LEARN CORPORATE GPR FROM THE CEOs ‘covrmexra BETHUNE, former mechanics the ultimate fait man. Whon his aitine coulda't meet payroll he knew wht to do, ‘comma’ tleost pric EHUD PREFER shorted a company that had elf out ofthe computer market. Peifer overhauled Compaq’ fundamental approach to making and seling computers, {S'S OZ MASON Jed UPS into the information age anid ferce competition, introducing radial new technologies into a staid and conservative company. A NOREYWHL'S MIENAEL BONSIEHORE cana old his ‘employees that they ll might lose contol oftheir under chieving company if they did't change their ways HMB ROBERT EATON acd Ror Lute straightened out the automo company aftr Lee lane's » tumultuous reign, changing the way cars and trucks. are planned and manufactured. cay 0: LON MSE bit rom the round up the work leading oper terial equipment and ten {50 ed to ethine his’ ‘management team. ‘mass ROBERT L9UIS-BREYTUS stored ie once-moribund sneaker company to remarkable comeback, and it's now nipping at Nike's heals fi il tenio.sen svar ANIL on HOVEIN09 sommeddno,) porqnoay, pea st NLUYW How Seven Straight-Shooting CEOs Turned Around Troubled Companies MARTIN PURISCOMEBACK How Seven Straight-Shooting CEOs Turned Around Troubled Companies . MARTIN PURISah 99 by Mar Ps an Por in ‘vi ere ner teil Po ern ‘iyishsomvenns aoe Sa Simro nt ann Ht ee, lsmeloncroya candy ane eee nay coges Cntgg nnn na Sonaroseinig vet expan ronde—Coe wn 2. chi sect ce Geane ‘To Haver Evans, who sald yes ‘To Jonaruay Ka, for hs inhuman patlence. ‘To Pen Bowe, an with an unsally sharp and an unusually wry sens of humor. ‘Teboth the bad and good cients we've worked ‘with over the years~the former have made us appreciate the lter,CONTENTS 1. A RIDDLE WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY INSIDE AN ENIGMA 3 2. Gordon Bethune: rie Mechanic 21 3, Relchard Pei xing Moore's Law 47 4, Robert Eaton and Robert Lutz: 1he copilot: 81 5. Oz Nelson: Tie Roolutionary fom Kokomo 121 6. Michael Bonsignores toting sh Neat 143 1, Leon Hirsch: sting Go 177 8. Robert Louis-Dreyfuss Dow’ Worry Be apry 205 8. CONCLUSION: The Realty Principle 229 Indes 2391/4 RwoLe wrarrED IN A MYSTERY INSIDE AN ENIGMA ‘his sa book about how leaders Jead. It snot a book af ‘heory, since Lam nota theoretican and have no ambition of becoming a management guru. Rather these pages Will place you in the company of some word-dass business lear, etch of whom has led his company frm the brink of failre to mew level of achievement, Learning how they think and work was my way of enlarging my own under- Sanding ofthe natuse of leadership, and my hope, que ‘mpl, that their example may help you further along that sme road ‘Thies a personal book, one that arose i part fem my ned to make sense ofa specific example ofthe power4 / commance Inftuence leadership can exert. in this ease, 1 asthe one beng led, and perhaps the est pace to start out journey ough the subject swith this sory. Late in 1991, 1 met Bkhsrd Pelle or the fr time. He had jut been named chet executive offic of ompag Computer Corp. and our ‘advertsing fim had just been awanded the Compag ac- count It was large and highly visible assignment, but out compestors were haely rending thee thes with envy ver our good fortune, The company, feral, had recently announced ite fist lose after nine year of spectacular ‘growth and profits nthe shar-infesed waters a the per~ sonal computer indusey, where a moments weakness is ‘often the Immediate prehide to becoming somebody's Inch, the smart money was betting that Compag would soon become another plee of roadil tering the high tech highway Plier, when we met in his Houston ofes,Joked ke 4 ceniral casting GEO: gray-haited, handsome, conserva- tively dresed, immaculately groomed, Bot nothing else ‘was standard issue. In meetings, he spoke Hite and 1 the point. There was no bullying or bonhomle. He often ap ‘eared ost in thought, but Would iavatablycorret that Impression by asking suecin perinent questions about ‘the matter onthe able. Quiet, butinfexby, he remained focused on thoroughly exploring whatever problem was at hhand, creating a logis! suategy to address It and a tUmetble for execution ‘Whale m Bekhard's company, I had no feeling of being overwhelmed by sheer energy charsm or intellectual ds- ply. Yet, hen returned 1 New York from Texas, with drew all the ase in my pension account, which were Ante Wiaped Mate § nay subscandl, and place them in Gompag shares. had never done anything remotely Ike it before (and haven't since) Nor was this an ostentatious demonstration of ly aly toanew account—indeed unlikely chat other than my wife, anyone knew what done. Rather, sifer had, without my immediately egsering the fc, convinced me ‘hat Compaq would thrive. And it di, executing one of the ‘most rapid and sucesso Wrnarounds in reoent corporate history lier etfect on me was ofmpel action, in his case to place my Hnansal future inthe hands of @ man I barely knew It as a action tha, mulipied many thousands of times, on the part of oer invesors, colleagues, supplies, consumers, bankers and industry observers, beeame the human substance of Compaq renassance, This ripple ef fect Thave come to believe over the years, i the visible trace ofthe invisible force we cllleadership. Relatively few leaders are called upon to wina waror sve a company ut whatever their sphere of endeavor, all have tis curious f+ feat of enabling those around them fst, to believe in the future, second, to want to help shape It and, tl to eet criched by the endeavor. As Max Deprce the longtime (CEO ofthe Herman Mlle office foriture corporation put ein his bre, poedclly musing book Lesh Is a Ar “the ist respoasblty af a leader isto define realty. The last to say thank you." ‘But what i lesderhip island not just ts elects? Ccenainy, I Isa thing whose absence we often lament, ‘whether inthe White House, te school house or the cot: porate site. And though, to paraphrase former Supreme ‘Court Justice Poter Stewart on pomography, te alwaysknow ic when we se it leaerslp has proven al but n= possible to analyze ar define, much les teach. People of every stipe have ted, from Wharton PhDs 10 football, coaches, but without any scentifcally veriflable resus. ‘The recently published Knowledje hang Busnes nel edi, or example, reste is definition of leadership 10 the “Abii, through personality or organizational muse twinfluence others toward a goal.” Unforcunately, that all the encyelopedi’ editors and advisors flr able to assert. AS they weit, “Beyond that definition, is haed to say much about leadership that will not be disputed. That is because ‘countless theorists have come up with systems to describe ‘types of leadership and characteristics of god leaders. But no theory of leadership ha held upto testing overtime." 1s an are, evidently, where would-be authorities ‘should fea to tead, But the fac remains that Ihave been, ‘oly in functional terms leader myself ever since 1973, ‘hen Ralph Ammirat and {funded the advertising fim ‘Amnmiratl Pur, which grew into Amit Puss Lint, of APL as ls known to industry insiders. n the quarter een- tury since then we've grown intoa company of some eg thousand employees, spread out over ity-eight counties, ‘with annual Ming of over $7 illon. Running this fm hha been the great joy and headache of my profesional Le, fae portion of which has been devoted to teying to Figure out the nature of leadership, Afterall othe extent ‘that Tean provide this intangble quay to my coeagues, ‘and tothe extent that they can ofr ito thet people. the ‘mare flexble, ceaive, ellecive and prosperous we are ely tobe, “Argunby, the requirement for leadership, and the sort ‘ld Woaped te yt /7 of vision described by Max Depret, has never ben more ctcal than now, when rapid politica, cultural and tech- ological change has et most of ws feeing more than a ‘He unmoored. Cersinly n the business word, a higher premium ft placod on leadership than at any tine since 1 began my carer thisty'some years ago. Change threatens the stability and predictability of makes. Whether you are BM, GM, Nintendo, ora Korean debt the earths con- stanly shifting under your fet and may, nfo, open up at ‘ny moment The data bear out thi apocalyptie metaphor. orexample ofthe Fortune 500 companies of 1970, ony thi sl exist today. ust since 1996, when 1 hepan work on this book, sev zal ofthe companies T have Been studying have changed romatcaly, United States Surgeal Corp. for example, red tobe aequlred by Tyco Intemational, for roughly $4 bila instock and assumed debt Chryses,of couse xe- ate global healines when i agreed ro merge with Ger- ‘many’s Daimer-enz tdi Compaq alter i announced is purchase of Digital Equipment Corp. for $96 billion. A> as, meanwhile, Became the world's number two sporting ‘equipment and apparel company after buying Salomon S.A for $1.4 billion, Change ofthis order can be demoralizing. Authors John ‘Mickethwait and Adtian Wooltige, in their valuable book he Wiad Dacor Making Smt of he Management Gury ct the research of poychologlst Allan Katcher, who asked (wenty “senior American executives” what about ‘themselves they most wanted to hide from thelr suborai- nates. “n nineteen out of twenty eases" Mickethwalt and ‘Woolddge waite, with barely disguised amusement, “the