商界老掌门复出成风

    人们总是说要给高管团队注入新鲜血液，但一些像JC Penney、宝洁（P&G）这样步履蹒跚的大牌公司却正在寄望于前高管的拯救。请回这些知根知底的老将或许看起来有失远见或缺乏人才储备，但商界历史表明，启用老将确实有它的意义。

    “如果公司需要一个人能迅速有效地解决非常具体的问题，这样做就能奏效，”哈佛商学院（Harvard Business School）企业管理教授、历史学家南茜•科恩表示。著名的案例包括史蒂夫•乔布斯重振苹果（Apple）、霍华德•舒尔茨拯救星巴克（Starbucks）等。

    科恩说：“他们融合了巨大的激情与旁观者清的理性，因此能说砍就砍，只要确实有必要——像霍华德•舒尔茨，先是关店，然后是裁员，不再发布同店销售额数据。”

    “他可以迅速行动，因为他清楚症结在哪里，也可以直接跳过新官上任三把火树立威望的阶段。这个阶段是人性使然，但它的确很费时间。”

    总部位于辛辛那提的宝洁为了重振消费品业务，请回了现年65岁的前CEO雷富礼。但为了平息由此引发的外界对其高管更替计划失败的指责，宝洁接着又很快宣布将现有的4位高管升任新职。

    雷富礼在执掌宝洁近10年后于2009年退休，他选定的继任者麦睿博在动荡的经济环境下勉力把稳这家消费品巨头的航向。以往宝洁一直是从内部人员中挑选CEO，但没有公开保证过会继续这么做。

    哈佛商学院领导力、策略与创新教授罗莎贝丝•M•坎特指出，“雷富礼的回归将延续一项成功的策略，”，麦睿博“不得不应对金融危机和很多的动荡，而雷富礼回归后将加速重组，应对动荡”。

    坎特说：“这样做是有意义的。”坎特也是哈佛大学高级领导力计划负责人，出版过多本专著。自麦睿博时期以来，宝洁一直在推进一项100亿美元的重组计划。

    前CEO重新出马不一定就马到成功——已故的肯尼斯•莱就是一个例子。杰夫•斯基林短暂领导安然（Enron）一段时间后，肯尼斯就被重新请了回来，希望能重振安然。结果很糟。施乐（Xerox）的情况不同，但结果也令人难堪。曾任9年CEO的保罗•阿莱尔在2000年被董事会召回，服务了一段时间。

    For all the talk of new executive blood, some big, but flailing, companies like JC Penney (JCP) and P&G (PG) are looking to former top executives for their rescue. Turning to the tried-and-true can seem like a failure of vision or lack of a talent net but corporate history shows that grabbing the familiar old ring actually makes sense.

    "When the company needs someone who can fix very specific things quickly and effectively, it can work," says Nancy Koehn, a historian and professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Famous examples include Steve Jobs at Apple (AAPL) and Howard Schultz at Starbucks (SBUX).

    "It's a combination of great passion and detachment, so they are able to cut what needs to be cut -- like Howard Schultz who first closed stores, then laid off people and stopped reporting same-store sales," Koehn said.

    "He could move quickly because he knew where all the bodies are buried, and was able to move past that jungle posturing that always accompanies a new executive and the people around him. It's necessary anthropology, but it's very time consuming."

    To revive its consumer products business, P&G brought back former CEO A.G. Lafley, 65, but the Cincinnati-based giant quickly moved to quell any criticism that it failed at succession planning by making known that four current executives would be moving into major new roles.

    Before retiring in 2009 after nearly a decade at P&G's helm, Lafley chose his successor, Robert McDonald, who struggled to right the giant goods purveyor in the unsettled economy. In the past, P&G has chosen its CEOs from its own ranks, although there is no public guarantee that will continue to be the case.

    "Lafley is coming back to continue a successful strategy," noted Rosabeth M. Kanter, a professor of leadership, strategy and innovation at Harvard Business School. Johnson "had to deal with the financial crisis and a lot of volatility," and Lafley's return will see him "accelerating restructuring to respond to that volatility.

    "That makes sense," said Kanter, who also is director of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative, and author of several books. P&G has been undergoing a $10 billion revamp, begun under McDonald.

    Recycled CEOs don't always work out - the late Kenneth Lay being a major case in point. He was brought back to revive Enron after a brief stint under Jeffrey Skilling's leadership. That ended badly. A different, but embarrassing, scenario beset Xerox, when nine-year veteran CEO Paul Allaire was called back, by the board, in 2000 for a stint.