家得宝以退为进谋增长

    不过，停下扩张步伐仍然需要勇气。星巴克（Starbucks）CEO霍华德•舒尔茨也不得不拉住了公司扩张的缰绳。2008年他上任时，星巴克的咖啡已经在市场上过度饱和。他上任后首先做的一件事就是关了800家门店，裁员约4,000人，团结员工、共同建设一家有道德标准的咖啡公司。如今，星巴克已恢复增长策略，不像家得宝，它已经有了全球增长计划。事实上，10月份星巴克刚刚在印度开了第一家门店。

    对于其他商业领袖，退出意味着采取更激烈的行动，比如辞任。以比尔•福特为例，从1999年以来一直是福特公司（Ford Motor）的董事会成员，2001年成为CEO。几年后，他意识到自己不是领导公司的合适人选。2006年他决定改任执行董事长，请来前波音（Boeing）高管艾伦•穆拉利担任CEO。“这是一位高管意识到自身不足而激流勇退的典范，”底特律大学（University of Detroit Mercy）商业伦理学教授杰瑞•卡瓦纳称。福特汽车渡过了危机，是少数几家没有接受政府救助的美国汽车公司之一。卡瓦纳认为，艾伦•穆拉利和比尔•福特功不可没。

    舒尔茨和福特都叫停了增长，退居幕后。布莱克采取的方式与华尔街列出的成功之道截然相反。这么做需要勇气，但同时也揭示了一个有违常理的真理。“只要决策是为了公司好，早晚会赢得华尔街的欢心，”保尔特说。“不要鼠目寸光，只顾讨好分析师。”这个道理也同样适用于商业媒体。换言之，注意倾听我们媒体的声音，但别让我们左右了你的人生。

    译者:早稻米

    Still, it takes guts to stop drinking the "growth or else" Kool-Aid. Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz also had to pull the reins in on his company's expansion. In 2008, he took over a company that had over-saturated the market with its coffee. One of his first moves was to close 800 stores and lay off some 4,000 employees, then rally employees behind the idea of a more ethical coffee corporation. Now, Starbucks is back to a growth strategy and, unlike Home Depot, has global growth plans. In fact, Starbucks just opened its first store in India in October.

    For other leaders, calling it quits means taking more drastic measures, like stepping down. Take Bill Ford, who served on his company's board since 1999, and was then made CEO in 2001. After several years, he realized that he wasn't the right person to lead the company. Instead, he took the position of executive chairman and brought on former Boeing executive Alan Mulally as CEO in 2006. "Boy there's a good example of a guy that recognizes his own lack of skills," says Jerry Cavanagh, a professor of business ethics at the University of Detroit Mercy. Ford Motor (F) made it through the crisis, and was one of the few American auto companies that didn't receive bailout money. Cavanagh credits both Alan Mulally and Bill Ford for this.

    Schultz and Ford halted growth and stepped aside, respectively. But Blake took a totally different path than the traditional one Wall Street has outlined for success. That takes guts, but it also reveals a counter-intuitive truth. "If you make decisions for the company, Wall Street will like you sooner or later," Balter says. "Don't do short-term things that you think [are] going to please analysts." The same can easily go for the business press. In other words, listen to us, but don't let us run your life.