4月29日，在拉古娜尼格召开的《财富》杂志绿色头脑风暴大会（Fortune's Brainstorm Green）上，宝洁（Procter & Gamble）CEO麦睿博遇到我时对我说：“我要证明你错了。”当时的气氛非常尴尬：就在两个月前，我刚刚写了一篇很长的文章，批判地分析了他作为CEO的表现（文章名为“麦睿博能挺过来吗？”）。自从文章在《财富》杂志（Fortune）发表以后，这是我们两人第一次见面。麦睿博想要证明的是，他将坚守自己的岗位——而且要取得成功。

    然而，不到一个月之后，一切都结束了。上周四股市收盘之后，宝洁公司发表声明称，领导公司四年时间之后，59岁的麦睿博将从6月30日正式退休——而他的前任雷富礼，将立即重掌帅印，担任公司CEO、主席兼总裁。尽管受到牛市影响，加上它表现出的复苏迹象，这家市值840亿美元、拥有佳洁士（Crest）、帮宝适（Pampers）和潘婷（Pantene）等品牌的公司股价一直处于历史最高点，但它能否像联合利华（Unilever）等竞争对手那样，继续保持增长势头，依然难以预测。前宝洁高管加里•马丁去年曾向公司董事会写信投诉麦睿博的管理，他说：“我认为这是最符合公司利益的决定，虽然这个决定未免有些太迟。”

    虽然关于麦睿博即将离职的消息流传已久，但在最终公布的时候仍让许多人感到震惊。当时，公司许多高管正在日内瓦参加宝洁校友网络全球大会（Alumni Network Global Conference），麦睿博本人原计划在会上发言。就连宝洁的公关团队也对此感到非常震惊；当时该部门许多人正在日内瓦参加会议。他们不得不在美国当日收盘后才发布消息——这意味着他们半夜还要忙于应付询问电话。

    几位知情的公司高管告诉《财富》杂志称，他们并不知道公司会如此迅速做出这样的决定——他们更没想到，已经再婚并且正在从事铁人三项的雷富礼，会有兴趣重回公司执掌帅印。

    麦睿博把全部精力都投入到宝洁，而且在二月份，他还曾声称工作的挑战令他“充满活力”。无论此次辞职是出于自愿还是被迫，对于麦睿博而言都是一次痛苦的转变。辛辛那提雷诺克斯资产管理公司（Lenox Asset Management）的约翰•莱姆表示：“麦睿博是个好人，他非常努力工作才获得这份工作。他目前的处境肯定非常艰难，但我还是非常钦佩他能急流勇退，给新一代领导人走上前台的机会。”这家理财公司的许多客户都是宝洁公司的员工。

    "I'm going to prove you wrong." That's what Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald said to me on April 29th, when we crossed paths at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel. It was an awkward moment: Just over two months earlier, I had written a long, critical analysis of his performance as CEO (Can Bob McDonald Hang On?), and this was the first time we'd seen each other since Fortune published the article. What McDonald intended to prove was that he would stay in his job -- and succeed.

    Less than a month later, it was all over. On Thursday after the market close, P&G (PG) issued a release stating that McDonald, 59, was retiring, effective June 30, after almost four years at the helm -- and that his predecessor, A.G. Lafley, would take over as CEO, chairman, and president immediately. Although the stock had remained near an all-time high, helped by the bull market and signs of renewed energy at the $84 billion maker of Crest, Pampers, and Pantene, top-line growth remained elusive, even as competitors like Unilever (UL) managed it. Says Gary Martin, a former senior executive who wrote the board a letter complaining about McDonald's management last year: "I think it's in the best interest of the company, and it's overdue."

    Though long rumored, the news came as a shock when it finally broke. Many executives were in Geneva for P&G's Alumni Network Global Conference, a gathering at which McDonald himself had been scheduled to speak. Even Procter's PR team, some of whom were in Geneva, seemed to be taken by surprise; they had to release the news after the market close in the U.S. -- meaning they were fielding calls through the middle of the night.

    Several executives close to the company told Fortune they hadn't known such a move was imminent -- and hadn't had any inkling that Lafley, who had gotten remarried and taken up triathlons, would be interested in returning.

    Whether or not McDonald resigned of his own accord or was pushed, it is surely a painful turn of events for a man who was devoted to P&G and who as recently as February proclaimed himself "energized" by the challenges of the job. Says John Lame of Lenox Asset Management, a Cincinnati-based money management firm that works with many Procter & Gamble employees: "Bob is a good man who worked very, very hard to get the job. It's a difficult situation, but I admire him for stepping out and letting the new generation of leadership come forward."

    前任CEO重新出山，这在宝洁并不是头一次。早在2000年，德克•雅格被辞退，当时籍籍无名的雷富礼被任命为CEO。为了保证顺利交接，前宝洁CEO约翰•白波回到公司担任董事会主席。但这一次，雷富礼既是旧的守护者，也是新的接班人；很明显，目前的宝洁没有人能成为合格的继任者——这对于一直对自己的接班人计划引以为豪的宝洁来说是一个巨大的问题。

    对于此次宝洁的权力更替，有一个人非常高兴，他就是潘兴广场资本管理公司（Pershing Square Capital Management）的比尔•阿克曼。2012年，这家理财公司买入了20亿美元的宝洁股份。阿克曼曾公开表示，麦睿博并不是宝洁CEO的合适人选。虽然阿克曼曾支持一名外部人员，但他表示自己对雷富礼的回归感到非常高兴。他说：“他从来不害怕做正确的事情，而且一向行动迅速，他很快就能改变公司的文化。”

    真的是这样吗？其实麦睿博所遭遇的困境很大程度上都是直接源于雷富礼任期内的政策。本世纪前十年，宝洁“提高价格、鼓励创新”的策略非常成功，但在经济衰退期间却起到了相反的效果，反而让竞争对手在它一直坚守的领域站稳了脚跟。宝洁失去了大量市场份额，很大程度上正是由于定价过高。许多前高管曾抱怨称，一度得到雷富礼支持的矩阵式结构变得非常迟缓，而且官僚气十足。

    雷富礼时期的宝洁营销负责人吉姆•施坦格尔表示：“在他即将执掌的这家公司，许多东西都是他一手创造或促成的。他能用批判的眼光来看待它们吗？我想他会的。当他坐上最高点，他就是一位伟大的CEO。”

    另外一个有趣的问题是，雷富礼的回归对于宝洁的下一代领导者意味着什么。雷富礼与全球美容护理部门的负责人黛布•亨利塔和织物护理部门负责人乔瓦尼•西塞拉尼关系密切，但与居家护理部门负责人、被誉为明日之星的大卫•泰勒却并没有过直接合作。

    去年2月5日，雷富礼出版了一本书，名为《致胜游戏：如何让策略真正发挥作用》（Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works）。他在书中和合著者、管理大师罗杰•马丁详细探讨了他是带领宝洁成功实现转变的历程。几个月前，我曾与雷富礼会面，还问到他的成功为何没能延续到麦睿博的任期，雷富礼的回答很简单：“任何一项策略都不会永远有效。”

    事实证明，CEO们也是如此。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/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.