The New Breed of CEO

 

By Karen Lowry Miller /

Originally appeared as In the Quiet Crow,

Newsweek Special Edition, Winter 2004

©2005 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reprinted by permission.

 

Keeping a low profile: The age of the supercelebrity CEO is coming to a close, replaced by a new generation who stay out of the news

 

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As 2005 got off to a rocky beginning, one wondered if the lessons of Enron, WorldCom and Tyco had registered where it counted. American corporate scandals kept popping up with amazing regularity, while European executives resisted reforms to corporate governance.

 

Corporate scandals surrounding supercelebrity CEOs changed the way business is done. The days when a company’s board assumed that the CEO’s big name justified the means of doing business are gone, too.

 

A new style of leader

 

Now a new kind of leader is emerging. Old-fashioned traits like integrity and character are trumping a knack for cutting corners. Bill George, retired CEO of Medtronic, calls it “authentic leadership,” or a quiet kind of charisma that puts a sense of values and purpose ahead of backslapping and magazine covers. The new breed of CEO, says corporate-governance expert Charles Elson, “is a CEO whom you don’t know about.”

 

So just who are our humble heroes? Many have been right under our noses all the time. Reuben Mark, sometimes known as the anonymous CEO, has delivered excellent growth and returns at Colgate-Palmolive for two decades. He also enhanced his reputation for honesty when he resigned from the Citigroup board to protest its obscure succession process. Other CEOs point to Daniel Vasella, the doctor who runs Novartis with an eye on the needs of patients. Many in the financial-services industry appreciate the calm competence of Wells Fargo CEO Dick Kovacevich.

 

The risk of defining a new breed is that boards will simply trade one character type for another. “It maintains the mythology that a company does well or poorly because of the CEO only,” warns Rakesh Khurana of Harvard Business School. After distilling a number of management studies, Khurana concluded that the CEO has only a “small, contingent or tenuous impact” on financial results.

Vocabulary Focus

register (v) [5redVistE] to make an impression; to become or cause to become aware of something

count (v) [kaunt] to have value or importance; to matter

under one’s nose (idiom) something that happens very close to one without one noticing it

distill (v) [di5stil] to reduce something to its most important parts

contingent (adj) [kEn5tindVEnt] depending on or influenced by something else; conditional

 

Specialized Terms

low profile (n) 低调；低姿态 the behavior or lifestyle of acting so as to avoid attracting attention to oneself

governance (n) 领导驾驭；管理 the act of ruling or leading; the system, manner or process of government

board (n) 董事会 the group of people who are responsible for controlling and organizing a company or organization

[the end] justifies the means (idiom) 为达目的不择手段 the final goal is so important that any way of achieving it is acceptable

backslap (v) 热情地表达欢欣；热情地赞美 to show an enthusiastic expression of happiness and positive feelings, usually congratulations or praise

新型执行官

吴四明 译

 

维持低调：超级名人执行官时代已近尾声，取而代之的是致力于避免曝光的新时代。

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2005年举步维艰地开始时，人们不禁怀疑安然、世界通讯及泰科等弊案所带来的教训是否真的已深植人心。美国企业丑闻以令人惊讶的规律性不断爆发，而欧洲的高级主管则抗拒公司治理的改革做法。

围绕着超级名人执行官的企业丑闻改变了企业经营方式。过去董事会认定只要执行官拥有高知名度，就可以不择手段经营企业的那种时代也结束了。

 

新型领导者

现在，一类新型的领导者正逐渐抬头。正直及品德等传统的特质，正胜过投机取巧的本领。已退休的美敦力前执行官比尔·乔治称之为“真诚领导”，就是一种低调的领袖气质，它看重价值观与目的，多过看重对于成就的热情赞美及登上杂志封面的荣耀。公司领导统御专家查尔斯·艾尔森指出，新类型的执行官“是你不熟悉的那种执行官。”   

那么，到底这些谦卑的英雄是谁呢？很多人一直近在我们眼前，但我们却视而不见。鲁宾马克有时被称为无名执行官，20年来一直使高露洁—棕榄公司保持高度的成长及获利。他曾因程序不透明抗议继任而自花旗集团的董事会中辞去职务，诚实的声誉因此获得更高的肯定。其它执行官也称赞诺华公司的丹尼尔•华塞拉医生，他经营诺华公司是以关注患者的需求为出发点。许多金融服务业人士则推崇富国银行执行官迪克·科华塞维奇的沉稳干练。   

为新类型执行官下定义的风险在于董事会只会用某种性格类型取代另一种性格类型。哈佛商学院的拉凯许·库拉纳警告：“这种情况仍未打破一家公司的营运优劣完全取决于执行官的神话。”库拉纳从数个管理研究个案中萃取精华后得到的结论是，执行官对公司的财务状况只有“微小、有条件或薄弱的影响力。”