????外觀不能代表一切。誠然，蘋果公司（Apple）的產品是工業設計領域不折不扣的典范；但無論是iPhone手機，還是iPad平板電腦，或是iMac電腦，如果無法按時生產、運輸及交付，即使外觀再時尚，也只是徒勞。目前，在蘋果挑起運營大梁的，正是運營高級副總裁杰夫?威廉姆斯。

????現年48歲的威廉姆斯是蘋果新任CEO蒂姆?庫克手下最為信賴的得力干將之一，目前接管了此前由蒂姆?庫克擔任首席營運官時所承擔的大部分工作。他管理著公司龐大的產品供應鏈及生產流程，其中也包括監管蘋果公司與其供應商富士康（Foxconn）的關系，后者設在中國成都的生產基地為蘋果生產iPad2平板電腦等產品。此外，威廉姆斯還負責與供應商的溝通與談判，保障生產的順利進行，并確保產品準確無誤的準時運達目的地。此外，他還要降低成本，同時又確保不以犧牲產品質量為代價。

????與庫克相似，威廉姆斯也是一名崇尚健康的自行車愛好者，是一位極其內斂低調的精英人士。據蘋果公司內部傳言，即使進入了公司管理層，他代步的座駕依然是一輛右后車門壞掉的破舊豐田汽車（Toyota）。認識的人都說他行事穩健、為人直率、循循善誘。員工遇到問題，他會和他們一起分析，告訴他們怎樣才能做得更好、怎樣才能繼續前進。

????威廉姆斯畢業于美國北卡羅來納州立大學（North Carolina State University）機械工程系。在校期間，他曾在北卡州格林斯博羅的創意領導力中心（Center for Creative Leadership）接受為期一周的培訓。通過這個培訓項目，他對自己的優缺點和交際能力有了全面的認識。這個培訓項目對他影響深遠：時至今日，他仍然堅持讓蘋果的中層管理人員參加類似課程。大學畢業后，他曾就職于IBM，并取得了杜克大學（Duke University）的在職MBA學位（庫克也持有該學位，但兩人的就讀時間互不重疊）。1998年，威廉姆斯加盟蘋果公司，擔任全球采購總監。

????霍金斯說：“杰夫是個表里如一、言出必行的人。” 霍金斯是北卡州考德威爾伙伴計劃（Caldwell Fellows program）的名譽理事，同時也是威廉姆斯的朋友。他的獎學金計劃旨在大幅提升年輕人的領導能力。

????此外，威廉姆斯為蘋果做了大量幕后工作，例如與海力士（Hynix）等供應商簽訂協議，預付約12.5億美元的訂金購買閃速存儲器。此舉對Nano音樂播放器的推出大有幫助。

????前蘋果公司雇員史蒂夫?多爾曾是威廉姆斯所在運營團隊的同事。他說，威廉姆斯還簡化了iPod的配送流程。正因為如此，美國的消費者才得以在網上訂購刻字版iPod，而從下訂單到收貨只需3個工作日。

????關注細節的特質有助于威廉姆斯未來事業的發展。作為蘋果的CEO，蒂姆?庫克有一位太過出色的前任；而對于杰夫?威廉姆斯來說，又何嘗不是如此。

????譯者：李淑玉/喬樹靜

????Looks aren't everything. Yes, Apple's devices are examples of uncompromising industrial design, but all the style in the world won't matter if that snazzy new iPhone, iPad, or iMac isn't manufactured, shipped, and delivered on time. And that's where Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice president of operations, comes in.

????One of new CEO Tim Cook's most trusted lieutenants, Williams, 48, essentially does a big chunk of what Cook did when he was chief operating officer. Williams manages the company's vast supply chain and production process, including overseeing Apple's relationship with supplier Foxconn, which churns out iPad 2 tablets and other fare from its facility in Chengdu, China. He negotiates supplier deals, keeps production going, and makes sure devices get where they need to be, when they need to be there -- all while keeping costs down and without sacrificing quality.

????A health-minded cyclist (like Cook), Williams is known as an intensely private, salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. According to Apple lore he drove around in a beat-up Toyota with a broken passenger-side door even after he was appointed to management. Those who know him say he's even-keeled and direct, a good coach who will go over a problem with employees, explain what they need to do better, and move on.

????As a mechanical engineering major at North Carolina State University, Williams spent a week in a training program at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C. There he examined his strengths, weaknesses, and interactions with others. The program left a lasting impression: He now sends Apple (AAPL) middle managers to similar courses. After college, he worked at IBM (IBM) and picked up an MBA from the same Duke University evening program as Cook. (The two didn't overlap.) He joined Apple in 1998 as head of worldwide procurement.

????"With Jeff, what you see is what you get," says Gerald Hawkins, director emeritus of the Caldwell Fellows program at North Carolina State and a friend of Williams's. "And if he said he was going to do something, well, he'd do it."

????Williams has done a lot for Apple, all of it behind the scenes, such as his work on a deal to prepay suppliers like Hynix some $1.25 billion for flash memory, a move that helped Apple launch the Nano.

????He also worked on ways to streamline the iPod delivery process, says Steve Doil, an ex-Apple employee who worked with Williams in the operations group. That explains why U.S. consumers can go online, buy an iPod, have it engraved, and receive it within three business days from start to finish.

????His attention to the small stuff will serve him well in the years to come. Because, while Cook may have some pretty big shoes to fill, so does Williams.