了在近70年历史上最大的高层人事变动，在关键员工中提拔了重量级人物，并改变了RoCom的经营方式。

Linton has, however, warned that the takeover is by no means a guarantee of future success; indeed , deteriorating market conditions suggest that the way forward will be anything but smooth. Linton recently ventured the hypothesis that being shareholder-owned had, in recent year, helped the business focus and argued that the sector's experience of rival takeovers was not encouraging. Indeed, the recently reported performance of rival organisations such as Maften Limited has not promoted the notion that big corporations are happy homes for experienced staff and managers such as Linton.

然而，Linton已经警告所收购并不是未来成功的保证；事实上，不断恶化的市场环境表明前进的道路绝不是平坦的。最近，Linton大胆的提出了这样一个假设，近年来，由股东持股在最近几年有助于业务聚焦，并辩称该行业的竞争收购经验并不令人鼓舞。事实上，近期报道竞争公司的业绩表现比如说Maften Limited并没有提倡那样的观念，即大公司是经验丰富的员工和管理者(例如Linton)的幸福之家.

It may have been his ideas about independence that made Linton address RoCom's 900 staff on the day the takeover was announced, rather than doing high-profile media interviews on what was immediately seen as fantastic deal for share-holders. He is acutely aware of the need to nurture his staff if the business is to succeed, something which is not lost on them. This is not a management-school dictum. It is a genuine belief that every member of staff has contributed to the firm and enabled it to net 1.9 billion from PLT. Other CEOs say he is arrogant, but this probably reflects the fact that Linton may find talking to them difficult. He is also ferociously intelligent, and, while in others this could appear intimidating, in Linton it awakes further admiration amongst loyal employees. They clearly do not feel they have to grovel in front of this mastermind, and claim that although he's incredibly dedicated to his work, he has an affable manner.

可能是他的独立思想在收购宣布的当天，Linton就对RoCom的900名员工发表了讲话，而不是高调的接受媒体采访，这对股东来说觉得是一笔极好的交易。他敏锐的意识到，如果企业想要成功就必须培养员工，这一点对员工来说是不可或缺的。他真正坚信每个员工都为该公司做出了贡献，并使得公司从PLT中净赚了19亿英镑。另一些公司的CEO说他很傲慢，但是他们反映Linton很难与他们交流的事实。他也非常聪明，虽然这在其它情况下有些令人生畏，但是Linton在其他忠诚员工中唤起了更多的倾佩。他们显然不会感觉他们在他们的老板面前需要卑躬屈膝，员工声称他虽然工作非常投入，但是人和蔼可亲。

Linton boast that staff turnover rates at RoCom have remained low for the industry, at about 12 per cent since he took over as CEO two years ago."People have a real affection for RoCom, and that runs right through the office here." They all want us to be number one,“ he says. He is aware of the possibility that the collegiate ethos he has worked so hard to create, the meritocracy on which he thinks much of RoCom's success depends, could be destroyed if PTL is too heavy-handed. He will need all his skills to keep RoCom on course, particularly when attention has immediately focused on the possibility that Susan Marshall, its respected investment chief, might be the first casualty of the takeover. Whatever the future holds for RoCom, we are certain to go on hearing a lot more of James Linton.

Linton夸耀说RoCom员工的离职率在整个行业里都保持的很低，在他两年前就任CEO时，一致保持12%。"员工对RoCom有一种真正的感情，这种感情贯穿了整个办公室。他们都想争做第一。“他说。他意识到，如果PTL过于严厉，那么他努力创造的这种学院风气可能被摧毁-他认为RoCom的成功很大成功依赖于这种精英机制。他需要动用所有的技能让RoCom正常运转，尤其是当人们的注意力集中在令人尊重的投资主管Susan Marshall，可能成为收购的第一个受害者时。不管RoCom的未来如何，我们肯定会继续听到更多James Linton的故事。