宝洁前掌门重掌帅印

    前任CEO重新出山，这在宝洁并不是头一次。早在2000年，德克•雅格被辞退，当时籍籍无名的雷富礼被任命为CEO。为了保证顺利交接，前宝洁CEO约翰•白波回到公司担任董事会主席。但这一次，雷富礼既是旧的守护者，也是新的接班人；很明显，目前的宝洁没有人能成为合格的继任者——这对于一直对自己的接班人计划引以为豪的宝洁来说是一个巨大的问题。

    对于此次宝洁的权力更替，有一个人非常高兴，他就是潘兴广场资本管理公司（Pershing Square Capital Management）的比尔•阿克曼。2012年，这家理财公司买入了20亿美元的宝洁股份。阿克曼曾公开表示，麦睿博并不是宝洁CEO的合适人选。虽然阿克曼曾支持一名外部人员，但他表示自己对雷富礼的回归感到非常高兴。他说：“他从来不害怕做正确的事情，而且一向行动迅速，他很快就能改变公司的文化。”

    真的是这样吗？其实麦睿博所遭遇的困境很大程度上都是直接源于雷富礼任期内的政策。本世纪前十年，宝洁“提高价格、鼓励创新”的策略非常成功，但在经济衰退期间却起到了相反的效果，反而让竞争对手在它一直坚守的领域站稳了脚跟。宝洁失去了大量市场份额，很大程度上正是由于定价过高。许多前高管曾抱怨称，一度得到雷富礼支持的矩阵式结构变得非常迟缓，而且官僚气十足。

    雷富礼时期的宝洁营销负责人吉姆•施坦格尔表示：“在他即将执掌的这家公司，许多东西都是他一手创造或促成的。他能用批判的眼光来看待它们吗？我想他会的。当他坐上最高点，他就是一位伟大的CEO。”

    另外一个有趣的问题是，雷富礼的回归对于宝洁的下一代领导者意味着什么。雷富礼与全球美容护理部门的负责人黛布•亨利塔和织物护理部门负责人乔瓦尼•西塞拉尼关系密切，但与居家护理部门负责人、被誉为明日之星的大卫•泰勒却并没有过直接合作。

    去年2月5日，雷富礼出版了一本书，名为《致胜游戏：如何让策略真正发挥作用》（Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works）。他在书中和合著者、管理大师罗杰•马丁详细探讨了他是带领宝洁成功实现转变的历程。几个月前，我曾与雷富礼会面，还问到他的成功为何没能延续到麦睿博的任期，雷富礼的回答很简单：“任何一项策略都不会永远有效。”

    事实证明，CEO们也是如此。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪浩

    This is not the first time a former CEO has returned to P&G. Back in 2000, when Durk Jager was fired and the then-unknown Lafley was named CEO, former P&G CEO John Pepper stepped back in as chairman to ease the transition. But this time, Lafley is both the old guard and the new guy; apparently there is no one at P&G worthy of being named successor -- a huge problem for a company that has long taken pride in its succession planning process.

    One person who is happy about the change is Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, the money manager who took a $2 billion stake in the company in 2012 and has publicly said that McDonald was not the right man for the job. Although Ackman had advocated for an outsider, he proclaimed himself pleased to hear of Lafley's return. "He's not afraid of doing the right thing and doing it quickly, and he can immediately change the culture," he says.

    Can he? Some of McDonald's own woes came directly from Lafley's own tenure. The strategy that was so successful for P&G in the early 2000s -- raising prices and boosting innovation -- backfired in the recession and gave its competitors a foothold that they haven't yet relinquished. P&G has lost significant market share, in part because its pricing was too high. And many former executives complain that the matrix structure once championed by Lafley has become slow and bureaucratic.

    Says Jim Stengel, P&G's head of marketing under Lafley: "He's coming into a company in which a lot of what he created or accelerated is in place. Will he look at that critically? I think he will. When he's at the top of his game he's a great CEO."

    The other interesting question is what Lafley's return means for the next generation of P&G leaders. Lafley is close with Deb Henretta, head of global beauty care, and Giovanni Cisarani, head of fabric care, but hasn't worked directly with David Taylor, head of home care, and considered a rising star.

    Last February 5, Lafley published a book called Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, in which he and coauthor and management guru Roger Martin discuss in detail how he pulled off the giant turnaround at Procter & Gamble. A few months earlier, I met with Lafley and asked why his success hadn't lasted into McDonald's tenure, Lafley said simply: "Strategy doesn't last forever."

    Neither, it turns out, do CEOs.