The Best American CEOs of All Time

Yikes! Its been two months since my last post. First I was studying for the GMATs, then I was moving back to Cornell and getting back into my role as President of my Fraternity and for the past few weeks, I have spent hours attending information sessions and writing cover letters for various jobs for after I graduate. I haven't had any time to rest, let alone write. However, my resolve to write this blog is still strong. Like I said, commitment is a muscle. So I couldn't expect it to be strong overnight. My goal moving forward is to have at least one post a week. I certainly have enough material. Now that I am implementing the leadership development program I have briefly talked about at my fraternity, taking an MBA level class, Leadership Theory and Practice, and continuing to participate as a member of the BOLD (Business Opportunities in Leadership and Diversity) program, I feel like I could write a post about being a student leader just about every day if I had the time. Unfortunately, time is something I never seem to have any extra of, so I have committed to one post a week. Hopefully broadcasting my goal will keep me accountable!

CNBC's Ranking of the Best American CEO's of All Time can be found at the following link:
www.cnbc.com/id/30391313

As an aspiring leader, clearly I would be interested in the stories of the Greatest American CEOs of all time. The first thing that struck me as I explored the list was the story of Andrew Carnegie. A businessman known to step on toes on his way to success did not realize the importance of giving back until late in life. His brief bio reads:

Ah, the power of philanthropy! Carnegie, the iron-and-steel baron, wasn’t as ruthless as some of his fellow industrialists, but he still had a lot of reputation mending to do upon retirement. After selling Carnegie Steel in 1901 (it eventually became U.S. Steel), the former CEO polished his image by giving away most of his billion-dollar-plus fortune to support libraries and promote world peace and education.

To his credit, Cargenie gave enormous amounts of money to a variety of organizations. However, why can't we start to develop leaders committed to being responsible citizens DURING their business careers and maybe even in conjunction with their business?

I read an article from the Harvard Business Review entitled "Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders?" by Linda Hill. The general theme deserves its own blog post, but one specific story I wanted to highlight was that of IBM's World Development Initiative, led by Steve Kloeblen. Steve's job is to oversee the acquisition of companies and their integration into IBM. In 2006, he had the idea to look into business opportunities for IBM that would meet the needs of people at the lower end of the socioeconomic pyramid. He saw it as a way to help IBM live by one of their values: "focusing on innovation that matters for the world." Steve put out the word to gauge interest. He ended up getting responses from people from various locations and a broad range of departments. In total, there were 100 volunteers who were willing to work on the project in addition to their current jobs. They put together detailed plans for achieving aggressive profit targets and for reducing the number of people living below the poverty line. The group has traveled the world to see what business opportunities exist in places like China and Kenya and has built vast networks to help set their plans into motion. Now I can certainly appreciate the power of volunteers. In one of my upcoming articles, I will be discussing the success I have had with an all volunteer leadership development program I implemented at my fraternity. There is definitely something to be said for having people who are motivated to be there. Beyond that, I have an enormous amount of respect for both Steve and IBM for looking for socially responsible ways to grow their business. I hope to hear more and more stories of similar programs in the future. It would be amazing for more of Corporate America to adopt this sort of mentality.

Moving on to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos:

A few pointers from the Bezos school of leadership: Micromanage, micromanage, micromanage. It’s a strategy that has kept Bezos—one of the first to recognize the potential of online commerce—in the CEO seat since the Web 1.0 era. He’s also been willing to make risky bets—from allowing other retailers to sell via Amazon to offering free shipping at the expense of profits in order to increase market share—that have ultimately paid off.

While I mean no disrespect to Bezos, who has been enormously successful at Amazon, the first thing I thought of when I read his bio was Marshall Goldsmith's "What Got You Here Won't Get You There." The same article that inspired me to write a blog. Sounds like Bezos, like many successful people, has an "excessive need to be me." It seemed strange and out of place to me to see his bio talk about him committing what is probably one of the cardinal sins of leadership: Micromanagement. How can he micromanage such an enormous organization and keep his sanity. And how can his leadership team have handled it for such a long time? Whatever the answer, I can't help but think of where Amazon might be if Bezos was able to break one of his most limiting habits.

Those were just a few of my take aways from the list. Obviously these CEO's were successful in anticipating the future climate of their industry and positioning their companies for success. Some, like GM's Alfred Sloan, made huge changes like separating GM's brands to target different demographic groups. Others, like Rueben Mark, found success by focusing on the small picture rather than flashy initiatives. Just goes to show you that different situations call for different business plans and sometimes different leaders. See you sometime in the next week!