战场。
这不是一件容易的事。因为上个世纪80年代的欧洲商业文化仍以保守自满著称。对美国人来说，与欧洲人做生意同样需要克服很多文化、习惯上的差异和障碍。
2002年，当已经成为高盛总裁及联合首席运营官的桑顿准备举家离开居住了15年的伦敦搬回到纽约时，英国《金融时报》甚至撰文称桑顿“将伦敦塑造成一个现代城市”，不无夸张的赞词指的是桑顿冲击了当地商业银行昏昏欲睡、缺乏进取精神的经营方式。
桑顿在欧洲的成功也部分地受益于英国及德国政府自上个世纪80年代开始推行的私有化进程。这给高盛这样的投资银行提供了一展身手的舞台。高盛在英国最得意的项目当属英国石油天然气公司（即BP）的上市，在德国则是德意志电信——这两个超级项目奠定了高盛在欧洲的地位，而BP现任首席执行官约翰·布朗便是桑顿的密友。
转战亚洲落户中国
桑顿的触角紧接着伸向了亚洲。1996年年底，他在兼顾欧洲战略决策的同时，被任命为亚太区的主席，并在这个位置上做了近三年。桑顿和亚洲市场的渊源始自1993年，当时他受聘为李泽楷旗下的星空卫视出售一案的咨询顾问——这使他有机会了解亚洲市场，并最终成为高盛公司亚洲战略的主要制定者之一。
高盛在亚洲的表现在业内被公认为扎实、稳健。高盛承担了中国电信（HK941，现已更名为中国移动）、中石油、中国银行（香港）这几个大型国有企业重组和在海外上市的承销业务。其中1997年的中国电信项目由桑顿亲自领导。
随着高盛国际业务的不断发展，桑顿也越来越接近公司内权力的顶峰。1999年3月，桑顿成为高盛公司的总裁；同年5月，他又被任命为联合首席运营官，和另一名首席运营官约翰·舍恩（John Thain）一起成为仅次于首席执行官亨利·鲍尔森的第二把手。
“桑顿是投行业内最具国际视野的人物”，曾与桑顿多次合作的工商东亚执行总裁方风雷称。在同事眼中，桑顿是一位极具个人魅力的领袖。德意志银行亚太区副董事长、前高盛驻北京办事处首席代表张红力曾经被桑顿亲自提携过。“桑顿是个非常聪明的人，他能很快、很简短地到达问题的核心，然后提出解决方案。”张红力说，“我认为他最合适的位置应该是，美国总统。“
拯救沃达丰
很多人认为，约翰·桑顿之所以能够在英国取得成功的原因之一，是他不遗余力地建立跟知名领导人的私人关系。一个鲜明的例子发生在1988年，约翰·桑顿把目光放在了一家名叫Racal集团的英国电子公司。
从表面上看，Racal集团的年度财务收支平衡表上并没有什么特别之处，引起他注意的是平衡表上的移动电话子公司，这个子公司规模很小，资产仅占集团总资产的20％。“当时美国也有几个地方性的公司在做移动电话，这些公司都处于亏损状态。但是其中上市的几家公司被市场大大高估了，因为人们都相信移动电话将是前途无限。”约翰·桑顿回忆说，“我惊奇的发现，Racal下属的移动电话子公司居然处于盈利状态。最后我得出结论，Racal集团的股票实际上是被市场低估的，它很可能会面临敌意收购。”
他马上给Racal集团的董事长（此前并不认识）打电话，接电话的是秘书，秘书帮他留了言。到了当天下午，该董事长给他回电话。约翰·桑顿说：由于事情的重要性和敏感性，需要当面谈而不是在电话里谈。两人按约定在酒店见面，约翰·桑顿把自己的分析告诉了对方，并且提出了一个方法，那就是把股票中的20％拿出来单独浮动，以体现移动电话子公司的市场价值。随后，约翰·桑顿按对方的要求提供了书面报告。第二天，Racal集团就按照约翰·桑顿的建议，把20％的股票单独浮动。
如今，Racal集团已经不复存在了，但是那个移动电话子公司，却变成了今天英国的企业巨头沃达丰（Vodafone）。高盛公司也成为欧洲数一数二的投资银行巨头。
在欧洲征战多年以后，约翰·桑顿发现亚洲跟当年的欧洲有着相似之处，亚洲尤其是中国蕴藏着丰富的市场潜力。1994年，他问高盛集团的董事长，看自己是否能够搬到上海。董事长驳回了他的要求，因为他“在欧洲非常有前途”。但约翰·桑顿并没有因此而降低对亚洲的关注，他开始着手帮助李泽楷把星空电视（Star TV）卖给全球媒体巨头默多克。
默多克一开始对收购星空电视并没有多大兴趣，业界也普遍认为可能性不大，因为当时的星空电视还处在亏损状态。约翰·桑顿跟默多克在洛杉矶和伦敦的会面中，很少直接说到星空电视的细节。相反，他们谈的更多的是中国的发展和中国的市场潜力。默多克最终以将近10亿美元的价格收购了星空电视，约翰·桑顿也从此成为了默多克的“哥们儿”，后来默多克的BskyB在英国上市，也是由约翰·桑顿完成的。
桑顿先生1993年第一次到中国来，并工作了一年的时间，在那时对中国产生了浓厚的兴趣。
今年49岁的约翰·桑顿，在5年以前担任高盛公司亚洲区主席时，就开始和中国的许多部门和企业建立了密切的联系。
2003年，正当他成为接替该公司CEO的热门人选之际，桑顿突然宣布辞职，并且到清华大学当一名客座教授，每周一次往返于北京和纽约的家。
第一章关于约翰·桑顿（英）
Chapter I
About John LThorntonJohn Thornton was born in New York of the United States。 When he was fourteen； he enrolled in Hotchkiss； an allboy boarding school； whose students mainly came from wealthy families。 Hotchkiss was also a school that pays great attention to the cultivation of its students character。 During this period when John Thornton was in Hotchkiss； he not only made remarkable achievement in academic area； but had very good performance in sports － he held a concurrent position as the captain of both school basketball team and tennis team。 Therefore； since the day John Thornton entered into the school gate of Hotchkiss； he displayed certain quality that is doomed to distinguish him from his ancestors。 Brought up in such a family that most of its family members were lawyers； Thornton should have bee an excellent barrister as well。
When John Thornton was still in his youth； he spent eight years time to get the bachelor degree of history； master degree of law and master degree of administration study in Harvard University of the United States； Oxford University of Great Britain and Yale University of the United States respectively。 Not following his familys tradition to be a lawyer； he mainly focused his attention on investment and financial field when he was hunting a job at the age of 26。 In 1980； John Thornton got a position in Goldman Sachs Corporation that had a history of more than 100 years。 Like any other newers； he experienced and gradually got rid of all the confusions and disforts as he first entered into society and became a partner of the pany at the age of 34。 From a ordinary employee in the merging and acquisition department at the headquarter located in New York to the second most important figure in Goldman Sachs Corporation； Thornton has stayed in the pany for 22 years and closely affiliated his personal career with Goldman Sachs。
As the expert on merging and acquisition affairs； Thornton revived the sluggish London market in the 1980s by utilizing some ingenious strategies。 Hereafter； he established his reputation and made a great stride toward being a world famous investment banker。
From Operating Independently to Win the First Battle to ‘Cross the River by Groping for the Stone’
Thorntons bestknown contribution to Goldman Sachs Corporation is that he widened the panys international business。 As a matter of fact； Goldman Sachs Corporation to a great extent was still an internal firm nearly without international business at the time when Thornton joined it。 But under the leadership and the guidelines of Thornton； the original International Business Sector with only fifty employees at first developed into a major department with more than six thousand employees。
In less than 10 months after he joined the pany； he told his superior that he wanted to take charge of a project by himself。 Maybe； taking into consideration of his background as a newer； his superior only gave him a project with little hope for success。 The client of this project is world famous gum product manufacturer who hope to sell out the pany at a reasonable price。 But in the past two years before they came to contact Goldman Sachs Corporation； Thorntons client had already negotiated with more than two hundred different firms without success。 Thats why Thorntons superior thought that the project did not have much chance for success。
Having investigated the project； John Thornton found that the 200odd panies his client had contacted were all from the United States。 Suddenly； an idea flashed through his mind： why not try the panies outside America。 Thus； he chose six foreign panies that he thought might have the intention to purchase his clients pany。 Thomas Tilling Corporation was one of them。 And the board chairman of this pany happened to have the plan to open up American market。 He showed great interest in John Thorntons advice and finally bought his clients pany。
The success of the project enlightened John