For one CEO, the
challenge was to use the company's near bankruptcy as a catalyst to
emphasize customer service, set up new partnerships and recommit to
R&D. For another CEO, the first test of leadership was firing the
top management team and whole board of directors. For another, it was
initiating a strategy that flew in the face of traditional industry
practices. A fourth CEO talked about missing the critical feedback he
got from colleagues early in his career, while a fifth said she makes a
point of identifying 25 junior people in the company who will be the
next generation of leaders.
The
five leaders mentioned above -- Anne Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of
Xerox, Edward Breen, CEO of Tyco, Aditya Mittal, president and CFO of
Mittal Steel, Arthur Weinbach, CEO of Automatic Data Processing (ADP)
and Michelle Peluso, CEO of Travelocity -- spoke to Wharton students
and/or to Knowledge@Wharton during recent visits to campus. Their
thoughts on management clearly reflect their own personal journeys up
the leadership ladder, but, as is often the case, they agreed on some of
the skills necessary to run a company in 2005: a constant focus on the
customer, a commitment to globalization, the importance of finding and
motivating the right mix of employees, and a willingness for both
corporations and individuals to take on risk.[more...]
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