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CEOs

CEOs If you were to ask me what I wanted to be when I graduate, I would give you an answer that you would not likely expect. It would be something that is impossible to be right out of college, but it is my main goal. That job is that of a CEO. I enjoy being a leader and making an impression with everything I do, but I was unsure if that was material for a future CEO. I found a book that really struck my attention because it is a book about fifty of the nations most successful businessmen. This book is “Lessons from the Top” by Thomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin. It reveals insights and gives you a closer look at their million dollar ideas and what sparked them. This book profiles fifty of the nations best CEO’s and highlights at the end on six principles that all of them more or less share. The six principles to successful management by Neff and Citrin are: 1) Live with Integrity and Lead by Example 2) Develop a winning strategy or “Big Idea 5) Create a Flexible, Responsive Organizations 6) Reinforcing Management and Compensation These principles are not in a particular order or should not be done one at a time, but these are something that should be implemented in your company around the clock. Living with integrity and leading by example are two of the essentials to success. It is the voice of right and wrong that directs you through life. Hank Greenberg of AIG thinks integrity coupled with the ability to achieve results is what makes a good leader. Employees spend a lot of time watching the boss to see what he is doing and because of this managers must have a large amount of humility. Many say a persons ego can be their demise. Herb Kelleher makes a good point when he says, “The best leaders must be good followers as well.” He says you have to be willing to go for other people’s ideas even and especially when you are struggling with your own. Herb Kelleher is quoted “ you have to be selfless and take risks for your people, if you don’t fight for your people then you can count on you people not fighting for you.” The best leaders state that they need to spend a lot of time acting in such a way that makes the company’s objectives clear. The second principle for successful management is trying to develop a winning strategy or a “Big Idea”. Larry Bossidy of AlliedSignal said, “ I think the most significant challenge that businesses will be facing over the next few years is the acceleration of intensity. Because of that, you need to be in a business where you have a competitive advantage or you will be killed.” As a leader, which every CEO must be, they are the inventor of this creative winning strategy, based on the company’s competitive advantages and fundamental customer needs. The CEO of AIG says, “ The CEO must be the top strategist.” Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express credited The Harvard Business Review for providing “kaleidoscope thinking.” Kaleidoscope thinking is described: “Sometimes you look at a business problem and it’s intractable, you can’t solve it. You need to keep looking at it and turning the kaleidoscope until you see a different pattern. Sometimes you can develop an idea that hasn’t been thought of before.” Many would say that coming up with a good idea is one thing but executing it is quite another. Not only must leaders come up with the good ideas but also they must be the right ideas. The pro’s say a successful leader must go to the company’s roots and build on the things the organization truly does best and connect it to the customers needs. This will take you from simply making and selling products to creating remedies for customers. The third key is to build a great management team. Michael Dell of Dell Computers says, “ One person cannot do anything alone” and in correlation Steve Case, CEO of AOL, adds, “ Since companies are really a collection of people, results can be tied directly to the quality of your management team.” Building a good management team is essential for success because if you want to be a good CEO taking care of strategies and other tasks has to be your job not watching over the management checking every move. The entrepreneurs say not to focus on their weaknesses but manage their strengths and work around their weaknesses. Steve Case says, “ the perfect week is when there is noting that I have to do; so I can concentrate on strategy development, people development, and customer service.” Actions speak louder than words and true energy of an organization can only come from within. The most inspiring example of this whole book shows how Michael Dell inspired his stockholders at a meeting. He walked in and showed a slide comparing the performance of Dells stock to that of Coca-Cola, Compaq, Intel, and Microsoft. The audience realized the slope of Dell was twice as steep as everyone else. After everyone was shocked Dell replied “ This concludes my presentation.” I honestly thought that was priceless because the numbers revealed it all. Now that is inspiration. Creating a flexible as well as a responsive organization can be tough in today’s always changing market. In today’s world the successful CEO’s will be those who breakdown slow, overly formalized hierarchies and decision –making processes. Business leaders have structured their organizations to be able to make decisions quickly. Everything is speed if you want to be competitive rather it be research and development, financing, or production. CEO Bob Tillman of Lowe’s Companies says, “ We adapt to the way the customer wants to shop”. The ability to sell your product many different ways is a competitive edge many companies strive for. Dell Computer Company made it available for buyers to get it straight from the manufacturer. As Dell’s company grew they adapted for example Dell made it available to buy straight from the web. Michael Dell thought of this brilliant idea as a college freshman and fifteen years later people are still trying to figure out how to sell directly to the customer. He personally revolutionized the market on how fast the customer can receive a custom made product. The last key to successful management is tying it all together with reinforcing management and compensation systems. As the authors put it, “ In our capitalistic economic system, the battle up the economic ladder plays a similarly substantial role in driving employee behavior. One of the key principles to successful business leadership is designing and implementing compensation systems that make sense and that are tied to an organization’s well – conceived objections and reinforce the values and strategy of the organization”. Compensation is a very big part of motivating people. Employees in many cases receive stock options worth almost a million dollars for compensation. It gives them a sense of drive because if they produce the stock will rise. Managers at Cisco Systems get paid based on customer surveys over the year. Federal Express was one of the first to discover that you need to establish information systems that link to and empower a company’s most important measures of success. These six key principles of management have been described in detail but this book mentions common traits found in these successful CEO’s profiled in this book. The first and most noticeable among leaders is passion. You must believe and be passionate about your ideas or no one will stand behind you. Campbell Soup’s CEO David Johnson says it best “ Go out and do what you want to do. Don’t wait for approval. And don’t sit around and wandering what will happen next. Push the petal to the metal and make the most of life.” Intelligence and Clarity of thinking is obviously a major factor on whether or not you are CEO material. The CEO must be the head of the organization. Great Communication skills are necessary because you must know how to communicate to the individual instead of a group. You must also have a high energy level to handle the rigorous 65-hour weeks, and the daily stress. You must put your ego in check because CEO’s need to realize that other opinions might be better than their own. Inner peace is a big issue because the best leaders are those who show no stress. Capitalizing on life’s experiences is a must if you want to make anything happen. You must make the best of what is around you. You must possess strong family ties if you want to be successful because you must have happiness away from work if you want to be happy at work. As a CEO you must have a positive attitude because your employees look at you for support and if you have a negative attitude it will leak down through the company. Last trait that is important is making sure you do the right things right. You should focus on what causes the great result rather than the great result. The job of a CEO is a very difficult one at that, but this book showed that not everyone is capable of being a CEO and that is what sets these individuals apart. Even after this recent recession caused by the September 11 attacks most of these companies stood their ground and watch their competitors fall because they had successfully made a set place in each individual market, which is the CEO goal. Bibliography:

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