????很多公司在面臨重大調整時，都希望能從名牌企業挖到新的首席執行官。此人臨危受命，不僅要擔當起領導的職責，還要具備從天而降，扭轉乾坤的能力。

????六月上旬，零售商JCPenney宣布自11月1日起，在蘋果公司(Apple)表現優異的高管羅恩?約翰遜將成為公司新的掌門人。約翰遜的高調加盟希望能讓這家零售商擺脫平庸的形象。約翰遜此舉是高級經理人染上“白衣騎士綜合癥”的又例證——成功的經理人總是覺得自己能在一個完全不同的公司(有時甚至是在一個完全不同的行業)復制以往的成功，拯救一家公司。

????這種情形必然伴隨著壓力和高期待值，但同時也能帶來成功。但賓夕法尼亞大學沃頓商學院（the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania）的管理學教授邁克爾?烏西姆表示，“盡管有很多成功的先例，但也不乏失敗的例子。”

????那么，什么樣的經理人才是理想的白衣騎士呢？亟待拯救的公司應該鎖定以下特質，以免錯雇那些身著閃閃鎧甲卻不中用的經理人。

跨行業的萬事通

????烏西姆表示，經理人的資歷固然很重要，但僅在某一個行業內的一次成功可能還不夠。他認為，在多個行業內都有穩定的表現是白衣騎士的一個重要特征，這意味著此人具有普遍的領導力，而不只是長于應對某一特定行業的挑戰。

????勞倫斯?戈爾本就是一個例子，這位智利礦業部長今年早些時候推動了33被困礦工的救援行動。烏西姆稱，戈爾本具有零售業從業背景，但在此次救援行動前只是一位相對不知名的官員。“關鍵在于他勘查了現場，確定了解決問題的基本方法，并運用了自己的管理技巧。”

????當然，大多數首席執行官不一定需要協調礦山救援行動，但很多人都必須要將公司拉出財務虧空的黑洞。事實上，美國企業界在這方面早已有了身著閃閃鎧甲的白衣騎士典范——前德爾福(Delphi)首席執行官史蒂夫?米勒，他在職業生涯中曾多次在最后時刻成功拯救陷于絕境的企業。

????2005年，米勒帶領汽車零部件供應商德爾福順利度過了破產保護期。在此之前，他曾服務于鋼鐵、建筑、廢棄物管理和汽車行業。米勒受雇于這些行業公司，任務都是實現企業扭虧為盈。

????同樣，將公司拉出險境是一回事，但要在不停下腳步的前提下解決問題則是另一回事。

????“如果東西已經壞了，必須深入內部，把它徹底撕開，”領導力咨詢公司Heidrick & Struggles的副董事長杰夫?桑德斯說，“但如果東西還沒有壞，把它撕開的話，它很可能就此瓦解。”

企業文化適應力

????救世主當然也可能失敗。烏西姆指出，美國在線(AOL)首席執行官蒂姆?阿姆斯特朗自兩年前離開谷歌(Google)美國廣告銷售主管一職后，一直在為改變美國在線的現狀苦苦掙扎。摩托羅拉（Motorola）曾寄望于IT公司Sun Microsystems的明星經理人埃德?詹德的加盟能讓公司重新煥發活力，但他直到2008年離職都未有建樹，。

????“很多時候，問題在于企業文化，”桑德斯表示。然而，新任首席執行官在深入企業前很難診斷這些問題。

????熱門經理人往往會掉入白衣騎士陷阱。烏西姆指出，通用電氣(GE)經理人一直有這樣的問題，他們中很多人辭去原有工作，接受其他公司的新職務。“外部公司總是認為通用電氣的經理人應該都不錯”。盡管這些人在通用表現出色，但是一旦離開了通用獨特的環境，他們便黯然失色。

????蘋果公司給予離任的經理人以搖滾歌星般的地位，如羅恩?約翰遜。毫無疑問，約翰遜在蘋果公司積累了寶貴的經驗。但要在JCPenney提出新點子需要全然不同的方式。烏西姆表示，“如果以為能像在蘋果一樣經營JCPenney，可能會釀成徹頭徹尾、無法挽回的災難。”

敏銳的觀察力

????“我們都熱衷于歌頌重塑自我的壯舉，但是伙計，人類要做到這一點很困難。而這正是JCPenney決定追求的目標，”烏西姆表示。

????為了避免將拯救工作搞砸，新任首席執行官們必須帶領企業開啟新的航程，同時避免自我膨脹。烏西姆表示，職位變動引發的媒體熱議可能使得這一點變得尤其困難。“履任后的光環可能持續12個小時，”但之后的要務就是努力工作，干出成績。

????烏西姆表示，融入企業的一個關鍵途徑是在上任初期多從內部觀察公司。以約翰遜為例，他說，“可能頭50天約翰遜需要花一些時間真正熟悉公司的內在價值驅動力。哪些是他希望保留的？哪些需要拋棄？”

約翰遜勝算如何？

????那么，約翰遜在JCPenney有多少勝算？烏西姆和桑德斯都表示，他的勝算較大。“約翰遜此前在零售企業Target的經驗值得關注，”烏西姆稱，“這說明他在Target以及完全迥異于Target的公司都能有良好的表現——這家伙早已證明自己能成功跨越行業的鴻溝。”

????約翰遜在Target時曾推出過一個項目，將設計師和低成本產品聯系起來，推動了銷售。而在蘋果，這家科技公司備受贊譽的零售網絡也要歸功于他的洞察力。他的資歷似乎正符合JCPenney的需要：“他們真正想要的是有人能幫他們對蘋果零售商店的做法進行全面的梳理，”桑德斯稱，比如啟動創新的零售方法。

????無論領導一場企業救贖戰，還是讓企業更上一層樓，都是令人望而生畏的任務。如果約翰遜成功了，也許我們將來在購買平價卡其褲時也會像購買iPad一樣興奮不已。

????When it's time for a major change, many companies seek salvation in a new CEO from a headline-heavy company: someone who is not just a leader, but a star that can swoop in and save the day.

????Last week, JCPenney (JCP) announced that Ron Johnson will take the helm at the retailer on November 1, after making his mark as an executive at Apple (AAPL). Johnson is a high-profile hire, brought on to snatch the retailer from the jaws of mediocrity. His move is yet another example of an executive who has come down with a case of "white knight syndrome," a scenario in which a successful executive feels that he or she can translate their previous victories at an entirely different company (and sometimes in an entirely different industry) to rescue another company.

????While this kind of scenario certainly comes with its fair share of pressure and expectations, it can yield success. "But for every example of it working, there's one that fails," says Michael Useem, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

????So what kind of an executive makes for an ideal white knight? Companies in need of a corporate rescue should look for a couple of traits to avoid hiring a leader that trips over all that shining armor.

Jack-of-all-trades

????Clearly, a new hire's track record is important, Useem says, but a singular success within one industry might not be good enough. Consistent performance across industries is a good marker for a white knight, he adds, because it means that an individual is capable of leading in general, not just managing specific industry challenges.

????Take Laurence Golborne, Chile's minister of mining who facilitated the rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners earlier this year. He had a retail background and was a relatively unknown politician until the rescue, Useem says. "The main point is, he took a look, decided on the underlying ways to solve a problem, and used his management skill set."

????To be sure, most CEOs will not have to coordinate a mine rescue, but many have to dig companies out of financial holes. In fact, corporate America has its own knight in shining armor in that category: former Delphi CEO Steve Miller, who's made a career out of last-minute rescues of ailing corporations.

????Miller guided auto parts supplier Delphi through bankruptcy in 2005. Before that, he had worked in the steel, construction, waste-management and auto industries. Miller was hired at companies in each of these industries to turn them around.

????Just the same, it's one thing to pull a company out of the ashes, and quite another to fix it mid-stride.

????"If something's broken, you have to go in and start ripping it apart," says Jeff Sanders, vice chairman of leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles. "Whereas if it's not [broken], if you rip it up, it might fall apart."

????”

Cultural flexibility

????Hero hires can certainly fail. AOL (AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong has struggled to turn the company around after leaving his position as head of Google's (GOOG) U.S. ad sales two years ago, Useem says. Ed Zander, a star at Sun Microsystems, was brought in to revitalize Motorola (MSI) but floundered there before leaving in 2008.

????"Most often, the problem is a cultural one," Sanders says. But cultural problems can be difficult to diagnose until a new CEO is dropped into the company's pool.

????Hot new hires often fall into the white knight trap. This has been a problem for GE (GE) executives, Useem adds, many of whom have left their old jobs for new positions at other companies. "The outside companies know anybody from GE ought to be good," he says, and while they were good at GE, they didn't perform as well outside of GE's unique environment.

????Apple also gives departing executives rock-star status, a la Ron Johnson. No doubt, Johnson gained valuable experience at Apple. But delivering new ideas to JCPenney will require a very different approach. "If you think you're going to run JCPenney like you ran Apple, that's probably going to be a complete, unmitigated disaster," Useem says.

Clear eyes

????"We're all given to the mantra we have to reinvent ourselves, but boy, it's incredibly hard for the human mind to do that. That's what JCPenney has decided to go for," Useem says.

????To avoid botching a rescue job, new CEOs need to introduce a fresh take on the company without attaching any turnaround to their egos. That can be especially difficult amid job changes that generate media buzz, Useem says. "Glamour lasts for maybe 12 hours once the person arrives at the new job," and then it's a matter of working hard and delivering results.

????One key way to stay grounded is to spend the first part of the job taking stock of the company from within, Useem says. In Johnson's case, he adds, "Probably the first 50 days, he'll need to spend some time really getting his hands on what the underlying value drivers are. What does he want to keep and what needs to be jettisoned?"

Johnson's odds

????So what are Johnson's odds at JCPenney? He has a solid shot at success, Useem and Sanders say. "The fact that Johnson had been at Target before is really interesting," says Useem. "That says he could go from Target to a very non-Target-like company and do well -- this guy's already proven he can move across a pretty big divide successfully."

????At Target (TGT), Johnson introduced a program to incorporate designer, low-cost products, which boosted sales. At Apple, he is credited with the vision behind the tech company's widely-lauded retail stores. His track record seems to align with what JCPenney needs: "What they really wanted was somebody who could help them think through a lot of the things they were doing at Apple stores," Sanders says, like jump-starting an innovative approach to retail.

????It's a daunting task for any leader to spearhead corporate redemption, or even a well-managed uptick. But if Johnson succeeds, we just might feel as psyched about buying our next pair of affordable khakis as we do about springing for an iPad.