????7月20日，通用電氣（GE）宣布重組能源業務，對此，分析師并不感到吃驚。正如花旗集團（Citigroup）分析師在給客戶的報告中寫的那樣：“通用電氣每18個月左右就會進行一次內部改組，從無例外。就跟時鐘一樣準。”

????真正讓行業觀察家們意外的是，公司副主席兼通用電氣能源集團（GE Energy）CEO、現年50歲的約翰?克利尼基將離職的消息。丹尼爾?霍蘭德在晨星公司（Morningstar）的報告中寫道：“令人好奇的是，克利尼基將要離職，而不是內部調動。畢竟，在過去幾年公司能源業務的重組過程中，克利尼基發揮了重要作用。一位關鍵領導人在形勢好轉的情況下突然離開，肯定會引起許多人的質疑。”

????克利尼基是公司五位高層主管之一，在通用電氣人緣極好，頗受尊敬。雖然公司拒絕提供有關克利尼基的聯系方式，但《財富》雜志（Fortune）根據克利尼基去年的資料發現，克利尼基負責的業務促使通用電氣將重心重新回歸工業。通用電氣能源業務規模約500億美元，克利尼基的目標是在十年內將其擴大到1,000億美元。

????其實，導致能源業務被一分為三（電力與水力、石油與天然氣，以及能源管理）的原因很大程度上正是由于克利尼基的宏圖大志，同時，這個原因也促使他決定在年底離開公司。在去年十二月份的文章中，《財富》雜志曾報道，通用電氣斥資110億美元，收購能源業務，其中包括向康卡斯特（Comcast）出售一部分公司持有的NBC環球（NBCUniversal）股份所獲得的80億美元。通用電氣CEO杰夫?伊梅爾特在上周的收入電話會議上表示：“通過一系列收購，公司能源業務已經非常龐大，也更加復雜。”他補充道，克利尼基負責的業務已經達到相當大的規模，幾乎已經成了通用電氣公司中的另一家公司。

????據知情人士透露，克利尼基先是與伊梅爾特討論了隨著能源業務擴大所面臨的挑戰，之后他便提出了離開通用電氣的計劃。公司為克利尼基提供了其他職位，但卻遭到拒絕。

????巴克萊集團（Barclays）分析師斯科特?戴維斯認為：“遇到這樣的事情，我們通常都會想到陰謀論。按照陰謀理論，種種跡象均指向一個結果：克利尼基的離職是經過精心設計的。”能源業務拆分后的三個部門將直接接受伊梅爾特領導。分析師認為，通用電氣進行部門合并的時候，投資者才更有理由擔心，而不是擔心公司為了提高透明度對業務進行拆分。

????其實，拆分戰略與去年克利尼基接受《財富》雜志采訪時所說的話完全一致。他希望下屬在運營過程中堅持小公司理念，鼓勵快速決策，拋棄大公司的種種束縛。而隨著能源業務規模不斷擴大，繼續執行這一策略也變得更加困難。

????戴維斯表示，如果伊梅爾特出現任何意外情況，克利尼基與通用電氣總裁兼全球增長和運營部門CEO約翰?萊斯最有可能直接接替伊梅爾特。克利尼基的離開可能表明，雖然伊梅爾特擔任CEO已經超過十年，但他在通用電氣的地位依然穩固。獵頭公司海德思哲（Heidrick & Struggles）合伙人馬克?列文斯頓認為：“很明顯，通用電氣內部關于業務部門的負責人選正在發生變化。這必然會引發對公司領導人繼任計劃的討論。”

????去年，《財富》雜志采訪克利尼基時曾詢問他是否希望登上最高領導職位，他說道：“我的回答是，希望杰夫（伊梅爾特）能在CEO職位上獲得成功。”

????伊梅爾特的前任杰克?韋爾奇擔任CEO二十年，在65歲法定年齡退休。伊梅爾特現年56歲，如果同樣任職20年，等他退休的時候，克利尼基已經59歲。到那時，克利尼基恐怕已經沒有機會參與競爭，畢竟只有六年時間掌管一家市值接近1,500億美元的公司，留給他的時間并不多。或許，伊梅爾特已經明確表達了自己沒有要辭去CEO職務的任何打算，所以克利尼基清楚自己登頂的機會微乎其微。

????通用電氣之前的高管一直非常搶手，并且都去了其他《財富》500強（Fortune 500）公司。但即便如此，克利尼基很難找到一家達到GE能源相同規模的公司。如果作為一家獨立對公司來看，他領導的能源部門在財富500強中可以排到第50名左右。

????When GE announced on July 20 that it was reorganizing its energy business, analysts weren't particularly surprised. "Seemingly without fail, GE reshuffles its segment mix every 18 months or so," Citigroup analysts wrote in a note to clients. "It is like clockwork."

????What threw industry watchers was the announcement that John Krenicki, 50, vice chairman and CEO of GE Energy, would depart the company. "The more curious element is that Krenicki will be leaving the firm, as opposed to moving around internally given his role in reshaping energy over the past several years," wrote Daniel Holland in a Morningstar note. Barclays added in its report that, "The exit of a key leader near a cycle upturn will likely be questioned by many."

????Krenicki was one of the top five executives in the company, well-liked and respected within GE. The company declined to make Krenicki available, but as Fortune noted in its profile of the energy CEO last year, Krenicki's business was driving GE's refocus on its industrial roots. With energy a nearly $50 billion business for GE, Krenicki had set of a goal of hitting the $100 billion mark in a decade. (See John Krenicki powers up GE)

????It was in part that ambition that led to the break up of Krenicki's business into three units (power and water, oil and gas, and energy management), and his planned departure at the end of the year. In Fortune's December profile, we wrote that GE had recently spent $11 billion on acquisitions in the energy business, including all of the $8 billion it gained selling part of its stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast (CMCSA). "With all the acquisitions, our energy business had become very big and complex," said GE CEO Jeff Immelt on last week's earnings call, adding that Krenicki's business had reached a scale where it had turned into a company within a company.

????A source close to the decision said Krenicki presented the plan to Immelt after the two discussed the challenges that came with the energy operation's size. Krenicki was offered other positions in the company but declined.

????"Normally we get conspiracy theory calls when something like this happens," says Barclays analyst Scott Davis. "This is one where literally every single story we've heard is very consistent: that he engineered himself out of the job."

????The three divisions will report directly to Immelt. Analysts say investors have cause for concern when GE combines divisions, not when it breaks units up to give them more visibility.

????The strategy is consistent with what Krenicki told Fortune last year. He wanted his people to operate with a small business mindset, encourage fast decision making, and leave behind the trappings of a big company--all of which become increasingly harder the bigger the business.

????Davis noted that Krenicki and John Rice, President and CEO of GE Global Growth and Operations, were viewed as immediate successors to Immelt if anything were to happen to him. Krenicki's departure may signal that Immelt, who is more than a decade in as CEO, is deeply entrenched. "This is a clear changing of the guard in terms of who's going to run the business units going forward at GE," says Mark Livingston, partner at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. "It clearly opens the succession planning discussion."

????When asked last year if he desired the top spot, Krenicki told Fortune, "The answer to that question is I want Jeff [Immelt] to be successful at that job."

????Immelt's predecessor Jack Welch had a twenty-year tenure, leaving at his mandatory retirement age of 65. If Immelt, who is 56, stays for the same duration, Krenicki would be 59 by the time his boss retires. Krenicki would likely have aged out of the running at that point, as six years at the helm of a nearly $150 billion company doesn't allow for much of a runway. It may have become increasingly clear that Immelt has no plans to go anywhere anytime soon, making it plain that Krenicki's chances at the top job were slim.

????Former GE executives have historically been in high demand and have gone on to run other Fortune 500 companies. Granted, it would be difficult for Krenicki to find an enterprise as big as the one he was running at GE. His energy unit's revenue would have ranked in the 50s of the Fortune 500 if it were a standalone company.