CEO兼董事長漸成瀕危物種
Sometimes a species reaches the end of its natural existence. As its numbers dwindle, disappearance becomes inevitable and the last survivors of the doomed herd become objects of curiosity and pity. This is happening to chief executives who are also chairmen — but with none of the pity.
有時一個物種會到達自然存在的終點。隨着個體數量的減少，物種消失是不可避免的。這一註定滅絕物種的最後存活者會成爲人們好奇和遺憾的對象。這正是首席執行官(CEO)兼董事長這個物種的命運——但人們心裏毫無遺憾可言。It is a slow process. Well over half of S&P 500 companies do not yet have independent chairs. Plenty of chief executives are also chairman. A few, like beribboned African potentates awarding themselves more medals, also add “president” to their honours.
這個過程很慢。一大半標普500指數(S&P 500)成分股公司還沒有設立專門的董事長。目前許多CEO同時兼任董事長。少數人，就像那些身上有飾帶、不斷給自己頒發更多勳章的非洲專制君主，還給自己增加了“總裁”頭銜。
But around the world, the arithmetic is against title-hogging corporate leaders. Where they exist, they are simply not being replaced. Strategy&, the consultancy, says only one in 10 companies awarded joint titles to incoming chief executives in 2014, near an all-time low. As recently as 2002, more than half of incoming chief executives in Europe and the US held both titles.
但環顧世界，那些身兼數職的企業領導人已呈現減少趨勢。在他們所在的公司，他們根本沒有後繼者。諮詢公司Strategy&表示，2014年向新任CEO兼授董事長頭銜的企業僅爲十分之一，接近歷史最低點。而距離今日不遠的2002年，歐美新上任的CEO兼職董事長的比例高於一半。
The breed is, however, finding ever more inventive ways to protect itself. Cisco just gave John Chambers the title of executive chairman — a move that would set off governance emergency klaxons in the UK — as it eases a successor in as CEO. Bank of America handed the chairmanship to Brian Moynihan, its chief executive, last autumn, and patted itself on the back for taking “the next steps in our governance responsibilities”.
然而，這一物種開始找出空前富有創意的途徑來保護自己。思科(Cisco)剛剛給約翰•錢伯斯(John Chambers)加上執行董事長的頭銜——此舉將在英國拉響公司治理的緊急警報——同時讓繼任CEO慢慢地適應公司的情況。去年秋天，美國銀行(BoA)讓其CEO賴恩•莫伊尼漢(Brian Moynihan)兼任董事長，還自誇採取了“履行我們治理責任的下幾步措施”。More like two steps back. Investors had persuaded BofA to split the roles in 2009, when the group was led by Ken Lewis. Last week, the bank headed off protest votes about the lack of consultation by conceding that the company’s owners should get a belated vote on Mr Moynihan’s coronation at next year’s annual meeting.
這更像是倒退了兩步。2009年，當美銀由肯•劉易斯(Ken Lewis)掌舵時，投資者曾說服美銀把CEO和董事長兩者職位分開。兩週前，該行同意，公司的股東應當在明年的年度大會上就莫伊尼漢獲任董事長一事發起一次遲來的投票，以此阻止了有關缺乏磋商機制的抗議性投票。Such confrontations are not entirely helpful, because they put boards on the defensive and make chief executives feel as though they are being punished. Since Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan, managed to see off an attack on his joint role a couple of years ago, big US banks (with the exception of Citigroup) have stuck to the idea that their leaders require full imperial honours to operate effectively. But it is a confused defence.
這種對抗並非完全有益，因爲這會令董事會處於守勢，使CEO感覺自己受到了懲罰。幾年前，摩根大通(JPMorgan)的董事長兼CEO傑米•戴蒙(Jamie Dimon)曾成功地擊退了對他身兼兩職的攻擊。自那以來，美國的大銀行——花旗集團(Citigroup)是個例外——一直堅守一個觀點，即其領導人需要全部帝王榮譽纔能有效履行職責。但這是一種邏輯混亂的辯護。BofA split the job to deal with the aftermath of the financial crisis, which it argues Mr Moynihan has done. Mr Dimon’s adept navigation of the crisis was one reason JPMorgan gave for not giving in to shareholder pressure in 2012 to strip him of one of his titles following a trading scandal.
美銀把CEO和董事長的職位分開，以應對金融危機的衝擊——現在該行主張，莫伊尼漢完成了這一任務。戴蒙嫺熟地帶領摩根大通渡過了危機，這正是摩根大通給出的2012年不向股東壓力屈服、沒有在一次交易醜聞之後剝奪他其中一個頭銜的原因之一。It would be better if investors focused on the positive. A chairman is a vital front-line supervisor and useful sounding board. One chief executive I talked to recently was besieged by directors emailing him with “just a quick question”. He was happy to have a chairman to relieve the pressure. Combining roles would “make my life simpler in some ways”, he said, but “more complicated in others”. GMI Ratings has shown that CEO-chairs at large North American companies are paid more and lag behind their better governed counterparts on environmental, social and governance measures. It also showed that long-term returns were higher at companies that separated the senior jobs.
如果投資者關注積極方面，那就好多了。董事長是至關重要的前線指揮和有用的宣傳家。不久之前跟我談話的一位CEO遭到了董事們的圍攻，董事們給他寫電子郵件，提出了“一個簡單問題”。他很高興自己也有董事長頭銜，能減輕這一壓力。兩個職位集於一身會“讓我的生活在某些方面更加簡單”，他說，但“在其他方面讓生活變得更加複雜”。GMI Ratings 的數據顯示，大型北美公司的CEO兼董事長的薪酬更高，但在環保、社會和治理措施上則落後於治理水平更高的同行。該機構數據還顯示，那些CEO和董事長由不同人擔任的公司的長期回報率更高。Separation is no panacea. If the chairman and chief executive are at loggerheads, it can be disruptive; if one of them is unduly pliable, it can be ineffective. It is sometimes enough to appoint a lead or presiding director to hold over-mighty executives in check (though I am sceptical about their effectiveness faced with a CEO-chair who insists on charging ahead).
職位分開不是萬能藥。如果董事長和CEO不合，可能給公司造成混亂；如果其中一人過分圓滑，可能造成無效率。有時任命一位首席董事去約束權力過大的高管就夠了（不過我懷疑，面對一位執意往前衝的CEO兼董事長，他們是否能發揮作用）。Ken Favaro of Strategy& says other exceptions to the norm could include companies where investors need reassuring about continuity — an argument in favour of Mr Chambers’ unusual new title. A second exception could be made for companies whose CEO-chair owns a large percentage of stock, aligning his or her interests with those of other shareholders: think of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway.
Strategy&的肯•法瓦羅(Ken Favaro)表示，其他例外可能包括投資者需要在持續性方面獲得保證的公司——這一說法對錢伯斯獲得的非同尋常的新頭銜構成支持。另一個例外可能是，CEO兼董事長擁有公司大比例股票、從而個人利益跟其他股東保持一致的公司：想想伯克希爾哈撒韋公司(Berkshire Hathaway)的沃倫•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)吧。In the UK, companies must comply with guidance to split the senior jobs or explain to investors why they have not. In the US, only 3 per cent of the S&P 500’s constituents insist on separation. Boards are free, in other words, to give one person both titles. It makes sense to retain such flexibility. But directors should exercise that right only rarely and put a strict expiry date on the joint mandate. In most of the corporate habitat, top-heavy corporate dinosaurs, armoured with titles, are lumbering towards extinction. Nobody should mourn their passing.
在英國，各公司必須遵守將CEO和董事長職位分開的規則，否則要向投資者解釋爲何沒有這麼做。在美國，只有3%的標普500指數成分股公司堅持把CEO和董事長之位分開。換言之，董事會可以隨意讓一個人同時擔任這兩個職位。保留這種靈活性是有道理的。但董事們應當僅在極少情況下行使這一權利，並對一人同時擔任這兩個職位定下嚴格的終止期限。在大多數公司，像身披重甲的恐龍一樣，身兼CEO和董事長兩職、負擔過重的角色正在走向滅亡。誰也不應爲他們的逝去感到悲痛。
