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????親愛的安妮：我很想知道您和您的讀者對這件事怎么看。我的一位密友兼同事——就叫他鮑勃吧——一心巴望著，或者至少是希望能被任命為我們部門的頭兒。可是，首席執行官一職最終落到了另一個對手頭上，而鮑勃只得到了向老板匯報工作的第二把交椅。 ????我明白這個結局讓他失望透頂，他現在干脆打算離職，這在我看來是極大的失策。我一直努力說服他，當二把手對他來說也是個好機會，這個任命很值得接受（至少在最近幾年內都是值得的），不過我覺得他聽不進去。請問您怎么看這個問題？——一位憂慮不安的旁觀者 ????親愛的旁觀者: 這是個有意思的問題，不過，如果不了解更多細節，這也是一個非常難以回答的問題。總部位于倫敦的全球廣告和營銷巨頭薩奇廣告公司（Saatchi & Saatchi）的副董事長理查德?海特納指出：“在這個層級，接班計劃應該是透明公開的。誰將出任下一任首席執行官不該是個讓人驚訝的決定。” ????而事實上它確實令人驚訝（至少對鮑勃來說是如此），這在海特納看來不是個好兆頭。他的疑惑是：“鮑勃曾經和首席執行官談過他的期望嗎？如果一番交談下來，他覺得老總已經承諾這項職位非他莫屬，然后卻把這個位置給了別人，那就是嚴重的失信，他可能真應該脫身而去，另謀高就了。” ????如果情況并非如此，那海特納先生就十分同意你的看法，即雖然鮑勃本人目前還沒意識到，但他確實獲得了一個千載難逢的機會。海特納自己曾深思熟慮過當二把手的種種好處：幾年前，他主動辭去了薩奇廣告公司歐洲、中東和非洲區首席執行官一職，出任母公司副董事長。 ????他在自己的著作《顧問：陰影下的領導藝術》（Consiglieri: Leading from the Shadows）中寫道：“我決定出任副手，不再當那個永遠在奮力工作、永遠在做決策的首席執行官。當二把手是我的首選。事實證明這是我職業生涯中的最佳決策。” ????在《顧問》【Consiglieri，一個可追溯至中世紀的意大利語詞匯，后來因電影《教父》(The Godfather)而一炮而紅】一書中，他描述了兩種他稱為“C”高管的管理者：一種是充分利用二把手位置為當一把手做準備的人——比如蒂姆?庫克，他在蘋果公司（Apple）長期擔任斯蒂夫?喬布斯的副手，最后才出任首席執行官；另一種是看重二把手這個位置獨特價值的人。 ????海特納顯然屬于第二個陣營。一方面，他喜歡“有時間深入思考問題，這是大多數首席執行官都做不到的。如果你天生就富有求知欲，好深思，又喜歡在幕后影響公司戰略和重大事件，那就沒有比二把手更好的工作了，”他說。 ????“但對多數人來說，當二把手好像沒什么出息，沒法像一把手那么位高權重，也拿不到高不可攀的薪水。不過，二把手也不必承受跟最高職位相伴的無休無止、令人痛苦的壓力，還能更好地掌控屬于自己的時間，”他補充道。海特納自己就利用空余時間在倫敦商學院（London Business School）教授市場營銷。 |
????Dear Annie: I’m curious about what you and your readers have to say about this situation. A close friend and colleague of mine—let’s call him Bob—was expecting, or at least hoping, to be named head of our division. Instead, the CEO position has gone to someone else who was also in the running, and Bob has just been offered the No. 2 job, reporting to the new chief. ????I understand that it’s a disappointment, but he’s thinking about leaving the company, which I believe would be a big mistake. I’ve been trying to convince him that being second-in-command could be a huge opportunity for him, and well worth taking (at least for a couple of years), but I don’t think he’s listening. Your thoughts, please? — Concerned Bystander ????Dear C.B.: Interesting question, and a tough one to answer without knowing a few more details. “At this level, succession planning should be transparent,” notes Richard Hytner, deputy chairman of London-based global advertising and marketing behemoth Saatchi & Saatchi. “Who is next in line to be CEO shouldn’t come as a surprise.” ????The fact that it apparently did (at least to Bob) strikes Hytner as a bad sign. “Did Bob discuss his expectations with the CEO?” Hytner wonders. “If he came away from that conversation having been promised that the job was his, and it was then given to someone else, that is a serious enough breach of trust that he probably should quit and go elsewhere.” ????If not, however, Hytner agrees with you that, although he may not realize it right now, Bob has just been given a terrific opportunity. Hytner has done a lot of thinking about the unique advantages of being No. 2: A few years ago, he voluntarily quit his job as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Europe, Middle East, and Africa to become deputy chairman of the parent company. ????“I decided to become a deputy instead of an all-singing, all-dancing, always-deciding CEO,” he writes in his book Consiglieri: Leading from the Shadows. “Being second [was] my first choice. It proved the best one of my career.” ????In Consiglieri (an Italian word for adviser or counselor that dates back to the Middle Ages but was made famous by The Godfather), he writes about two types of what he calls “C” executives: Those who have taken advantage of the No. 2 role to prepare themselves for the top job—think Tim Cook, who was Steve Jobs’ longtime deputy at Apple before becoming CEO—and those who value the position for its own sake. ????Hytner is decidedly in the second camp. For one thing, he likes “having the time to think through a problem deeply, which most CEOs do not have,” he says. “If you are curious and contemplative by nature, and enjoy influencing strategy and events from behind the scenes, then there really is no better job. ????“The problem is that being No. 2 looks like failure to many people,” he adds. “You don’t have the status and overt power, or the stratospherically high pay, of the top job. But you also don’t have the miserable, nonstop pressures that come with it. And you have a lot more control over your own time.” Hytner uses some of his freed-up schedule to teach marketing at London Business School. |
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