How to move smoothly into the top seat
This is an intriguing and slightly terrifying book. It tells you more about the life of today's elite chief executives than any number of business school case studies or magazine profiles. And it offers food for thought for senior managers who may already be questioning the attractions of leading a publicly listed company.
The authors should know what they are talking about. Tom Neff and Jim Citrin are, respectively, chairman and director of Spencer Stuart, the headhunting firm. Six years ago they co-authored Lessons from the Top, a series of 50 mini-portraits of US business leaders. Now they have doubled their scope, looking at more than 100 “leadership transitions” that is, the first few months in the lives of new chief executive officers. Neff and Citrin interviewed more than 50 of the new bosses, and also spoke to many of their boardroom colleagues. The authors are principally concerned with the CEO's “first 100 days”. Three months may sound like a decent introductory phase but, we are warned, it is not all that long.
“Assuming that a new leader works six days a week and 14 hours a day,” they write “barely 1,200 hours are available through the course of the first 100 days. New leaders need to spend as much time as possible absorbing, listening, learning, establishing relationships and making decisions, and can't afford to waste a single hour.”
Neff and Citrin set out the steps a CEO-in-waiting needs to take in preparation for the new job. “Meet with the smartest observers you can find employees, alumni, customers, suppliers and analysts to garner their insights,” they advise. “Do not feel compelled to walk into your new role with a strategy already developed: it will be wrong, incomplete, and/or lack buy-in.”
The “countdown period” to your first day should be used to lay the foundations for strong, positive relationships with new colleagues, the authors say, which will be vital in aligning everyone's expectations at the outset. This approach can be adopted by any executive taking on a new role, not just CEOs.
The authors also advise getting into good physical shape for the demands ahead, while stressing the need to “let go” of the past and, in the popular phrase, “move on” psychologically. They also point out how stressful the job change will be for the CEO's family, and recommend getting their backing before stepping through the doors of head office for the first time.
This is where the book uncovers some of the most startling aspects of the CEO role today. “There is a certain advantage to leaving your family behind in the early days that is, relocating solo, with the family following later while you get your bearings,” the authors say. (This is more applicable in the US, where corporate HQs may be located thousands of miles from the family home.) Temporarily removing family ties allows the new leader to work late, and have dinners and other extended meetings with new colleagues. In the summer of 2002, when Ed Breen, then president of Motorola, decided to take on the challenge of leading Tyco, the scandal-hit manufacturing conglomerate, he told his three teenage children: “Dad's going to boot camp.” Breen tells the authors: “The way I laid it out to the family was, ‘We'll be together on weekends, but don't expect to see me during the week'.” But, he goes on: “You just can't disconnect yourself from their life.”
Elsewhere in the book, advice on leading top teams and managing change seems well-founded. Lou Gerstner, former CEO (and “saviour”) of IBM, is quoted at length, usually offering pertinent comments. “You can't simply give a couple of speeches or write a new credo for the company and declare that the new culture has taken hold,” he tells the authors. “What you can do is create the conditions for transformation . . . In the end, management doesn't change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture.”
Amid the pearls there are one or two embarrassments, caused by post-production events beyond the authors' control. They claim that Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's former CEO, “built up a reservoir of trust on which she was able to successfully wage the battle” of the Compaq takeover. Larry Summers, president of Harvard, is quoted as saying: “The number one lesson I've learned is: force no gratuitous battles.” His female colleagues will be interested to read that.
Neff and Citrin have performed a service in revealing the challenges that confront CEOs today. Throughout there is a strong sense of the daunting, exhausting task facing the company's most important recruit, 14 hours a day, six days a week. And, if it does all end in tears, there is always Spencer Stuart to help find the next assignment.
如何稳稳坐上头把交椅
这是一本引人入胜的书，也是一本有些可怕的书。它深入介绍了当今精英首席执行官们的生活，其搜罗之广，超过了任何商学院案例教材，也超过了任何杂志专访。如果高层管理者对领导上市企业的有所顾虑，此书也可以给他们提供启发。
本书作者汤姆?内夫（Tom Neff）和吉姆?西特林（Jim Citrin）非行外人，他们均来自猎头公司斯宾塞?斯图亚特公司（Spencer Stuart），分别担任该公司主席和董事长。六年前，他们还曾合著《高层启示录》（Lessons from the Top），收录了50家美国商业领袖的简要介绍。本书的收录范围扩大了一倍，包括100个“领导转型”案例，描述了新任首席执行官上任头几个月的生活。内夫和西特林采访了50位新老板，还和很多他们所在公司的董事会成员进行了交流。作者主要关心的是首席执行官们“上任后的头100天”。作为新入职期，三个月时间或许不算短，但是书中警告说，其实这三个月一晃就过去了。
“假如首席执行官每周工作六天，每天工作14小时，”他们写道，“那么前100日一共只有1200小时时间。新的领导者必须争分夺秒，要吸收，要倾听，要建立关系，要做决策，一个钟头都浪费不得。”
内夫和西特林列出了候任首席执行官入职前的筹备步骤。“要去找一找你所认识的最聪明的观察者，比如现任员工、校友、客户、供应商、分析家，吸纳他们的观点。”他们建议说。“不要觉得自己在上任的时候一定得有一套成型的战略，这样子的战略既不正确，也不完整，而且有可能得不到认同。”
在上任前的“倒计时”期间，首席执行官必须打好基础，和新同事建立强大、积极的关系。这样，一开始就能够把人们的期望统一起来。这种方法其实可以用于任何接受新职位的高层管理者，不光是首席执行官。
作者还建议，一定要把身体搞好，应对即将来临的艰巨任务。同时，他们又强调，要对过去“放手”，而且按照流行的说法，必须在心理上有所“迈进”。他们还指出，这种工作转变对首席执行官的家庭来说也会有很大压力，他们建议，在首席执行官们踏入新办公室前，应该取得家人的支持。
这是本书最出奇的地方。它揭示了首席执行官角色的一些令人吃惊的内幕。“一开始可以单枪匹马去赴任，自己先探路，过段时间再把让家人接来，这有一些好处，”作者说。（这在美国更为常见，因为企业的总部往往和首席执行官的家相隔数千里。）新领导人暂时和家人分开，可以加班迟一点，和新同事吃饭，开长一点的会议。2002年夏天，时任摩托罗拉总裁的埃德?布林（Ed Breen）临危受命，接管泰科帅印。泰科是一家生产企业巨头，当时正面临丑闻危机。布林出发前对三个十几岁的女儿说：“爸爸去参加新兵封闭训练营了。” 布林还对书的作者说：“我和家人是这样交待的：‘周末我们在一起，平时估计就看不到我了’。”但是他接着又补充说：“你不能把自己和她们的生活割裂开。”
书中其它章节，作者也提出了一些领导高层团队和管理变革的建议，都言之成理。书中引用了IBM前任首席执行官（人们称之为IBM“救主”）郭士纳（Lou Gerstner）的很多说法，这些说法通常都很中肯：“你不能做几次演讲，写几条标语，就宣告说新文化站稳脚跟了，”他告诉作者说。“大家应该创造变革条件……归根结底，管理者不是改变文化，而是发动员工，让他们来改变文化。”
由于成书后的一些意外事件，此书也略有不足，白璧微瑕。比如作者说惠普公司的前任首席执行官卡莉?费奥瑞纳（Carly Fiorina）建立了“高度信任，并在此基础上，发动了成功的（康柏兼并）战斗。”书中还引述哈佛大学校长拉里?萨默斯（Larry Summers）的话说：“我学到的最大教训是：不作无谓抗争。”这话要是让他的女同事听到，肯定心里别有一番滋味。
内夫和西特林成功地描述了当今首席执行官们担当的任务，让人们感受到了它的艰巨和复杂。这任务要求他们每周工作六天，每天工作14小时。如果最后结局不佳，还可以找斯宾塞?斯图亚特公司来另谋高就。
