The array of charismatic CEOs who have begun to give up the reins of blue-chip corporate America fall into several distinct genres. There are the savvy dealmakers like GE’s Jack Welch, IBM’s Louis Gerstner and Citi-group’s Sandy Weill, leaders who deferred innovation and charmed Wall Street. There are the rogue, self-styled serial acquirers, like Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski, WorldCom’s Bernard “Bernie” Ebbers and Global Crossing’s Gary Winnick, executives who ignored innovation and indulged in corruption. Then there are the faux inventors and pitchmen of the new economy like Webvan’s George Shaheen, whose pretensions to innovation were little more than vaporous self-promotion.
Taking their place is a new breed of CEO that, despite paying respectful homage to their predecessors, largely eschew the mantle of the dealmaker and the brazen swagger of the salesman. Instead, they are focused on creativity and innovation and on reviving and polishing the legacies of their enterprises. This new “new thing” is really a return to the spirit of the titans of the old economy —leaders like GE’s ingenious Thomas Edison, IBM’s visionary Tom Watson Jr. and MCI’s entrepreneurial Bill McGowan — and a revival of such lost legacies as that of Polaroid’s Edwin Land, RCA’s David Sarnoff, Xerox’s Joe Wilson, Hewlett-Packard’s David Packard and Westinghouse’s George Westinghouse. Although these leaders varied greatly in their professional backgrounds, they were of one mind when... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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