????本周二，雷?萊恩在惠普公司（Hewlett Packard）的統(tǒng)治時(shí)代宣告結(jié)束?；萜盏膯T工應(yīng)該感到高興。雖然這位前任董事長(zhǎng)最近還在擔(dān)任公司的執(zhí)行董事，但是他再也不能對(duì)惠普的董事會(huì)呼風(fēng)喚雨?；萜招?，維權(quán)股東和公司董事拉爾夫?惠特沃思將臨時(shí)擔(dān)任董事長(zhǎng)?；萜諏⒊蜂N董事會(huì)成員拉吉夫?古普塔擔(dān)任的首席董事職位。

????此外，不屬于萊恩嫡系的約翰?哈莫葛倫和肯?湯普遜也將離開董事會(huì)。而馬克?安德森和拉吉夫?古普塔這兩名地位高于萊恩的獨(dú)立董事則成功地在萊恩任內(nèi)大規(guī)模董事離職中得以幸免。

????處境艱難的惠普遭遇另一個(gè)劇變的直接原因是，股東在3月20日年度股東大會(huì)上對(duì)萊恩（41%投反對(duì)票）和另兩位董事會(huì)成員投出高反對(duì)票。（46%和45%的股東分別反對(duì)哈莫葛倫和湯普遜。）

????或許，對(duì)改善董事會(huì)治理來(lái)說，由惠特沃思掌舵的過度時(shí)期是一個(gè)好兆頭。但重要的是，誰(shuí)才是擔(dān)任長(zhǎng)期董事長(zhǎng)的合適人選？惠特沃思承諾，董事會(huì)將從現(xiàn)有董事會(huì)成員之外招聘董事長(zhǎng)。鑒于董事會(huì)在許多事件中遭遇慘敗，特別是近期的自治崩潰，這不失為一個(gè)好消息。

????由于萊恩親自動(dòng)手挑戰(zhàn)董事會(huì)成員和CEO，而且最近還擔(dān)任執(zhí)行董事一職，他本人作為董事會(huì)成員的獨(dú)立性頗受質(zhì)疑。2011年2月，萊恩在接受《圣荷西水星報(bào)》（the San Jose Mercury News）關(guān)于董事會(huì)變化的采訪時(shí)表示：“這是我的工作。我不得不為此負(fù)全部領(lǐng)導(dǎo)責(zé)任。”而在新提名董事、新任CEO瑪格麗特?惠特曼在公司年度會(huì)議上被任命為董事會(huì)成員后的一周內(nèi)，惠普在未向投資者發(fā)出任何先兆的情況下宣布，惠特曼將加盟萊恩的公司凱鵬華盈（Kleiner Perkins）。這簡(jiǎn)直就是在公開表明他們之間的相互勾結(jié)。

????雖然現(xiàn)在的董事會(huì)成員大換血可能有助于重振公司的監(jiān)管（雖然實(shí)際效果尚無(wú)法確定），但是惠普確實(shí)走過了一段曲折的道路。在某種程度上，這是由于股東及其投票咨詢服務(wù)公司對(duì)此前形勢(shì)的誤讀。投資者和顧問在辨別萊恩的角色時(shí)反應(yīng)緩慢。2011年，當(dāng)萊恩接管他們的職位（違反了董事會(huì)指南），而董事會(huì)提名委員會(huì)完全支持萊恩的提名時(shí)，投票咨詢公司ISS建議對(duì)資深提名委員會(huì)成員投反對(duì)票。另外，今年《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》（the Wall Street Journal ）報(bào)道稱，在投資者慫恿對(duì)哈莫葛倫和湯普遜投反對(duì)票時(shí)，萊恩還能用花言巧語(yǔ)勸說部分股東不要追隨他。

????然而，惠普將何去何從？惠特沃思現(xiàn)在應(yīng)該證明自己是真正的維權(quán)董事了，是他所謂的每個(gè)董事會(huì)中應(yīng)該存在的“挑刺者”。為了重建信任，我們需要一份公正而完整的災(zāi)難自治報(bào)告。該報(bào)告應(yīng)該指出惠普董事會(huì)和管理層在災(zāi)難自治中的過失，而且不能掩飾任何問題。

????此外，我們還需要看到薪水改革方案。CEO宣布大裁員3萬(wàn)人，結(jié)果還獲得了1，500萬(wàn)獎(jiǎng)金，這不是負(fù)責(zé)任的董事會(huì)應(yīng)該做到的監(jiān)管。在提名委員會(huì)的幫助下，惠特沃思需要對(duì)董事會(huì)的構(gòu)成進(jìn)行重新定位。萊恩必須徹底離開公司。新的董事會(huì)成員必須清楚他們的獨(dú)立作用。其中的一位董事必須能夠發(fā)揮建設(shè)性作用，擔(dān)任董事長(zhǎng)。現(xiàn)有的董事會(huì)成員必須表現(xiàn)良好，否則就會(huì)被淘汰。

????這一幕成為現(xiàn)實(shí)嗎？筆者并不確定。問題在于，如果監(jiān)管董事會(huì)成員的大多數(shù)人是大型公司的中層管理人員，他們會(huì)認(rèn)為自己的工作還算過得去，需要隨時(shí)出現(xiàn)并提出巧妙的問題。但是在董事會(huì)的工作中，緊靠點(diǎn)頭或搖頭（依照自治規(guī)定）來(lái)決策的后果是災(zāi)難性的。

????Ray Lane's reign at Hewlett Packard ended Thursday, and employees should be pleased. While the former HP chair and, more recently executive chair, will remain a director, hewill no longer run the HP board. Ralph Whitworth, a shareholder activist and HP board member, will take his spot on an interim basis, HP announced. The company is eliminating the lead director position that board member Rajiv Gupta had held.

????Two other directors, John Hammergren and Ken Thompson, who Lane did not handpick, will be stepping down from the board. With their departure, Marc Andreessen and Rajiv Gupta are the only two independent directors that preceded Lane and have survived the mass exodus of directors that has taken place on Lane's watch.

????The immediate impetus for yet another upheaval on the beleaguered tech company's board was high shareholder votes against Lane (41% voted against him) and the two other board directors at the company's March 20 annual shareholder meeting. (46% and 45% of shareholders votedagainst Hammergren and Thompson, respectively.)

????The interim time -- with Whitworth at the helm of the board -- may bode well for turning around HP's board governance. But the $64,000 question is who is fit to become chair longer term? Whitworth has pledged that the board will recruit a chair presumably outside the ranks of existing members. This is a good thing given the role of the board in so many fiascos, most recently the Autonomy debacle.

????Because of Lane's hands-on approach to picking board members and the CEO -- and his recent role as executive chair, his own independence as a board member is questionable. "This was my job. I have to take full responsibility for leading this," Lane said of the board changes he'd made in an interview in February 2011 with the San Jose Mercury News. Less than a week after one of the newly nominated directors, now CEO Meg Whitman, was confirmed as a board member at the annual meeting, HP, with no forewarning to investors, announced that she would be joining Lane's firm, Kleiner Perkins. It has been all too cozy.

????While the current board member shuffle may indeed help to revive oversight at the firm (and that is not certain), the company has certainly taken a twisted path to get here. In part, this is because shareholders and their proxy advisory services so badly read the situation early on. Both investors and their advisors were slow to recognize Lane's role. In 2011, proxy advisor ISS recommended voting against the old-time members of the board's nominating committee when Lane took over their role (contrary to board guidelines) while it supported Lane's nomination in full. And even this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Lane was able to sweet-talk some shareholders into not going after him while the investors urged votes against Hammergren and Thompson.

????Where to from here? It is time now for Whitworth to show he is a real activist and the prickly devil's advocate he says every board should have. To restore trust, we need to see a candid and complete report on the Autonomy debacle that outlines the culpability of HP's board and management in the matter. No whitewash.

????We also need to see a pay overhaul. Rewarding a CEO who has announced 30,000 layoffs with $15 million does not represent responsible board oversight. And with the aid of the nominations committee, Whitworth needs to rework the composition of the board. Lane must go. New board members who understand their independent roles must be hired. One of them must be capable of being the constructive chair HP (HPQ) needs. Existing board members must shape up or ship out.

????Will this happen? I'm not sure. The problem is that most people observing board members would view them as doing a passable job if they held large company middle-management positions, showing up and asking intelligent questions from time to time. But in board work, head bobbing (a la Automony) can be disastrous.