沙场老兵是天生的CEO吗？

    美国西北大学（Northwestern University）凯洛格商学院（Kellogg School of Business）的经济学教授伊弗莱姆•本米莱克与波士顿大学（Boston University）的同事卡罗拉•弗里德曼合作研究完成了这份报告。他表示，拥有军旅经历的首席执行官学会了“如何在战斗和竞争的极端条件中的重重压力之下做出决定。”

    他们表示自己“想弄明白哪些特质会对首席执行官的行为方式产生影响”，还打算将这项研究发表在《金融经济学期刊》（Journal of Financial Economics）上。他们列出了1980至2006年期间美国大型公司的首席执行官清单，找出了其中拥有军旅背景的人。20世纪80年代，大约60%的公司都有来自军队的首席执行官，而这个比例目前已经降到了不足10%。

    研究人员随后跟踪了1994至2004年间132例记录在案的公司欺诈事件，发现接受过军事训练的首席执行官所在的公司涉案的比例比一般背景的首席执行官所在的公司要低大约三分之二。

    研究人员还发现，这类行伍出身的首席执行官在行业出现萧条时表现出色。他们提到，士兵出身的首席执行官“在困难时期表现得更好。”

    即便是在和平时期，严格的直线管理方式也会对业务成果有所帮助。本米莱克和弗里德曼发现，接受过军事训练的首席执行官比起一般课堂训练出的同事在研究和发展的投资这些方面花费更少，尽管这些公司的估值差不多一样。

    现有的大部分研究中都赞扬了老兵们的领导能力，但它们也同样得出结论：服兵役与公司取得成就之间没有必然联系。实际上，本米莱克和弗里德曼在报告中指出：“心理学文献发现，服兵役会导致人们具有侵略性，自负，更爱冒险”，但是“其他领域的证据也不能明确地推断服兵役会对人们后来的决策产生什么样的影响。”

    全球高管猎头公司光辉国际（Korn/Ferry International）在2005年对沙场老兵和公司领导力进行研究后得出了类似结论。这是为数不多的探讨军事背景和公司业绩之间关系的研究之一。这项研究发现：“很明显，即便是服兵役使得军队的高层领导能够进入企业的最高管理层，也保证不了他入职后的表现。”

    光辉国际（Korn/Ferry）的艾林•亚历山大曾担任过陆军上尉，他表示，即便如此，了解军队的领导情况也十分重要，因为“在未来的几年内，这些加盟的中层管理者都会成为高层领导。”

    光辉国际的克拉克•哈维纳正在帮助沙场老兵将自己的军旅经验应用到日常工作中。他表示，现在有几位前任将军正在积极地争取进入公司董事会，他们会给公司带来不小的影响。

    哈维纳说：“商界很重视军旅经历，因为这表明人格的成熟。如果两位求职者其它条件相当，军旅生涯将是公司看重的额外加分项。”（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    CEOs with military experience have learned "how to make decisions in extreme conditions in combat and cope in periods of stress," says Efraim Benmelech, a finance professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business, who conducted research for the report with colleague Carola Frydman of Boston University.

    The researchers, who plan to publish the study in the Journal of Financial Economics, say they "wanted to understand what kind of characteristics shape the way CEOs act." They compiled a list of CEOs at the helm of major U.S. companies between 1980 and 2006 to find those with military backgrounds. About 60% of those companies had military veteran CEOs in the 1980s, but that portion has shrunk to less than 10% now.

    The researchers then tracked 132 recorded cases of corporate fraud between 1994 and 2004, and found that, based on those cases, companies with military-trained CEOs were about two-thirds less likely than their counterparts with civilian backgrounds to be engaged in fraud.

    Also, such soldier-CEOs performed well in periods of industry distress, the researchers found, noting that such soldier-CEOs "perform better in tougher times."

    Even during tranquil periods, walking the straight-and-narrow management path can help shape business outcomes. Benmelech and Frydman found that military-trained CEOs tend to spend less on investments, like research and development, compared to their civilian-trained counterparts, although company valuations among such companies were about the same.

    Most available research praises veterans for their civilian leadership, but it also concludes that there is no guaranteed link between military service and corporate outcomes. In fact, Benmelech and Frydman noted in their report that "literature in psychology finds that military service leads to aggressiveness, overconfidence, and increased risk taking," but that "evidence from other disciplines does not provide clear-cut predictions on how service in the military affects individual decision-making later in life."

    A 2005 study of veterans and corporate leadership by global executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International reached a similar conclusion. That study, one of the few to delve into the link between military backgrounds and corporate performance, found that "it is clear that even if military service contributes to a former military executive's ability to reach the C-suite, it is no guarantee of his performance once he arrives."

    Even so, understanding military leadership is important, notes Aileen Alexander, a former Army captain who works for Korn/Ferry, because "in years to come, those being recruited for middle management will become the top leadership."

    Right now, former generals have an impact on corporations as they are actively sought to fill company board seats, says Clarke Havener of Korn/Ferry, which is working to help veterans translate their military experience into civilian jobs.

    "Companies value military experience because it's seen as demonstrating maturity," Havener says. "All things being equal, it's that extra plus that companies want."