实话实说：车界老兵点评六大CEO

里克•瓦格纳

2000年至2009年任通用CEO

    卢茨说：“从教育、背景、气质、身体状况来说，他几乎是个理想的CEO。那些诽谤他的人都不了解他做的所有好事。”

卢茨的打分：239

    与我在职业生涯中认识的其他企业领导不同的是，里克•瓦格纳很少表现出什么“怪癖”。他总是很有礼貌，很友好，而且乐于倾听反对的意见。他没有高管的架子，甚至有点过于低调。他相信自己只是一个为股东服务的人，只是被雇来打工的。他擅于说服人，头脑聪敏，而且非常擅于沟通。

    里克是一个标准的爱惜下属的领导。他相信下属的直接报告，很少对琐碎事务进行微观管理，有时甚至到了过分的地步。有些高管可能看起来、听起来都干得不错，但事实上干得很少，或是发挥不了决定性作用，但是里克有时却看不出来。简而言之，他容忍了那些庸才的表现。

    但是当全世界经济开始出问题时，他的领导风格就不能很好地适应公司了。里克不擅长下达艰难的命令，比如减少经销商或是砍掉一些品牌。尽管他经常谈起这样做的重要性，但是他从来没有把他的意愿强加给持反对意见的人，甚至包括我在内。他是一个非常好的人，但是他太善良，太喜欢自省，在很多事上想得太多，没有帮他的公司挺过2008到2009年的动荡。他是一个完美的“盛世”CEO。他的战略无懈可击，他本来可以更成功，可惜时运不济。而且通用“一刀未砍”的成本负担和文化特性也证明了他的失败。（财富中文网）

    本文改编自鲍伯卢茨的新书《偶像与傻瓜》，本书由Portfolio出版社于2013年6月4日出版。版权所有。

    译者：朴成奎

Rick Wagoner

GM CEO 2000-09

    Lutz says: "By education, background, temperament, physical stature, an almost ideal CEO. Those who malign him fail to comprehend all the good he did."

Lutz Grade: 239

    In contrast to other executives I've known in my career, Rick Wagoner showed little in the way of "peculiarities." He was always polite, kind, and ready to hear opposing views. His style was modest: He eschewed executive trappings and even excessive compensation, believing, correctly that he was a servant of the shareholders and thus simply a hired hand. He was persuasive, mentally agile, and an excellent communicator.

    Rick was the very picture of a leader who genuinely cared about his people. He trusted his direct reports and rarely micromanaged, sometimes to a fault. He was slow to see the weakness or ineffectiveness of some senior executives who looked good, sounded good, and actually did little or were indecisive. In short, he tolerated less-than-stellar performance.

    It didn't serve the company well when the world began to unravel. Rick found it difficult to order tough calls, like downsizing dealers or cutting brands. He frequently talked about the desirability of the latter yet never imposed his will against resistance, including my own. A magnificent human being, Rick was simply too nice, too introspective, and too thoughtful in many of his actions to see the company through the turbulence of 2008-2009. He was the perfect "peacetime" CEO. His strategy was impeccable and he should have been more successful, but bad timing, bad luck, and the weight of still-unexpurgated GM (GM, Fortune 500) costs and cultural traits proved his undoing.

    This article is adapted from Icons and Idiots by Bob Lutz, published by Portfolio on June 4, 2013. All rights reserved.