????梅格?惠特曼正式成為惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard）新任CEO。這可不是臨時(shí)的差事?；萏芈@次可是要真刀真槍地再大干一場(chǎng)。

????1999年，惠普董事會(huì)辭退了盧?普拉特，從朗訊科技公司（Lucent）挖來(lái)了卡莉?菲奧莉娜。之后，這家老牌硅谷公司的CEO雖如走馬燈般不停更換，但業(yè)績(jī)卻毫無(wú)起色。因此，惠特曼此次可謂重任在肩。

????菲奧莉娜是登上《財(cái)富》雜志最具影響力商界女性（Fortune Most Powerful Women，MPW）榜單榜首的第一人，并在1998年至2004年一直蟬聯(lián)榜首寶座。誰(shuí)是從菲奧瑞納手中搶過(guò)MPW榜首桂冠的人？她就是時(shí)任eBay公司CEO的惠特曼。

????惠普董事會(huì)于2005年早些時(shí)候辭掉了菲奧莉娜，之后便陷入了與女性高管糾纏不休的怪圈。2006年，惠普公司董事長(zhǎng)帕特麗夏?鄧恩被迫辭職。之后，接替菲奧莉娜出任CEO的馬克?赫德因與惠普公司一位女性顧問(wèn)傳出桃色丑聞，而麻煩纏身。2010年，赫德離開惠普，來(lái)自商用軟件公司SAP的李艾科接管公司，大批女性進(jìn)入惠普董事會(huì)，幫助李艾科收拾殘局。

????正是乘此東風(fēng)，55歲的惠特曼成為惠普公司董事。當(dāng)時(shí)，她剛剛走出競(jìng)選加州州長(zhǎng)失敗的陰影。據(jù)悉，過(guò)去幾個(gè)月里，惠普董事會(huì)對(duì)李艾科的糟糕表現(xiàn)進(jìn)行了評(píng)估，惠特曼【同時(shí)也是寶潔公司（Procter & Gamble）董事】在其中扮演了重要的角色。去年春天，為了驗(yàn)證自己在風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資方面的能力，她成為凱鵬華盈投資公司（Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers）的兼職咨詢師。事實(shí)上，當(dāng)時(shí)的惠特曼便已做好了走上前臺(tái)的準(zhǔn)備。很顯然，惠普董事會(huì)之所以能就惠特曼上臺(tái)達(dá)成一致，惠普董事及凱鵬華盈合伙人雷?蘭恩，以及另外一位知名風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資人馬克?安德森起到了關(guān)鍵作用。

????惠特曼能否勝任這份工作？未來(lái)這個(gè)問(wèn)題仍將爭(zhēng)論不休。她在eBay擔(dān)任CEO期間，成功使這家初創(chuàng)公司進(jìn)入《財(cái)富》500強(qiáng)（Fortune 500）；但在后期，她的表現(xiàn)卻不盡如人意。

????另外一個(gè)質(zhì)疑是：惠特曼為什么愿意接受這個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)？筆者曾對(duì)惠特曼進(jìn)行過(guò)長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)日的采訪（負(fù)責(zé)2004年與2009年，《財(cái)富》雜志關(guān)于惠特曼的封面報(bào)道）。她給筆者的感覺(jué)是：她是一名企業(yè)戰(zhàn)略專家和徹頭徹尾的經(jīng)理人。在加入eBay之前，她曾供職于寶潔、迪士尼（Disney）和貝恩咨詢公司（Bain Consulting），這些經(jīng)歷讓她得到了很好的歷練，使她樂(lè)于接受巨大的管理挑戰(zhàn)。而且，惠特曼曾經(jīng)參加過(guò)過(guò)加州州長(zhǎng)的角逐，規(guī)劃過(guò)自己的施政綱領(lǐng)，因此，對(duì)她來(lái)說(shuō)，惠普帶來(lái)的挑戰(zhàn)并不那么可怕。

????如今，梅格?惠特曼已經(jīng)成為加州第二大公司【僅次于雪佛龍公司（Chevron）】的掌門人。在卡莉離開六年之后，惠普再次成為《財(cái)富》500強(qiáng)公司中由女性掌管的規(guī)模最大的公司。

????譯者：劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓

????Meg Whitman is the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). Not interim chief. This is Whitman's for-real next big gig.

????And it is big indeed, given that the storied Silicon Valley company has lurched from chief to chief to chief ever since the board, in 1999, eased out Lew Platt and recruited Carly Fiorina from Lucent (ALU).

????Fiorina was the first No. 1 on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list, at the top from 1998 to 2004. Who grabbed the MPW crown from Fiorina? Whitman, when she was CEO of eBay (EBAY).

????H-P's board fired Fiorina in early 2005 and has had a thing about women since. In 2006 came the removal of HP board chair Pattie Dunn. Then Mark Hurd, Fiorina's CEO successor, got into trouble over his relationship with a female HP consultant. With Hurd's 2010 ouster came new chief Leo Apotheker from SAP (SAP)--and an influx of women to fill board seats and help clean up the mess.

????Whitman, 55, was one of those new HP directors, fresh off her defeat in the California governor race. I hear that Whitman, who is also on the Procter & Gamble (PG) board, was key during the past couple of months as the board assessed Apotheker's poor performance. Having taken a part-time gig at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers last spring, to test her venture-capital chops, Whitman was available to step up. And ready. Fellow HP board member--and Kleiner partner--Ray Lane and another well-known VC, Marc Andreessen, apparently were critical in getting consensus among the directors.

????Debate will rage about whether Whitman is right for the job. After building eBay from a startup to a Fortune 500 company, she stumbled toward the end of her CEO run.

????The other question: Why would Whitman take this very difficult job? Having spent many days with Whitman (reporting Fortune cover stories about her in 2004 and 2009), I have a sense: A corporate strategist and manager to the core, she was trained at P&G and Disney (DIS) and Bain Consulting, pre-eBay, and has long loved a giant management challenge. Also, having already gotten her head around the idea of running California, she probably didn't think the H-P challenge is as daunting as other execs might.

????So, now Meg Whitman is in charge of California's second-largest company--behind Chevron (CVX). And HP is, six years after Carly, once again the largest Fortune 500 company led by a woman.