“活力双雄”闪耀万事达高层
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而彭安杰则认为哈森维特是他的军师——比如，在决定是否接受美印商务委员会（U.S.-India Business Council）主席职务之前，彭安杰曾向哈森维特征求意见。当然，别误会：彭安杰从没指望哈森维特能到纽约帕切斯，参与万事达卡公司的日常运营。他只是向哈森维特征求一些全局性的建议。彭安杰说：“包括理查德和董事会其他成员在内，我拥有一个由10-11位达人组成的参谋部。他们拿着相对较低的报酬，却贡献着自己的智慧。” 许多公司监管人员和高管都认为，其他公司应该以万事达为榜样，将CEO和董事长这两个职位分开。但调查显示，坚持将这两个职位分开的公司，其表现不见得一定优于将CEO与董事长合二为一的公司。有事实为证：在过去一年中，万事达公司的股票上涨了48%，而在Visa公司，董事长和CEO由约瑟夫•桑德斯一人承担，但公司股票上涨幅度也达到了45%。耶鲁管理学院（Yale School of Management）的杰弗里•索南菲尔德表示：“彭安杰和哈森维特配合默契，成就非凡，应该向他们致敬。但这并不意味着万事达的这种模式能放之四海皆准。这只是治理复杂企业的诸多途径之一。” 不论是非执行董事长还是执行董事长，帮助公司最好的方法或许是培育一个独立的、充满活力的董事会。如果董事会真正做到忠于职守、富有洞察力，并具备全局观和丰富的背景，那么CEO就很难独揽大权，或者刚愎自用，拒绝听取顾问的意见。同时，一个强有力的董事会则可以防止非执行董事成为CEO的傀儡，哈森维特与彭安杰也一直在努力避免这种风险。哈森维特说：“彭安杰和我之间的关系非常重要，但我们两个与整个董事会之间的关系则更加重要。没有什么比私人智囊团更容易造成公司的分崩离析。” 译者：刘进龙/汪皓 |
Banga in turn looks to Haythornthwaite for a range of insights -- soliciting his views, for example, before accepting a new role as chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council. But make no mistake: Banga doesn't expect Haythornthwaite to get into the day-to-day operations at MasterCard (MA), based in Purchase, N.Y. Instead he looks to him for big-picture advice. "In Rick and the rest of the board, I get a sounding board of 10 to 11 really bright people who get paid relatively little to offer me their wisdom," says Banga. Many corporate watchdogs and executives feel strongly that other companies should follow MasterCard's lead and split the CEO and chairman roles, but studies show that companies that insist on separate roles don't necessarily outperform those that embrace the CEO-chair model. To wit: MasterCard shares are up 48% in the past 12 months; shares of Visa (V), where Joseph Saunders serves as chairman and CEO, are up 45%. "Ajay and Rick work really well, and I salute them, but it's not a panacea," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of the Yale School of Management. "It's just one of many ways of governing a complex enterprise." Perhaps the best way a chairman, nonexecutive or otherwise, can help a company is by fostering an independent and lively board of directors. If the board is truly engaged, insightful, global, and diverse in background, it is hard for a CEO to grab too much power or reject the counsel of his or her advisers. And a strong board can prevent a nonexecutive chairman from falling under the sway of the CEO, a risk that Haythornthwaite and Banga take great pains to avoid. "The relationship between Ajay and me is vital. The relationship between the two of us and the whole board is even more vital," Haythornthwaite says. "And nothing is more divisive than something that appears to be a kitchen cabinet." |
