Oil company executives are a particular breed. The role seems to demand a certain cragginess. Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, neither looks nor sounds like Jock Ewing. This was a handicap in BP’s response to the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. He made the initial mistake, which has haunted the company’s response, of assuming the leaking well was an operational matter. If it had been, he would have been the perfect candidate to lead the response. But the Macondo well exposed corporate failure on a scale that would have ended any chief executive’s career. Res ipsa loquitur. It is inevitable that he should take responsibility.
石油公司高管是一個特殊的族群。這個角色似乎必須要經歷一定的磨難。英國石油(BP)首席執行官唐熙華(Tony Hayward)的長相和腔調都不像喬克?尤因(Jock Ewing)。這是BP應對墨西哥灣災難中的一個缺陷。他犯下的最初的錯誤，是想當然地認為油井泄漏是一個操作性問題。這個錯誤一直困擾著公司的應對過程。如果這真是一個操作性問題，那么他本應是領導應對過程的最佳人選。但Macondo油井暴露出的公司問題，足以終結任何一位首席執行官的職業生涯。事實不言自明。他不可避免地要承擔責任。