????安靜！別讓自己看上去像個可疑人物。把頭低下去。我們要去的是弗吉尼亞州郊區一個真正神秘的地方，就在華盛頓特區旁邊。沿著Dolley Madison大道向前開時不要去看右邊的鐵絲網、高聳的大門和持槍警衛。大家都知道這是中央情報局（CIA）總部，在它前面有一塊顯眼的牌子（那里面還有一家禮品店，至少對中情局的人來說是這樣）。而我們還要再向前開幾英里，然后左轉，最后到達一幢兩層矮樓，它有淺褐色的墻和瘦長型的窗戶。樓前一塊牌子上寫有“私人房產”字樣，沒有名稱，看上去就像一座磚瓦結構的倉庫。前門緊閉，有些本地人把這里叫做克里姆林宮。在樓上的接待區可以看到幾幅企業主及其親屬的畫像。如果想的話可以上前致敬，但絕不允許拍照。

????這就是美國第三大私人企業瑪氏[Mars，僅次于嘉吉（Cargill）和科氏工業（Koch Industries）]的全球總部，平淡得讓人吃驚。去年全球銷售額約為330億美元（合2,046億元人民幣）——這是我們從瑪氏那里打聽出來的——在財富500強中該公司應該位列前100名，排在麥當勞（McDonald's）、星巴克（Starbucks）和通用磨坊（General Mills）之前。瑪氏有7.2萬名員工，其中逾三分之一在美國[弗吉尼亞州麥克林的總部只有約80人；瑪氏的總部太小了，以至于雀巢公司（Nestlé）董事長到訪時還以為走錯了地方]。瑪氏為人和動物提供種類繁多的產品，而且都很有代表性——從倍受青睞的巧克力產品M&M's和士力架（Snickers）到箭牌（Wrigley）的黃箭（Juicy Fruit）和Lifesavers，從寶路（Pedigree）和偉嘉（Whiskas）等寵物用品再到Uncle Ben's速煮米（Converted Rice）。該公司稱每天有2億名消費者購買它的產品。但盡管在文明社會有如此之廣的覆蓋面并如此深入地抓住了消費者的腰包，瑪氏仍是世界上最神秘、最遠離人群而且最不為人所了解的跨國企業之一。

????該公司仍是純粹的家族企業，目前由福利斯特?馬爾斯（Forrest Mars）爵士三名年紀最大的后代掌管。從父親富蘭克林?馬爾斯（Franklin C. Mars，1943年去世）手中接過瑪氏的管理權后，福利斯特開始把這家公司打造成一個糖果帝國。可以說這個家族異乎尋常的神秘，也可以說它讓人納悶的孤獨，這取決于你問的是誰。但你無法詢問馬爾斯家族的成員，他們上一次有人接受采訪還是在老布什當政期間。三位負責人都是億萬富翁，據說他們的富有程度在美國都能排進前20名左右。如果就馬爾斯家族的某個成員去詢問員工的話，他們的反應就好像你是在打探他們獨有的巧克力制作工藝一樣。瑪氏對員工的官方稱呼為“合伙人”，而員工有時自稱為火星人（Martians）。在這些火星人的世界里，他們最快速的反應就是神經高度緊張的公關人員在有人提出關于馬爾斯家族成員的問題后表示這不符合規定。和瑪氏相比，電影《查理和巧克力工廠》里的那座工廠就顯得再平常不過了。

????引人矚目的是，瑪氏對員工來說是家美妙的公司。2013年，瑪氏首次入選了《財富》一年一度的的“美國100家最適宜工作的公司”榜單，排名第95位。瑪氏讓員工感到自豪，他們喜愛的不僅是自己生產的產品，還有企業的文化和長期奉行的原則。這看上去可能讓人感到驚訝。畢竟，瑪氏旗下大多數公司每天都要打卡——公司總裁也不例外——這似乎有些落伍，即便現在用上了數字時鐘；遲到依然會被扣掉10%的工資。雖然和競爭對手相比，瑪氏的待遇非常好，但它既不發放股票期權也不提供養老金。瑪氏的工作場所講究實用而非舒適。這里沒有桌式足球，也沒有廚師為大家做壽司。瑪氏總裁保羅?邁克爾斯不是馬爾斯家族的成員，他說：“許多公司真的很好，但它們把錢花在了錯誤的地方。對消費者來說，大理石地板和畢加索的畫會讓士力架增值嗎？”

????Sshh! Don't look suspicious. Keep your head down. We're on our way to a really secret organization in suburban Virginia just outside Washington, D.C. As we drive along Dolley Madison Boulevard, don't bother looking at the razor wire, tall gates, and armed guards on the right. Everybody knows that's CIA headquarters -- there's a marked sign out front (and a gift shop inside, at least for employees). No, we're going a couple more miles and hanging a left until we reach a squat, rust-colored two-story building with meager windows, a PRIVATE PROPERTY sign, no identification, and all the character of a brick storage shed. The front door is locked. Some locals have called the place the Kremlin. In the upstairs reception area, you'll see half-a-dozen portraits of the owners and their relatives. Admire them if you like, but taking photos of the portraits is strictly prohibited.

????Welcome to the astonishingly modest world headquarters of Mars, the third-largest private company in the U.S. (behind Cargill and Koch Industries). With about $33 billion in global revenue last year -- we talked it out of them -- Mars would be in the top 100 of the Fortune 500, ahead of McDonald's (MCD), Starbucks (SBUX), and General Mills (GIS). It employs 72,000 people, more than a third of them in America. (Only about 80 work in the McLean, Va., headquarters; it's so small that when the chairman of Nestlé once paid a visit, he thought he was in the wrong location.) Its diversified galaxy of brands for man and beast are iconic -- from chocolate favorites like M&M's and Snickers to Wrigley's Juicy Fruit and Lifesavers to pet-care products like Pedigree and Whiskas, as well as Uncle Ben's Converted Rice. The company says it does 200 million consumer transactions a day. But despite that reach across civilization and into customer pockets, Mars is among the most secretive, insular, and little understood multinational companies around.

????It is still 100% family-owned -- now by the three elderly offspring of Forrest Mars Sr., who launched Mars onto its trajectory as a confectionery colossus after taking over the business from his father, Franklin C. Mars, who died in 1934. That family is either extraordinarily private or weirdly reclusive, depending on whom you ask, though asking them isn't an option, since the last time any family members gave an interview was during the administration of Bush 41. The three owners are all multibillionaires -- each is reportedly among the 20 or so richest Americans. Ask employees -- while officially called "associates," they sometimes refer to themselves as Martians -- about a member of the Mars family, and you're about as likely to get a revealing answer as if you'd asked about the proprietary process in which they stamp "m" on the little colored candies. The shortest time interval in the Martian universe is that between when you ask about a Mars family member and when someone on the astronomically high-strung public-relations team snaps to attention and rules the question out of order. Mars can make Willy Wonka's workplace appear downright normal.

????What becomes striking is that Mars is in fact a sweet company at which to be an employee. For the first time, the company has made it onto Fortune's annual U.S. roster of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. At No. 95 on the 2013 list, Mars boasts employees who love not only the products they make but also the office culture and the company's long-standing principles. That might seem surprising on the face of it. After all, punching in every day at most Mars sites -- the president has to do it too -- can seem anachronistic, even if the time clock is now a digital screen; if you're late, you get docked 10% of your pay. While compensation is very good in comparison with that of competitors, Mars offers neither stock options nor company-driven pensions. Its work sites are utilitarian rather than comfy. There are no Foosball tables or sushi chefs. "A lot of really good companies invest in the wrong architecture," says Paul S. Michaels, the nonfamily president of Mars. "Does it add value for the consumer [for] Snickers bars to pay for marble floors and Picassos?"