????前任CEO重新出山，這在寶潔并不是頭一次。早在2000年，德克?雅格被辭退，當時籍籍無名的雷富禮被任命為CEO。為了保證順利交接，前寶潔CEO約翰?白波回到公司擔任董事會主席。但這一次，雷富禮既是舊的守護者，也是新的接班人；很明顯，目前的寶潔沒有人能成為合格的繼任者——這對于一直對自己的接班人計劃引以為豪的寶潔來說是一個巨大的問題。

????對于此次寶潔的權力更替，有一個人非常高興，他就是潘興廣場資本管理公司（Pershing Square Capital Management）的比爾?阿克曼。2012年，這家理財公司買入了20億美元的寶潔股份。阿克曼曾公開表示，麥睿博并不是寶潔CEO的合適人選。雖然阿克曼曾支持一名外部人員，但他表示自己對雷富禮的回歸感到非常高興。他說：“他從來不害怕做正確的事情，而且一向行動迅速，他很快就能改變公司的文化?！?/p>

????真的是這樣嗎？其實麥睿博所遭遇的困境很大程度上都是直接源于雷富禮任期內的政策。本世紀前十年，寶潔“提高價格、鼓勵創新”的策略非常成功，但在經濟衰退期間卻起到了相反的效果，反而讓競爭對手在它一直堅守的領域站穩了腳跟。寶潔失去了大量市場份額，很大程度上正是由于定價過高。許多前高管曾抱怨稱，一度得到雷富禮支持的矩陣式結構變得非常遲緩，而且官僚氣十足。

????雷富禮時期的寶潔營銷負責人吉姆?施坦格爾表示：“在他即將執掌的這家公司，許多東西都是他一手創造或促成的。他能用批判的眼光來看待它們嗎？我想他會的。當他坐上最高點，他就是一位偉大的CEO。”

????另外一個有趣的問題是，雷富禮的回歸對于寶潔的下一代領導者意味著什么。雷富禮與全球美容護理部門的負責人黛布?亨利塔和織物護理部門負責人喬瓦尼?西塞拉尼關系密切，但與居家護理部門負責人、被譽為明日之星的大衛?泰勒卻并沒有過直接合作。

????去年2月5日，雷富禮出版了一本書，名為《致勝游戲：如何讓策略真正發揮作用》（Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works）。他在書中和合著者、管理大師羅杰?馬丁詳細探討了他是帶領寶潔成功實現轉變的歷程。幾個月前，我曾與雷富禮會面，還問到他的成功為何沒能延續到麥睿博的任期，雷富禮的回答很簡單：“任何一項策略都不會永遠有效?！?/p>

????事實證明，CEO們也是如此。（財富中文網）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪浩

????This is not the first time a former CEO has returned to P&G. Back in 2000, when Durk Jager was fired and the then-unknown Lafley was named CEO, former P&G CEO John Pepper stepped back in as chairman to ease the transition. But this time, Lafley is both the old guard and the new guy; apparently there is no one at P&G worthy of being named successor -- a huge problem for a company that has long taken pride in its succession planning process.

????One person who is happy about the change is Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, the money manager who took a $2 billion stake in the company in 2012 and has publicly said that McDonald was not the right man for the job. Although Ackman had advocated for an outsider, he proclaimed himself pleased to hear of Lafley's return. "He's not afraid of doing the right thing and doing it quickly, and he can immediately change the culture," he says.

????Can he? Some of McDonald's own woes came directly from Lafley's own tenure. The strategy that was so successful for P&G in the early 2000s -- raising prices and boosting innovation -- backfired in the recession and gave its competitors a foothold that they haven't yet relinquished. P&G has lost significant market share, in part because its pricing was too high. And many former executives complain that the matrix structure once championed by Lafley has become slow and bureaucratic.

????Says Jim Stengel, P&G's head of marketing under Lafley: "He's coming into a company in which a lot of what he created or accelerated is in place. Will he look at that critically? I think he will. When he's at the top of his game he's a great CEO."

????The other interesting question is what Lafley's return means for the next generation of P&G leaders. Lafley is close with Deb Henretta, head of global beauty care, and Giovanni Cisarani, head of fabric care, but hasn't worked directly with David Taylor, head of home care, and considered a rising star.

????Last February 5, Lafley published a book called Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, in which he and coauthor and management guru Roger Martin discuss in detail how he pulled off the giant turnaround at Procter & Gamble. A few months earlier, I met with Lafley and asked why his success hadn't lasted into McDonald's tenure, Lafley said simply: "Strategy doesn't last forever."

????Neither, it turns out, do CEOs.