Rewrite paragraph 5 by linking the sentences. Use appropriate linking words or phrases.

TEXT 4

COKE: TIME FOR A SHAKEUP

1. The announcement that Chief Executive Douglas N. Daft would retire by yearend – five years since he succeeded the embattled M. Douglas Ivester – threw Wall Street for a loop. And it gave Coke its second succession crisis since 1999. Clearly you have to do a better job of picking the next CEO. So with all due respect to the savvy in your boardroom, here is a three-part plan for how to structure one of the most high-profile searches in recent history.

2. Go outside. In the 85 years since the Woodruff family bought control of the company from founder Asa Candler, Coke has always promoted from within. That is remarkable in this age of short investor attention spans. The temptation now is simply to give anxious bottlers and investors the continuity they seek by promoting Coke President Steven J. Heyer to the top job. To his credit he has brought energy and fresh thinking to almost every assignment he has handled in his three years with Coke – everything from accelerating new-product development to revamping Coke's languid marketing. But while Heyer may well one day be a star CEO, he is not ready yet. It is no secret that his confrontational style, including his habit of belittling other executives, has raised questions about whether Heyer has the requisite leadership capabilities.

3. Be bold. Whoever gets the job will have their work cut out, given the demoralizing endless restructurings, a divisive racial discrimination suit, and the effects of poor marketing. But the primary requirement for a new CEO is someone who can bring back the marketing magic and Camelot-like atmosphere that existed in the 1980s and 1990s. Coke needs a CEO who can make Coke's products seem relevant again in an era when loyalties to older brands are waning and consumers are drifting to such disparate choices as Starbucks, Evian, and Red Bull.

4. Back off. Once you have made your pick, do not second-guess your leader. You did that right off the bat with Daft, vetoing his bid for Quaker Oars Co. – and its coveted Gatorade brand – over the price. It was a setback from which Daft never really recovered. While some of you argued that the handling of the Quaker deal may symbolize a "new governance style" – CEOs bring ideas, boards decide – it is telling that Daft has told others that he took away another lesson: CEO should not solicit opinions, but should give directors a plan.

5. Given the functions inside Coke, why not try to lure 61-year-old Louis V. Gerstner Jr. out of semi-retirement? He certainly proved at IBM that he can reenergize a tired and insular corporate culture. For a longer-term solution, there is 3M's W. James McNerney Jr. He understands brands, and his earlier experience at McKinsey & Co. should have trained him on how to change without destroying the things that make Coke great. Two candidates who have shown how to revive aging brands and make them relevant in a changing world: Robert A. Eckert of Mattel Inc. and Andrea Jung, the CEO of Avon Products Inc. Appoint someone who has already gone through CEO training. That way, you will not be doing another search five years from now.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 773