微软在选帅问题上犯的错

    微软错过了制定继任计划的机会。有了这样的计划，内部候选人就能和董事们以及公司领导层建立联系。如果纳德拉是其中一位候选人，他们还能制定出发展规划，从而让纳德拉参与到整个公司的决策之中，并让董事会在他成为CEO之前对他有所了解。

    不光是微软，继任对所有公司来说都是件大事。创新领导力中心（Center for Creative Leadership）估算，40%的新CEO都在上任18个月之内黯然离职。

    只需要看看新闻，或者在谷歌上随便搜索一下，你就能发现一批这样的失败案例。想当初，迈克尔•艾斯纳让迈克尔•奥维茨进入沃尔特•迪士尼公司（Walt Disney）担任二把手就带来了问题——两人几乎马上出现了冲突，无法共存。美国电话电报公司（AT&T）通过猎头公司找来了约翰•沃尔特，但猎头方没有考虑这个人选是否适于前者的公司文化——短短几个月后沃尔特就辞去了总裁职务。通用电气（GE）为杰克•韦尔奇寻找接班人时，韦尔奇和董事会挑出了三位内部候选人——其中两人落选后离开了GE，进而造成了宝贵的人力资本损失，还让GE在文化方面受到了打击。

    新的途径能让公司和社区成员在挑选下一任领导者的过程中获得发言权，而不会让这项权利完全掌握在董事会手里。（财富中文网）

    本文作者是管理研究和咨询机构——企业人类学顾问公司创始人。她在私募基金公司CCMP Capital和JPMorgan Partners Private Equity担任合伙人兼董事总经理，还是风投公司Flatiron Partners的合伙人。阿尔迪在纽约州立大学水牛城分校获得学士学位，在波士顿大学获得硕士和博士学位。

    译者：Charlie

    Microsoft missed an opportunity to have a succession plan in place where internal candidates would already have a relationship with the board and with the organization's leadership. If Nadella was on the short list of prospects, they also could have developed a development plan to integrate him into all the strategy discussions across the company and given him exposure to the Board prior to the transition taking place.

    Beyond Microsoft, succession is a big issue for just about every company. The Center for Creative Leadership has estimated that 40% of new CEOs fail in their first 18 months.

    You need only check the news or perform a quick Google search to find a list of failures. Look back at the issues at Walt Disney Co. (DIS) when Michael Eisner brought in Michael Ovitz; the two clashed almost immediately and could not co-exist. AT&T (T) used search firms who didn't take cultural fit into account when they hired John Walter, who abruptly resigned barely nine months into his job. And when GE (GE) searched for Jack Welch's successor, he and the board chose three internal candidates, but the two who weren't picked for the top job left the company. That, in turn, caused the company to lose valuable human capital assets while also creating a cultural setback for the organization.

    The Beta approach is to give the people in the organization, the community, a voice in choosing their next leader rather than solely giving the board that authority.

    Dana Ardi is the founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, an executive search and consulting firm. She has served as a partner/managing director at CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners Private Equity, and was a partner at Flatiron Partners. Dr. Ardi has a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree and doctorate from Boston College.