首席执行官可不是件容易的差事。如果要掌管的是一家对未来并没有清晰规划的大型公司，那就更艰难了。惠普公司（HP）的李艾科上任一年不到就遭到驱逐，将CEO宝座拱手让给梅格•惠特曼，其中甘苦他应该深有体会。

    惠普公司一路走来坎坷不断。自李艾科执掌大权并大刀阔斧推行改革以来，公司股价已下挫47%。他的举措包括：砍掉新近上马的一条移动设备生产线，将网络操作系统（WebOS）打入冷宫，并宣布可能剥离个人服务集团（Personal Services Group）。与此同时，他宣布斥资103亿美元收购英国管理软件公司Autonomy，这一决定则让大家感到震惊。惠普公司内部消息人士还告诉《财富》杂志（Fortune），李艾科因为不具备前任首席执行官马克・赫德那样的数字天赋而饱受折磨。因此，他的非正式员工支持率跌至25%也就不足为奇了。

    现在，所有难题都落到了惠特曼头上。公司召开电话会议宣布对她的任命时，董事会新任执行主席雷•莱恩称：“梅格在技术上具有远见卓识，她拥有可靠的管理资历。”也许吧。惠特曼作为惠普董事会的一员深知前路艰难——在升任首席执行官后首次接受科技博客All Things D的采访中，她对此坦承不讳。她说：“我下定决心，要让公司回到正轨。”如果她真想有机会兑现这番话，她就需要立即采取以下5大举措。

整顿PC业务

    上个月，惠普公布了一个举世震惊的消息，宣布可能会剥离或卖掉其销售PC硬件的个人系统集团。这个部门是惠普最大的营收来源之一，但也是利润最微薄的（它恰恰也是让惠普广为人知的一个部门）。莱恩称，公司不会卖掉这个部门，言下之意就是，如果剥离不可避免，惠普可能会将这一集团变为部分持股，独立运营的公司。在这一问题上，惠特曼似乎脚踩两只船，既对前任的战略表示支持，又说会对此举再做审视。这种表态不免让分析人士感到困惑。

    相关决策宜早不宜迟。如果惠普想要调整业务重点，像IBM公司IBM一样将企业用户及软件服务作为主要业务，那就得当机立断。

迅速处置Web OS资产

    It's not easy being CEO. That's especially true if you run a massive company that doesn't quite know what to do with itself. HP's Leo Apotheker learned the hard way when he was ousted to make room for Meg Whitman barely a year into the job.

    It's been a rough ride for HP (HPQ). The company's stock has tumbled as much as 47% since Apotheker took the reigns and effectively slashed and burned his way through the company, killing off a recently launched line of mobile devices, putting the WebOS operating system on ice and announcing the potential spin-off of the Personal Services Group. Meanwhile, a $10.3 billion decision to acquire British management software firm Autonomy raised plenty of eyebrows. Sources inside HP also told Fortune Apotheker suffered for not having former-CEO Mark V. Hurd's aptitude for numbers. It's no surprise his informal employee approval rating plummeted to just 25%.

    Now the job is all Whitman's. During the company's conference call announcing her appointment, new executive chairman Ray Lane said, "Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution." Perhaps. Whitman, an HP board member and director, knows the road ahead is a tough one -- she admitted as much during her first interview as CEO with All Things D. "I am resolved to restore it to its rightful place," she said. Here are 5 moves she needs to make right away if she wants to have a chance of making that the case.

Sort out the PC business.

    Last month, the company dropped a bombshell, announcing it might spin-off or sell its Personal Systems Group, which sells PC hardware. The division is one of HP's largest revenue sources, but also its least profitable. (It happens to be what most people know HP for as well.) Lane has said the company would not sell it off, insinuating that if a spin-off were to happen, HP might turn the group into a partially owned, independently operated company. Whitman seemed to be on both sides of the issue, expressing support for her predecessor's strategy but also saying she'd take a second look at the move. That left analysts totally confused.

    A decision should be made sooner rather than later. If HP wants to refine its focus, make enterprise and software services its bread and butter like IBM (IBM), get it over with.

Make a plan (for Web OS). Any plan.

    李艾科重组公司的激进计划最悲惨的殉葬品之一就是WebOS。近一年前，惠普以12亿美元的价格收购奔迈公司（Palm），将这款广受好评的操作系统收入囊中。如今，Touchpad平板电脑和Veer手机这类依托WebOS的设备已经停产，这一系统的未来变得扑朔迷离。起初，它被宣布寿终正寝。随后却又传来消息，称惠普正在考虑合作伙伴及授权方案。打那以后呢？无声无息。知名信息技术分析公司Forrester的分析师弗兰克•吉列特确信，惠普应该就WebOS的发展方向给出清晰的计划，即使是抛售亦可。他说：“这项资产正在迅速老化。如果这个系统还想保住一点价值的话，惠普就得加快处置的步伐。”

了解员工

    惠特曼曾说：“我已经在董事会任职八个月了，但我确实需要深入公司内部，和员工交流。”吉列特确信，在这样一家拥有近325,000名员工的庞大公司里，这么做是防止任何可能发生的内部混乱或士气不振的关键所在。他说：“她最不希望看到的就是员工大规模流失，管理人员或关键技术人才的大规模流失会让她的开局变得更加困难。”而竞争对手如戴尔公司（Dell）和甲骨文公司（Oracle）的招聘人员可能已经在致电惠普员工询问跳槽意向了。

    眼前的例子就是：去年领导收购奔迈公司的执行副总裁托德•布拉德利的动向。据科技博客Boy Genius Report的一篇报道称，布拉德利认真考虑离职事宜已有数月之久。不管此事是否属实，失去像布拉德利这样的高管对惠普而言将是一次重大打击，尤其是在目前这个转折关头。显然，惠特曼对此心知肚明。

赢回信任

    莱维克战略沟通公司（Levick Strategic Communications）位于华盛顿特区。该公司副总裁迈克尔•罗宾逊称：“就信任而言，惠普的‘银行’赤字十分严重。”实际上，在经历了众多乱局之后，惠普亟需的是能够赢得华尔街信任的领导班子。《财富》杂志首次报道李艾科被逐出惠普后，公司股价立刻急剧飙升，这对任何公司的管理层而言都不是好兆头。而据罗宾逊称，幸运的是，惠特曼在这一领域的公众形象帮了大忙。他说：“惠特曼的个人品牌非常优良。人们信任梅格•惠特曼，她的大名人尽皆知。而惠普则多多少少属于品牌效应不足。”

摆脱过去阴影

    最后，惠特曼需要彻底摆脱过去的阴影。多年来，惠普一直失误不断。饱受争议的并购，频发的管理层丑闻和战略的不断反复已让客户、员工和股东都精疲力竭。罗宾逊认为，惠普这几年麻烦不断，惠特曼需要找出这段历史的某些缩影，并证明老一套必将一去不复返。他补充说：“与过去诀别需要在沙地上画出一条线，此前是过去，从此开始是现在。”惠特曼怎么才能找出符合这种要求的东西呢？如果未来的几个月惠普能够保持风平浪静，或许就是个良好的开端。

    译者：清远

    One of the worst casualties of Apotheker's aggressive plan to retool the company is WebOS, the critically acclaimed operating system HP inherited when it acquired Palm for $1.2 billion nearly a year ago. The discontinuation of WebOS devices like the Touchpad tablet and Veer phone puts its future in doubt. First, it was dead. Then came news that HP was debating partnerships and licensing options. Since then? Not a peep. "That asset is aging fast," says Forrester analyst Frank Gillett, who believes HP should have a clear story with where they're going with WebOS, even if it means a sale. "If it's going to have any value, they have to deal with it quick."

Get to know the employees.

    "I have been on the board for eight months, but I really need to get in there and meet its people," Whitman has said. Gillett believes doing so is crucial to stem any potential company turmoil or morale issues among the company's nearly 325,000 employees. "The last thing she wants is any kind of exodus, a management or key skills exodus that would make her start more difficult," he says. Recruiters from competitors like Dell (DELL) and Oracle (ORCL) are already likely making calls.

    Case in point: Executive Vice President Todd Bradley, who led the acquisition of Palm last year. According to a report from tech blog Boy Genius Report, Bradley has been mulling over his departure from the company for months. Whether that's true or not, losing an exec like Bradley would be a major blow for the company, particularly during this transition and, clearly, Whitman realizes that.

Bring back the trust.

    "In terms of trust, HP's bank is in serious deficit," says Michael Robinson, a senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications based in Washington, DC. Indeed, after so much turmoil what HP needs badly is leadership that Wall Street, in particular, feels it can trust. The stock jumped radically when Fortune first reporter news of Apotheker's ouster; that's a bad sign for any company's executive management. Luckily, Whitman's profile is a big help in this department, according to Robinson. "The Whitman brand is sterling," he says. "People trust Meg Whitman; hers is a name you know. HP has more or less been brandless."

Break with the past.

    Finally, Whitman needs to make a clean break with the past. For years, HP has been plagued by stumble after stumble. Hotly debated mergers and acquisitions, executive scandals and reversals of strategy have worn on customers, employees and shareholders alike. Robinson argues that Whitman needs to find symbols of the troubled past and demonstrate how they will persist no more. "Breaking with the past requires [drawing] a real line in the sand to say that was then this now," he adds. What could Whitman find that might fit the bill? A few drama-free months might be a good start.