在董事席位爭奪戰敗給對沖基金經理丹?羅伯后，鈴木于上周四宣布辭去Seven &i控股公司，也就是7-Eleven連鎖店母公司社長職務。

但鈴木一點也沒因為失敗表現得懊惱。他表示，辭任的決定不能怪罪聲勢日益高漲的維權股東、短期效益主義，跟自己長時間職業生涯也無關。鈴木的矛頭只針對自己。他在新聞發布會上簡單地解釋說，辭職的原因是“自己德行不夠，羞愧難當”。

鈴木表示，他甚至不打算提名繼任者，還表示自己配不上這個職位。

來跟美國一些知名CEO在動蕩之中下臺的情況比較下。

杰夫?斯基林突然離開安然時聲稱是出于個人原因，和他一手創立的安然已經腐敗透了瀕臨倒閉沒有關系。斯基林發布聲明稱：“我要感謝肯?萊理解我完全出于個人原因辭職?！辈坏剿膫€月后，安然破產。五年后，斯基林入獄。

時代華納前CEO李文宣布卸任時，拼命想把美國在線和時代華納的合并描述為成功之舉。但這次合并導致時代華納的股價下跌了90%，此后一直被稱為歷史上最糟糕的并購案例之一。李文還表示相信管理團隊的能力，這又是CEO離任時的典型說辭。當時，李文表示：“我完全相信，迪克?帕森斯有能力帶領公司前行，聯合各方利益，與戰略伙伴通力合作，努力實現遠大的目標?！?/p>

雷曼兄弟首席財務官艾琳?卡蘭被掃地出門時，她解釋說原因是別處有一份令人激動的工作在召喚她。卡蘭表示：“能加入瑞士瑞信銀行我很激動，我很期待和瑞信的優秀人才一起工作。我終于有機會回歸本源。”然而，她在這個“令人激動”的新職位上只待了不到七個月。

最經典的莫過于雷神公司CEO丹?伯納姆。2003年他在接受《華爾街日報》采訪時表示，離職是為了“陪陪家人，教書，也可能到其他公司擔任董事”。三年后，涉嫌造假賬的伯納姆和美國證券交易委員會達成協議，繳納罰款并退還175萬美元獎金中的部分。

這并不是說鈴木沒有任何過錯。顯然，他曾設計把一位可能接替他的高管擠走。據報道，鈴木排擠高管的原因是希望把社長一職傳給自己的一個兒子。這不是什么光彩的事，但和斯基林在安然的所作所為相比，這簡直不值一提。此外，在美國，表現比鈴木糟糕得多，卸任時一點歉意也沒有的CEO大有人在，甚至是不計其數。

或許，要是美國CEO在辭職時承認錯誤成為一種常態，可能一開始他們也就不會做出讓自己蒙羞的事。至少最終被迫說再見時，聽上去也不會那么傻。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

U.S. CEOs could learn a thing or two about taking responsibility and expressing humility from Toshifumi Suzuki, the 83-year-old Japanese convenience store mogul. Suzuki, whose Seven & i Holdings is the parent company of the 7-Eleven chain, announced he was resigning as CEO on Thursday after losing a boardroom battle with hedge fund manager Dan Loeb.

But Suzuki was far from a sore loser. He didn’t blame the growing tide of activist investors, short-termism, or a long career for his decision to step down. Instead, Suzuki blamed himself. He simply explained his reason for resigning at a press conference as, “It is my lack of virtue and I am unbearably ashamed.”

Suzuki said he wasn’t going to even try to name a successor. He said he wasn’t worthy of the job.

Compare that to the way some high profile U.S. CEOs exited their jobs amid turmoil.

When Jeff Skilling abruptly exited Enron, he said he was doing so for personal reasons and that it had nothing to do with the fact that he had built a company that was corrupt at its core and on the verge of collapse. “I want to thank Ken Lay for his understanding of this purely personal decision,” Skilling said in a statement. Within four months, Enron was bankrupt. Five years later, Skilling was in jail.

Gerald Levin tried to paint the AOL-Time Warner merger that led to a 90% drop in the company’s stock price and has since been dubbed one of theworst deals in history as a success when he announced his departure from the company. He also said he believed in the strength of his management team—another classic of CEO getaway speeches. “I have the greatest confidence in Dick Parsons’ ability to lead the company forward, coalesce its diverse interests, and work with our strategic partners to achieve our ambitious goals,” he said at the time.

When Lehman Brothers CFO Erin Callan was pushed out, she said she was leaving her employer because an exciting new position had opened up elsewhere. “I’m excited to be joining Credit Suisse and look forward to working with their talented people,” Callan said. “This gives me the opportunity to return to my roots.” She stayed in that “exciting” new job for less than seven months.

And the classic: In 2003, Raytheon CEO Dan Burnham said he was leaving his job to “spend time with his family, teach and possibly become a director on other company boards,” according to theWall Street Journal at the time. Three years later, Burnham agreed to pay a fine and return part of a $1.75 million bonus in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of accounting irregularities.

That’s not to say Suzuki didn’t do anything wrong. Apparently, the CEO tried to remove a fellow executive who was a likely successor. Suzuki reportedly wanted to hand the job to one of his sons instead. That’s not great. But it’s nothing compared to what Skilling did at Enron. Countless other U.S. CEOs have done far worse and left without saying sorry.

Perhaps if it was the norm for U.S. CEOs to fess up to their mistakes when they resign, maybe they would be less willing to try to get away with the kind of behavior they should be ashamed of in the first place. At the very least, they wouldn’t sound as silly when they are finally are forced to say, “Goodbye.”