Hero hires can certainly fail. AOL (AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong has struggled to turn the company around after leaving his position as head of Google's (GOOG) U.S. ad sales two years ago, Useem says. Ed Zander, a star at Sun Microsystems, was brought in to revitalize Motorola (MSI) but floundered there before leaving in 2008.
救世主当然也可能失败。乌西姆指出，美国在线(AOL)首席执行官蒂姆•阿姆斯特朗自两年前离开谷歌(Google)美国广告销售主管一职后，一直在为改变美国在线的现状苦苦挣扎。摩托罗拉（Motorola）曾寄望于IT公司Sun Microsystems的明星经理人埃德•詹德的加盟能让公司重新焕发活力，但他直到2008年离职都未有建树。

"Most often, the problem is a cultural one," Sanders says. But cultural problems can be difficult to diagnose until a new CEO is dropped into the company's pool.
“很多时候，问题在于企业文化，”桑德斯表示。然而，新任首席执行官在深入企业前很难诊断这些问题。

Hot new hires often fall into the white knight trap. This has been a problem for GE (GE) executives, Useem adds, many of whom have left their old jobs for new positions at other companies. "The outside companies know anybody from GE ought to be good," he says, and while they were good at GE, they didn't perform as well outside of GE's unique environment.
热门经理人往往会掉入白衣骑士陷阱。乌西姆指出，通用电气(GE)经理人一直有这样的问题，他们中很多人辞去原有工作，接受其他公司的新职务。“外部公司总是认为通用电气的经理人应该都不错”。尽管这些人在通用表现出色，但是一旦离开了通用独特的环境，他们便黯然失色。

Apple also gives departing executives rock-star status, a la Ron Johnson. No doubt, Johnson gained valuable experience at Apple. But delivering new ideas to JCPenney will require a very different approach. "If you think you're going to run JCPenney like you ran Apple, that's probably going to be a complete, unmitigated disaster," Useem says.
苹果公司给予离任的经理人以摇滚歌星般的地位，如罗恩•约翰逊。毫无疑问，约翰逊在苹果公司积累了宝贵的经验。但要在JCPenney提出新点子需要全然不同的方式。乌西姆表示，“如果以为能像在苹果一样经营JCPenney，可能会酿成彻头彻尾、无法挽回的灾难。”