选CEO如何避免雅虎式悲剧

不能停留于常规评估流程

    传统的内部评估流程评价的是候选人的现任职务表现，并不能评估此人是否是块做CEO的好料子。将此作为进入第二轮背景调查的基础，背景调查可以提供更多洞察。2008年，葛兰素史克（GlaxoSmithKline）为CEO让-皮埃尔•加尔尼埃的离职做准备时，就在常规评估流程的基础上增加了14场面谈，面谈者都是与三位内部CEO候选人直接或间接工作过的内部高管，目的是评估候选人是否适合CEO一职。反馈意见通报给加尔尼埃和董事会。现任CEO安德鲁•维迪当时在候选人中并不拔尖，但面谈结果发现相比其他两位竞争者，他是更加合适的候选人。

保密

    我们看到过非常出色的候选人在竞聘消息走漏后决定退出。解决这个问题的一个办法是：在对CEO候选人进行背景调查时，公司可以询问知情的业内人士这位候选人是否适合一个潜在的董事职位，该职位可能需要具备大量的CEO技能，而不是直奔主题，直指CEO职位。

    大多数大公司都会聘请咨询公司，确保能通过背景调查对CEO最终候选人有一个全面的了解。而且，确实，涉及候选人，很多证明人在面对第三方时与与面对董事时的说法并不一致。最近，我们为一家财富500强排名前100的公司物色CEO人选时，该公司董事会就同时采用了两种方式进行背景调查，让其中几位证明人与公司董事和咨询顾问都进行了独立谈话。

    新聘一位CEO总是不可避免地会冒一定的风险。除了即时获取信息，企业还必须将尽可能地掌握候选人的情况视为己任，然后再做出任命决定。只有这样，才能确保任命的重大消息宣布之后不会有令人不快的意外情况发生，也不会出现“真相”曝出时的尴尬。

    Dennis Carey、Melanie Kusin和Jane Stevenson是光辉国际（Korn/Ferry International）的副董事长。

    译者：老榆木

Go beyond the customary assessment process

    The traditional internal assessment process is designed to assess a candidate in his or her current position, not whether the individual is great CEO material. Use that process as an entrée to a second round of references, which will add insights. When GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was planning for the departure of CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier in 2008, it supplemented its customary assessment with 14 interviews with internal executives who had worked directly or indirectly with all three internal CEO candidates. The questions were designed to assess the suitability for the CEO position, and feedback was shared with Garnier and the board. Now-CEO, Andrew Witty, while not the obvious choice at the time, emerged as a much better candidate than his competitors.

Keep it confidential

    We have seen stellar candidates drop out of consideration when their candidacy is made public. One solution to this problem: When referencing for CEO candidates, companies can ask knowledgeable industry insiders to evaluate a candidate for a potential director position, rather than the CEO spot, which encompasses many chief executive skills.

    Most large companies hire consulting firms to make sure they get a complete picture of a CEO finalist through references and, indeed, people offering references will often speak about a candidate differently to a board director than they would to a third party. In a recent CEO search we did for a Fortune 100 company, the board utilized a two-way process for conducting references where several referees spoke independently with both a director and the consultant.

    Hiring a new CEO will inevitably involve an element of risk. With instant access to information, companies must make it their mission to learn everything possible about candidates, before an appointment is made. That's the surest way to avoid unpleasant surprises the day after the big announcement or the pain of having the "real" story dribble out.

    Dennis Carey, Melanie Kusin, and Jane Stevenson are vice chairmen of Korn/Ferry International.