拥有愚蠢CEO的希尔斯的破产指日可待

希尔斯曾经是美国昔日的巨无霸，曾经以在经济萧条，大家都不敢投资的时候，加紧扩张的步伐，最终一度让自己占据先机，在下一轮经济复苏时大赚特赚，而震撼世界。

这一次，他们在金融危机之前选择了一位当时被吹得神乎其神的善于玩弄地产的“天才”。在这个天才光环的照耀下，希尔斯的股价曾经一度腾飞。

只可惜，假的终归是假的。吹牛不可能为你带来真正的财富和价值。

在一场金融危机之后，自以为聪明透顶的希尔斯，在自顾不暇的时刻，还牛哄哄的吃掉了一个必然会破产的Kmart，让自己原本就很难自救的日子，过的是更加艰难。

如果谦虚一点，多数人都是不错的CEO。如果牛哄哄的不知天高地厚，世界上有的就只能是蠢材。不同的，恐怕就是挂在外表的遮羞布的颜色了。

当初，在希尔斯推出那个牛哄哄的“Great Indoors stores”时，我还专门开了几个小时的车，去好奇了一番。结果让我非常失望，我怎么样也看不出那样做的意义和价值实现的可能性，除了玩点“面子”达到新官上任三把火的目的，实现点面子上的满足之外，那样做的结果，就是在原本已经现金短缺的情况下，让公司未来的日子更为难过。只是没有想到，噩梦会来得这么的快。

美国的企业家制度有着内在的致命缺陷，这次的金融危机在一定程度上就是它造成的。在未来的日子，继续在有意无意之中，为了自己短暂的个人利益和贪婪，还会有大量的公司会在类似的蠢材的领导下，继续败落。

我还记着巴菲特先生的那句话：如果一家企业只能靠天才才能管理好，那么，那家企业就不应该是值得你投资的公司。

希尔斯在这位新的CEO领导之下，吹出来的就是一位天才的故事。以他的逻辑和策略，希望让这家大型零售店起死回生，也只能期待奇迹的出现了。而创造奇迹，又只能期待天才的杰作。结果，还是被巴菲特说准了：这个世界上没有天才。至少，天才太罕见了。于是，当你以赌徒的心态投资时，你获胜的几率自然就会很小。

希尔斯书写的，是一个很值得我们回顾和思考的故事。不仅仅是对于投资者，而且，对于企业的经营逻辑和理念，还有···

连接：

十家最能从战争获利的公司

商标对企业的价值何在

《哈佛小子林书豪》之一

《哈佛小子林书豪》之二

附录：Polaris to lose another anchor

By  Tim Feran

The Columbus Dispatch Sunday February 26, 2012

Sears Holdings Corp. will close all nine of its Great Indoors stores, including one at Polaris Fashion Place.

That store, which is Ohio’s only remaining Great Indoors location, opened in 2001 as one of the original anchors at Polaris.

Sears had hopes of expanding the chain to 100 locations when it opened its first Great Indoors in 1998 in Denver. The Illinois-based retailer hasn’t yet announced closing dates.

Intended to serve the home decor market with appliances, bedding and accessories, Great Indoors began struggling even before the recession, with three stores closing in 2003, including one in the Cincinnati area.

The planned closing makes Great Indoors the third of the original seven anchors at Polaris that did not or will not survive.

Lord & Taylor closed in 2003, and Kaufmann’s followed in 2006.

But the Polaris area’s strong demographics mean that the Great Indoors site won’t be vacant long, said Michael Simpson, vice president of brokerage at NAI Ohio Equities.

“I will predict that space will be backfilled with a deal at least before summer,” Simpson said.

Although the recession’s effects are partly to blame for the chain’s struggles, there are other reasons for the closings, analysts said.

“I never had the feeling that concept worked,” said local retail analyst Chris Boring, founder of Boulevard Strategies.

The high-end products at the store “need a lot of display space, and Polaris is not the cheapest real estate. Those are products that, in any environment, don’t turn over very fast, so you have to invest a lot in inventory, too.

“So, between the housing slump and the cost to absorb the concept, they had to be losing money. Then, when the company as a whole struggled, they just couldn’t afford to carry those stores anymore.”

Great Indoors’ parent, Sears Holdings, on Thursday reported a $3.1 billion loss in 2011 — including a $2.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter. It announced it would close some Sears and Kmart stores and sell off Orchard Supply Hardware stores to bolster its bottom line.