权势之争:董事长与CEO之间的种种

US chief executives are beginning to wean themselves from their perplexing attachment to the role of chairman. But at a few large banks, the addiction persists.
美国的首席执行官(CEO)们开始不再兼任董事长职务。但一些大银行的CEO们仍然痴迷于这一令人困惑的做法。

JPMorgan Chase’s directors are recommending rejection, for the second year running, of an investor proposal to split the role of chairman and chief executive, held by Jamie Dimon. Separation, they say, could cause “uncertainty, confusion and inefficiency”.
摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)的董事们正连续第二年建议否决投资者要求将董事长和CEO职位分开的提议。他们称，分开可能导致“不确定性、困惑和效率低下”。杰米•戴蒙(Jamie Dimon)是摩根大通的董事长兼CEO。

Well, I’d be happy to risk a little short-term uncertainty, confusion and inefficiency if it minimised the greater threat posed by executives who hold both jobs: overconfidence, over-reach and overload.
如果分开能够最大化地避免身兼两职带来的更严重威胁：自负、野心膨胀和工作量过大，那我还是乐意稍微冒这个险，忍受短期内不确定、困惑和效率低下的后果。

But don’t take my word for it, ask Mr Dimon’s peers at the Group of 30, a forum for financiers and regulators. In a 2012 report, the G30 stated there was a “compelling logic” for splitting the senior roles at global financial institutions. “The pressures and breadth of responsibility borne by the CEO have grown almost beyond the capacity of a single person,” its working group wrote.
但如果你不相信我的话，问问30人小组(G30)中其他银行的CEO们吧。G30是一个由金融家和监管者组成的论坛。G30在2012年的一份报告中指出，全球金融机构分离高级职位有着“不容置疑的逻辑”。G30的工作小组写道：“CEO承受的压力和职责发展到几乎超过一个人所能承受的范围。”

It also estimated chairmen-CEOs at financial groups spent 35 per cent of their time on board matters. An independent chairman lets the chief executive devote that time to managing the business. Separation cuts conflicts of interest and promotes constructive challenge in the boardroom. In short, a split not only limits problems caused when a student marks his own homework but gives him more time to do the homework in the first place.
该报告还估计，金融集团的CEO兼董事长拿出35%的时间解决董事会的问题。CEO若不兼任董事长，就可以把这些时间投入到管理企业当中。这样减少了利益冲突，推动了董事会的建设性质询。简言之，CEO和董事长由不同的人担任，不仅限制了学生给自己的家庭作业打分导致的问题，而且还让学生首先有更多时间做家庭作业。

Many US companies have begun to favour the governance model that most big UK companies use, even though it used to be as alien as cricket. Booz and Co calculated new appointments of chair-CEOs were down from 40 per cent in 2000 to 18 per cent in 2011. The proportion of truly independent chairmen at Fortune 500 companies has risen from 9 to 20 per cent in a decade.
许多美国公司开始青睐大多数英国大公司采用的治理模式，即便它们以前曾与这种模式格格不入。博斯公司(Booz and Co)估计，在新获任命中，CEO兼任董事长的比例从2000年的40%降至2011年的18%。在“财富500强”(Fortune 500)企业中，董事长真正由专人担任的比例在十年内从9%升至20%。