Corporate CEOs are headline news. Stock prices rise and fall at word of their hiring and firing. Business media debate their merits and defects as if individual leaders determined the health of the economy. Yet we know surprisingly little about how CEOs are selected and dismissed or about their true power. This is the first book to take us into the often secretive world of the CEO selection process. Rakesh Khurana's findings are surprising and disturbing. In recent years, he shows, corporations have increasingly sought CEOs who are above all else charismatic, whose fame and force of personality impress analysts and the business media, but whose experience and abilities are not necessarily right for companies' specific needs. The labor market for CEOs, Khurana concludes, is far less rational than we might think.
Khurana's findings are based on a study of the hiring and firing of CEOs at over 850 of America's largest companies and on extensive interviews with CEOs, corporate board members, and consultants at executive search firms. Written with exceptional clarity and verve, the book explains the basic mechanics of the selection process and how hiring priorities have changed with the rise of shareholder activism. Khurana argues that the market for CEOs, which we often assume runs on cool calculation and the impersonal forces of supply and demand, is culturally determined and too frequently inefficient. Its emphasis on charisma artificially limits the number of candidates considered, giving them extraordinary leverage to demand high salaries and power. It also raises expectations and increases the chance that a CEO will be fired for failing to meet shareholders' hopes. The result is corporate instability and too little attention to long-term strategy.
The book is a major contribution to our understanding of corporate culture and the nature of markets and leadership in general.
Review:
... The most important--and timely--management book of 2002. Rakesh Khurana pulls back the curtain on . . . the vogue for hiring celebrity outsiders over capable insiders. . . . A thousand hosannas. (Fortune)
... [This] new book . . . will surely intensify the already hot debate on corporate governance. . . . [It] seems wonderfully rational, not to mention impeccably well timed. . . . Recent events, of course, should make people care about the problems he spotlights. Some chief executives have either looted their companies or mismanaged them in ways that have wiped out billions of dollars of shareholder value. William J. Holstein(The New York Times)
... CEOs often write their own tickets when they ride to the rescue of a company in distress. Khurana details the ways that CEO accountability has diminished and compensation has skyrocketed (while workers' pay, in real dollars, has gone down). Adam Rogers(Newsweek)
... As Mr. Khurana patiently explains, the rise of the charismatic C.E.O. has been, on balance, a terrible trend for American business. . . . C.E.O.s have justified their ludicrous, pharaoh-like paydays with talk about supply and demand, meritocracy and shareholder value--but as it turns out, there's no steady correlation between any of these. Stephen Metcalf(New York Observer)
... Searching for a Corporate Savior pulls back the curtain on how the system of CEO selection actually works. . . . As a precondition to accepting the job, Khurana found, most candidates insist on taking both the chairman and C.E.O. titles as well as the right to stack the board with their cronies. . . . [M]any of those C.E.O.s have transferred ungodly sums of money from shareholders to their own pockets. Jerry Useem(American Prospect)
... Highly readable. . . . Khurana shows that the damage caused by celebrities in the executive suites does not affect merely employees and investors but society as a whole. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
... Even if a company is in dire straits, is an outsider likely to be the best person to rescue it? Mr. Khurana insists that is rarely the case. As markets go, that for chief executives works in a spectacularly unsatisfactory way, he argues. . . . The search process, with its emphasis on confidentiality, restricts the hunt for potential candidates and puts enormous power in the hands of the recruiting firm. (The Economist)
... A fascinating and grimly entertaining book. Gene Epstein(Barron's)
... In his excellent, readable and highly original Searching for a Corporate Savior , Khurana lays bare the CEO search process and shows how directors at company after company favor executive glitz and corporate pedigree over demonstrated competence--and then grossly overpay their recruits while demanding miraculous results. Not surprisingly, in trying to live up to expectations, the bosses often end up wrecking the company. Jay Hancock(Baltimore Sun)
... Rakesh Khurana takes a big swing at today's cult of the corporate leader, aiming to demolish a few of the shibboleths that company boards hold dear. . . . All in all, this is a refreshing debunking of business mythology. Simon Clarke(Human Resources)
Table of contents:
Preface ix
1. "Everyone Knew He Was Brilliant ":The Wooing of Jamie Dimon 1
2. A Different Kind of Market 20
3. The Rise of the Charismatic CEO 53
4. Board Games:The Role of Directors in CEO Search 81
5. The Go-Betweens:The Role of the Executive Search Firm 118
6. Crowning Napoleon:The Making of the Charismatic Candidate 151
7. Open Positions,Closed Shops:Learning from the External CEO Succession Process 186
Appendix 221
Notes 237
References 273
Index 289
Khurana's findings are based on a study of the hiring and firing of CEOs at over 850 of America's largest companies and on extensive interviews with CEOs, corporate board members, and consultants at executive search firms. Written with exceptional clarity and verve, the book explains the basic mechanics of the selection process and how hiring priorities have changed with the rise of shareholder activism. Khurana argues that the market for CEOs, which we often assume runs on cool calculation and the impersonal forces of supply and demand, is culturally determined and too frequently inefficient. Its emphasis on charisma artificially limits the number of candidates considered, giving them extraordinary leverage to demand high salaries and power. It also raises expectations and increases the chance that a CEO will be fired for failing to meet shareholders' hopes. The result is corporate instability and too little attention to long-term strategy.
The book is a major contribution to our understanding of corporate culture and the nature of markets and leadership in general.
Review:
... The most important--and timely--management book of 2002. Rakesh Khurana pulls back the curtain on . . . the vogue for hiring celebrity outsiders over capable insiders. . . . A thousand hosannas. (Fortune)
... [This] new book . . . will surely intensify the already hot debate on corporate governance. . . . [It] seems wonderfully rational, not to mention impeccably well timed. . . . Recent events, of course, should make people care about the problems he spotlights. Some chief executives have either looted their companies or mismanaged them in ways that have wiped out billions of dollars of shareholder value. William J. Holstein(The New York Times)
... CEOs often write their own tickets when they ride to the rescue of a company in distress. Khurana details the ways that CEO accountability has diminished and compensation has skyrocketed (while workers' pay, in real dollars, has gone down). Adam Rogers(Newsweek)
... As Mr. Khurana patiently explains, the rise of the charismatic C.E.O. has been, on balance, a terrible trend for American business. . . . C.E.O.s have justified their ludicrous, pharaoh-like paydays with talk about supply and demand, meritocracy and shareholder value--but as it turns out, there's no steady correlation between any of these. Stephen Metcalf(New York Observer)
... Searching for a Corporate Savior pulls back the curtain on how the system of CEO selection actually works. . . . As a precondition to accepting the job, Khurana found, most candidates insist on taking both the chairman and C.E.O. titles as well as the right to stack the board with their cronies. . . . [M]any of those C.E.O.s have transferred ungodly sums of money from shareholders to their own pockets. Jerry Useem(American Prospect)
... Highly readable. . . . Khurana shows that the damage caused by celebrities in the executive suites does not affect merely employees and investors but society as a whole. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
... Even if a company is in dire straits, is an outsider likely to be the best person to rescue it? Mr. Khurana insists that is rarely the case. As markets go, that for chief executives works in a spectacularly unsatisfactory way, he argues. . . . The search process, with its emphasis on confidentiality, restricts the hunt for potential candidates and puts enormous power in the hands of the recruiting firm. (The Economist)
... A fascinating and grimly entertaining book. Gene Epstein(Barron's)
... In his excellent, readable and highly original Searching for a Corporate Savior , Khurana lays bare the CEO search process and shows how directors at company after company favor executive glitz and corporate pedigree over demonstrated competence--and then grossly overpay their recruits while demanding miraculous results. Not surprisingly, in trying to live up to expectations, the bosses often end up wrecking the company. Jay Hancock(Baltimore Sun)
... Rakesh Khurana takes a big swing at today's cult of the corporate leader, aiming to demolish a few of the shibboleths that company boards hold dear. . . . All in all, this is a refreshing debunking of business mythology. Simon Clarke(Human Resources)
Table of contents:
Preface ix
1. "Everyone Knew He Was Brilliant ":The Wooing of Jamie Dimon 1
2. A Different Kind of Market 20
3. The Rise of the Charismatic CEO 53
4. Board Games:The Role of Directors in CEO Search 81
5. The Go-Betweens:The Role of the Executive Search Firm 118
6. Crowning Napoleon:The Making of the Charismatic Candidate 151
7. Open Positions,Closed Shops:Learning from the External CEO Succession Process 186
Appendix 221
Notes 237
References 273
Index 289
Führungskräfte verdanken ihre Berufung oft nur ihrem charismatischen Auftreten
Rakesh Khurana: Searching for a Corporate Savior. The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2002, 19,95 Pfund.
Wendelin Wiedeking von Porsche winkte ab - ebenso wie der Post-Vorstandschef Klaus Zumwinkel, Gottfried Dutiné (Philips), Ulrich Schumacher (Infineon) und Jens Alder (Swisscom). Wochenlang war die Deutsche Telekom auf der Suche nach einem neuen Vorstandsvorsitzenden. Am Ende wurde sie doch noch fündig: Seit Mitte November leitet nun Kai-Uwe Ricke den Konzern, ein Kandidat aus dem eigenen Haus. Intern oder extern - nach welchen Kriterien fällen Aufsichtsräte eigentlich ihre Entscheidung für oder gegen Vorstandskandidaten? Rakesh Khurana, Assistant Professor für Organizational Behaviour an der Harvard Business School in Boston, hat dies wissenschaftlich untersucht. Die Ergebnisse finden sich in dem rund 300 Seiten starken Buch "Searching for a Corporate Savior".
Der Arbeitsmarkt für Chief Executive Officers (CEO) sei nicht wie jeder andere Arbeitsmarkt aufgebaut, stellte Khurana fest. Die Suche nach einem geeigneten Kandidaten werde oftmals allein "von einem übergroßen Eifer" bestimmt, daß der künftige CEO über Führungspersönlichkeit und charismatische Qualitäten verfüge. Den Aufsichtsräten sei daran gelegen, für die Medien und Investoren einen öffentlichkeitswirksamen "rettenden Star" zu präsentieren. Weniger Sorgfalt werde dagegen darauf verwandt, wie der Kandidat mit der aktuellen Unternehmenslage umgehen könne - mit der Konsequenz, daß die Fähigkeiten eines Vorstandsvorsitzenden auch schnell wieder in Frage gestellt würden, wenn es diesem nicht gelinge, umgehend positive Ergebnisse zu erwirtschaften.
Rakesh Khurana hat für seine Untersuchung mehr als 850 Einstellungen und Entlassungen von CEOs in amerikanischen Unternehmen analysiert sowie zahlreiche Gespräche mit Spitzenmanagern und Personalberatern geführt. In seinem Buch veranschaulicht der Autor das Thema zunächst am Beispiel der Kandidatenauswahl der Bank One Corporation aus Chicago von 1999: Deren Direktoren entschieden sich für einen "charismatischen externen Manager", obwohl es im eigenen Haus auch einen erfolgreichen und anerkannten "High Potential" gegeben hätte. Der Vorwurf, daß Aufsichtsräte vorrangig extern nach Bewerbern Ausschau halten, statt im eigenen Hause nach möglichen Kandidaten zu suchen, zieht sich anschließend wie ein roter Faden durch Khuranas Werk.
Mit großer Klarheit beschreibt der amerikanische Wissenschaftler die Grundmechanismen der CEO-Auswahl und wie sich die Kriterien dafür in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten verändert haben. So analysiert er intensiv das Angebot auf diesem Markt und kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß dieses sehr klein ist. Infolgedessen tragen beide Seiten ein großes Risiko: der potentielle Kandidat, weil er als illoyal gegenüber seinem bisherigen Arbeitgeber gelten könnte, und das suchende Unternehmen, weil sich eine Absage eines Wunschkandidaten in den Augen der Öffentlichkeit negativ auf die Unternehmensbewertung auswirken könnte. Khurana hinterfragt aber auch die Anforderungsprofile, die sich oftmals selbst widersprechen: "Wie kann man beispielsweise risikobereit sein, ohne zu viele Risikos einzugehen? Wie flexibel sein und sich zugleich standhaft für ein Bestreben einsetzen?" (Übersetzung von der Rezensentin).
Oftmals, folgert Khurana, spielten bei der Suche nach einem neuen Vorstand nur die äußeren Umstände eine Rolle. Als ein Beispiel zieht er hierfür die Auswahlkriterien für die Vorstandsbesetzung des amerikanischen Unternehmens Stanley Works, eines Werkzeugproduzenten, heran: "Nach intensiver Suche berief der Stanley-Aufsichtsrat John Trani, den ehemaligen Präsidenten von General Electric Medical Systems. Als ich verschiedene Stanley-Direktoren bat, mir ihre Gründe für die Entscheidung zugunsten Tranis zu begründen, erklärten mir die meisten, daß er von General Electric komme und für Jack Welch gearbeitet habe." Daneben kritisiert der Autor aber auch, daß die Kandidatengespräche oftmals gar keine richtigen Vorstellungsgespräche im klassischen Sinn seien, sondern daß dem Kandidaten das Unternehmen gleichsam wie auf dem Silbertablett dargeboten werde, so daß dieser sich nur noch "wie Napoleon die Herrscherkrone aufsetzen" müsse.
Ein Kapitel widmet Khurana den Personalberatungsunternehmen - einer Branche, die in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten besonders von der Suche nach neuen Vorständen gewonnen habe: Während es bis Anfang der 1990er Jahre weitestgehend als "nicht standesgemäß" angesehen worden sei, bei der Suche nach einem neuen CEO externe Unterstützung zu Rate zu ziehen, sei dies heute üblich. Der Grund: Personalberater nähmen hierbei nicht nur die Rolle eines Vermittlers ein, sondern auch die des "Choreographen". Das Buch ist nicht nur wegen der vielen Praxisberichte und Zitate interessant zu lesen, sondern kommt zugleich auch sehr unterhaltsam daher. Sicherlich fände auch eine deutsche Übersetzung viele Leser.
JUTTA GRÖSCHL
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