What makes them so great when some of
them don’t even have the exact experience or technical know-how? Still
people like Katharine Graham, Steve Jobs and many more are still there,
simply going with their instincts and standing strong. Some declared
themselves as “scared stiff” while making a crucial decision, while some
were told that “they can never be a leader”. Still, fighting against
all odds they all left a legacy unmatched. A CEO can either play at the
already set stage or could create his own stage where other can play.
10. David Packard
In 1949, David Packard went to a
business leaders meeting, where everyone had only one topic to discuss
“how to squeeze more profit from companies”. Unable to control himself,
37 year old Packard found himself saying “A company has a greater
responsibility than making money for its stockholders. We have a
responsibility to our employees to recognize their dignity as human
beings.” Here was the first time he practically preached his belief that
those who lend a hand in creating wealth have an ethical right to share
that wealth.
However no one in the meeting shared
Packard’s ideas. “I was surprised and shocked that not a single person
at that meeting agreed with me,” Packard reflected later. “It was quite
evident they firmly believed I was not one of them, and obviously not
qualified to run an important enterprise.”
David Packard was never amongst the
bosses who dwelt in their mahogany paneled offices, instead he preferred
to sit down and work with his engineers. His method was radical for all
times, sharing equity and profits with all employees at Hewlett Packard.
Although being Silicon Valley’s first self-made billionaires, David
Packard still preferred to live in the small understated house that he
and his wife built in 1957 – donating HP to Stanford University.
9. Katharine Graham
The chief of Washington Post Company,
Katharine Graham landed with the company burden when her husband
committed suicide. The company belonging to Katharine’s father was put
into her husband’s hand until their children could take care of it, but
Graham rose to the challenge and assumed stewardship.
However, she rose more than her title
and brought the Washington Post on the same level as the New York Times.
In 1971, she got hands on the leaked Pentagon Papers, a Defense
Department study that revealed the government deceptions about the
Vietnam War. The crucial decision was made; the Washington Post
published the papers. What followed was a long case ensued by the Nixon
White House threatening the Washington Post chief. But Katharne Graham
proved to be the most courageous CEO on the list.
8. William McKnight
Many called him insane, and who
wouldn’t? The man who blasted a hole in his basement just to place the
machine that failed market tests to make little sticky tabs. William
McKnight was a man who gave hatchling ideas and freedom to grow, yet
always insisted his employees to stand on their own. McKnight fused two
ideas to create something entirely new – the 3M, a company that turned innovation into a systematic recurring process.
William McKnight was a genius by design
and the proof of his brilliant mind was how he turned the failed sticky
tabs machine to have a group of addicted users to whom he distributed
free samples. He created a company that brought innovation with
discipline, giving everyone freedom to bring innovation but keeping
controls in his hand, thus preventing chaos. 3M is now spread worldwide,
and those of you who don’t know it look around your house you may just
find at least one product of the company in your house.
7. David Maxwell
The company was falling when he arrived.
Not a great time to join the company, but that’s not how David Maxwell
saw it. Despite the fact that Fannie Mae was losing $1 million daily, Maxwell thought it was a great opportunity to turn it in to a great company.
Maxwell took a broken glass and fixed it
so well that no one can even find the cracks. He sold off classic
fireman stuff for $10 billion in unprofitable mortgages. But his
greatest achievement was to strengthen America’s public foundation by
democratizing home ownership. Fannie Mae did its job perfectly, letting
people who were conventionally excluded from owning homes to easily
claim their part of the American dream.
6. James Burke
His might be the most courageous action
faced by any CEO. James Burke acted before crisis hit that could have
brought the end of Johnson & Johnson Co. Although he is known for
the growth of the company under his leadership, Burke is better known
for the case the company faced for cyanide poisoning in its Tylenol
capsules. The news came out when unknown suspect/s put 65 milligrams of
deadly cyanide into Tylenol capsules, 10,000 more than what is necessary
to kill a human. Since there was no use of protective seal, Burke took
the decision to pull Tylenol capsules off the shelves. By the time the popular aspirin was taken off the shelves, seven people had died in Chicago.
James Burke’s defining moment came when
he pulled 20 key executives into a room and pointed his finger on the
J&J credo. Written 36 years earlier by R.W. Johnson Jr., it read the
company’s motto “We hold these truths to be self-evident”, among them a
higher duty to “mothers and all others who use our products.” Burke
worried that executives had come to view the credo as an artifact that
is interesting but is hardly relevant to the daily challenges.
He said, “Here’s the credo. If we’re not
going to live by it, let’s tear it off the wall. We either ought to
commit to it or get rid of it.” The executives were stunned, and the
recommitment was made.
5. Steve Jobs
Even in the perfect world nothing is perfect and that is the story of the Silicon Valley entrepreneur and CEO of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs.
The visionary who revolutionized the personal computer, creating a new
era, Steve Jobs did not have a professional degree yet he had the mind
of a leader. Jobs break came when he brought John Sculley from Pepsi Cola
to serve as Apple’s CEO, only to have Sculley conspire against him and
have Jobs removed from the company. However, Jobs admitted that being
fired from Apple Inc. was the best thing that ever happened to him.
After leaving the fruit company, Steve Jobs founded the NeXT Computer and bought the Graphics Group, which was later renamed as Pixar.
The NeXT Computer was acquired by Apple in 1197 and Jobs sold Pixar to
Disney, making him the single largest shareholder with approximately
seven percent of the company’s shares. He returned to his former
position as the CEO to Apple Inc. in 1996, and his innovation is what
got the company to create the products of iPod, Mac, iPhone and the
iPad. While stimulating innovation, Jobs always reminded his employees
that creativity is “real artist’s ship”.
4. George Merck
He didn’t care about making money or the Wall Street, yet he brought 50 times more profit. In 1978, Dr. William Campbell
developed a cure to the disease that struck the third world. The
disease caused blindness and itching in humans so horrific that some
victims committed suicide. After getting positive results on animals,
Campbell urged his employer, Merck & Co. to pursue the idea. Today, the drug Mectizan is distributed largely free of cost to 30 million people yearly.
George Merck believed that purpose of a
corporation was to do something useful for the people, on the cover of
August 1952 Times magazine he declared, “Medicine is for people, not for
the profits”. While other CEOs worry about their standing with the Wall
Street, Merck neither cared nor ever worked for profit; he served the
people, and yet ultimately brought the latter.
3. Sam Walton
He brought everything in one spot; Sam Walton was the owner of Wal-Mart.
Growing up during the Great Depression, he became the man who owned the
chain of America’s biggest retail store. He brought the idea of
Wal-Mart in 1962, when the first Wal-Mart opened in Bentonville,
Arkansas. His charismatic personality helped his company grow, with his
central message: to make things ever more affordable to people of lesser
means.
To ensure that his idea would outlast
him, Walton set a goal to grow annual sales from less than $30 billion
to $125 billion by the year 2000 and for that he chose David Glass.
Walton’s intuition about Glass proved right and the company blew right
past the $125 billion goal, taking in at $165 billion in 2000.
2. Bill Allen
The company that created jets that helped win the World War 2,
yet the victory of the war seemed like the death of the company itself.
As orders for bombers stopped overnight, Boeing’s revenues nose-dived.
When everyone was thinking of the end of Boeing, one
man stood against the odds. Bill Allen never thought of Boeing as a
bomber company, but believed that it was a company with engineers who
can build amazing flying machines.
In 1952, Bill Allen faced heavy
opposition when he decided the company would work on the commercial jet
project, the 707. Under his leadership, Boeing became the strongest
commercial jet company building the 707, 727,737 and 747. The four
planes turned out to be the most successful risks a company CEO has ever
taken. At a board meeting, a director said that if 747 was too big for
the market to handle, Boeing could back out. Bill Allen stiffened at the
remark and said “If the Boeing Aircraft Co. says we will build this
airplane, we will build it even if it takes the resources of the entire
company.” Bill Allen beat down all odds and left a legacy to match.
1. Charles Coffin
Most people might never have even heard
of Charles Coffin ad that symbol of modesty speaks of his greatness.
Maybe it’s because Coffin took over a company from its founding
entrepreneur, who was none other than inventor Thomas Edison. Although Coffin knew his job was not to be the next Thomas Edison, he still proved to be a master inventor. He created the General Electric Co.
Coffin saw and blended together two
significant innovations, giving birth to America’s first research
laboratory that worked on his idea of systematic management development.
Where Edison was a genius with a thousand helpers, Coffin through his
idea had a system of genius that did not depend on him.
Coffin created the GE as we know it
today, which ultimately created a succession of giants. Charles Coffin
was the man who built the stage on which everyone plays.
Comments
Post a Comment