????關(guān)注強生公司（Johnson & Johnson）的人以及該公司內(nèi)部很多人都曾斷言，謝莉?麥柯伊將成為這家醫(yī)療保健產(chǎn)品巨頭的新任首席執(zhí)行官。然而，強生公司于本周發(fā)布聲明，首席執(zhí)行官職位將由亞歷克斯?戈爾斯基接任。

????這到底是怎么回事？

????據(jù)接近強生的消息靈通人士透露：兩年前，接替比爾?韋爾登、擔(dān)任公司首席執(zhí)行官的競爭正式拉開了帷幕，作為候選對象的兩位副總裁勢均力敵、難分伯仲。有些人推測，51歲的戈爾斯基在銷售領(lǐng)域擁有豐富經(jīng)驗，因此董事會對他尤為青睞；而53歲的麥柯伊卻是從科研領(lǐng)域起家。然而，事情沒這么簡單。結(jié)果證明，強生公司面臨一系列產(chǎn)品召回和制造問題的事實對董事會產(chǎn)生了重大影響。他們認為戈爾斯基最大的優(yōu)勢在于執(zhí)行力。因此，盡管他和對手麥柯伊在這場競爭中齊頭并進，但他的才能相當(dāng)符合強生公司對新任首席執(zhí)行官的要求。

????強生需要一位強勢的老板。即將于4月份上任的戈爾斯基在這方面堪稱訓(xùn)練有素。他畢業(yè)于西點軍校（West Point），曾在美國陸軍服役六年，擔(dān)任游騎兵，1988年開始從事藥物銷售。他在強生公司內(nèi)部獲得晉升的同時也取得了沃頓商學(xué)院（Wharton）的MBA學(xué)位。離開強生后，他接手了諾華制藥公司（Novartis）美國的制藥業(yè)務(wù)。后來他重返強生，負責(zé)醫(yī)療器械和診斷分部至今。這個部門去年創(chuàng)收258億美元。深挖制造和供應(yīng)鏈方面存在的問題為他贏得了不少加分。

????如果強生公司不是因為飽受執(zhí)行力問題的困擾，麥柯伊或許還有機會在這場競爭中最終勝出。她領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的藥物和消費者業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模更大，去年創(chuàng)造了393億美元的銷售額。她同時還負責(zé)海外IT業(yè)務(wù)。她的主要優(yōu)勢在于協(xié)同合作的工作風(fēng)格以及對文化建設(shè)的駕輕就熟。作為三個兒子的母親，她常常開誠布公地討論自己如何處理事業(yè)和家庭的平衡問題，并鼓勵公司管理者們同時兼顧兩方面。她最初是一位化學(xué)工程師，30年前就進入強生公司實驗室，后來轉(zhuǎn)到營銷部門工作，開始負責(zé)嬰兒產(chǎn)品、創(chuàng)口護理和外科手術(shù)護理產(chǎn)品。擁有60,000名下屬員工的她在《財富》雜志（Fortune）“全球最具影響力商界女性”排行榜中名列第十。

????鑒于目前的情況，麥柯伊是否會離開強生另擇良木而棲？她并未表態(tài)。（她在昨晚給我的一封電子郵件中寫道，“正如你想象的那樣，目前確實發(fā)生了很多事情，我并未接任首席執(zhí)行官職位。但我非常感激你來信詢問?！保┯行┤瞬聹y她可能會參與競爭醫(yī)療設(shè)備制造商史塞克（Stryker）公司或者雅芳（Avon）公司的高管職位。雅芳公司董事會正在尋找接替現(xiàn)任首席執(zhí)行官鐘彬嫻的合適人選。如果她決心要做財富五百強公司的首席執(zhí)行官，她很可能會將這些機會納入考慮范疇。

????但現(xiàn)實情況是，和上述任何一家公司相比，多年的老東家強生目前賦予麥柯伊的職責(zé)都要大得多。況且，人們都知道，她與即將上任的新老板戈爾斯一直以來關(guān)系融洽，所以麥柯伊最終很可能決定繼續(xù)留在強生這個能給她帶來最大權(quán)勢的地方。

????Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) watchers--and many insiders too--were betting that Sheri McCoy would be the health-care giant's next CEO. This week, the guy, Alex Gorsky, got the job instead.

????What happened?

????The contest to succeed chief Bill Weldon, which started in earnest two years ago, was extremely close between the two vice chairmen, according to my sources close to J&J. While some have speculated that the board favored Gorsky, 51, because he's grounded in sales--while McCoy, 53, began in R&D--the debate ran deeper than this. It mattered greatly to the board, as it turned out, that J&J has had product recalls and manufacturing problems galore. Gorsky's No. 1 strength is viewed to be execution. While he and McCoy jockeyed for the lead in the race, his talent played best into J&J's prescription for its next CEO.

????J&J needs a tough boss, and Gorsky, who will take over in April, is trained in that regard. A West Point grad, he spent six years in the U.S. Army, serving as an Army Ranger. Starting in pharmaceutical sales in 1988, he earned his MBA at Wharton while climbing the corporate ranks. He left J&J to lead Novartis' (NVS) U.S. pharma unit, returned, and went on to head the medical device and diagnostics business, his current job. In that business, which brought in revenue of $25.8 billion last year, he earned points for digging into manufacturing and supply-chain troubles.

????If J&J were not so riddled with execution problems, McCoy might have won the race to the top. She leads the bigger businesses--pharma and consumer, which generated combined sales of $39.3 billion last year--and also oversees IT. But her main strengths are seen to be a collaborative style and finesse at culture-building. A mother of three sons, she talks openly about juggling career and family and urges managers to pay attention to both. Trained as a chemical engineer and entering J&J through the labroom 30 years ago, she moved into marketing and then ran baby products, wound care, and surgical care. Overseeing 60,000 employees today, she ranks No. 10 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list.

????Given the circumstances, will McCoy leave J&J to become a CEO elsewhere? She's not talking. ("As you might imagine there is a lot happening right now and I am not in a position to connect. But I very much appreciate you reaching out," she wrote to me in an email last night.) Some imagine that she would be a candidate to lead medical-device maker Stryker (SYK) or Avon Products (AVP), whose board is looking to replace CEO Andrea Jung. Makes sense, and she may well consider such gigs if she's determined to be a Fortune 500 CEO.

????But the reality is, McCoy's current charge at her lifetime employer is a much bigger job than she would have at either of those companies. She's known to get along with Gorsky, her new boss, so McCoy may end up deciding that she is most powerful right where she is.