James Burke
(ex-CEO of Johnson & Johnson)
James Burke was the CEO of Johnson & Johnson in the 1980s. Today, he is regarded as a legend. However, not many know that he is a legend because he averted a crisis instead of letting it happen.
In 1982, during a cyanide scare caused by one of Johnson & Johnson's best-selling products -Tylenol, the revenue of Johnson & Johnson had taken a serious hit and marketers predicted that it wouldn't recover from this sabotage. Under the leadership of James, Johnson & Johnson handled this crisis by recalling 31 million bottles of Tylenol capsules from store shelves and offering replacement products in the safer tablet form free of charge
Two months later, a new improved Tylenol was headed back to the market bolstered by an extensive media campaign. A year later, its share of the $1.2 billion analgesic market, which had plunged to 7 percent following the poisoning, had climbed back to 30 percent. James put the consumer first and in this way, became one of the greatest CEO leaders ever!
David Packard
(Co-Founder of HP)
David Packard was a firm believer that the CEO is supposed to treat the employees as human beings and not just cogs in the corporate machine. He believed that the people who create wealth have a right to share in it.
He once sat in a meeting in 1949 among other CEOs. They were discussing how to make their companies more profitable by exploiting their employees' wages and benefits.
David could not take it any longer. He stood up, explained that their role as business leaders was to take care of the employees because they were the wealth creators.
This opinion alienated him from the other CEOs. Despite being seen as misguided, he went on to lead HP into the technological revolution and the company emerged as a major player in Silicon Valley!
Sam Walton
(Founder of Walmart)
Walmart, a company that currently generates the highest annual revenue in the world was all built on the enthusiasm and guidance of Sam Walton. He was a man of tremendous charisma. However, he knew that the company would not survive after him based on charisma alone.
He knew that he needed to be an operator too. So when other CEOs snubbed the requests of some Brazilian retail businessmen who wanted to learn the American Way of business, Sam gladly welcomed them. The Brazilians thought they were learning from Sam but he was actually learning about South America from them. Sam knew how to use his charisma to seize opportunities.
He did so with the vision of expanding his enterprise. He also knew how to set a legacy. That is why he indicated that Walmart should have a target of $125 billion in revenue by the year 2000. His successor David Glass embodied this vision and clocked a revenue stream of $165 billion by that year. Sam Walton built a business that outlived him and exhibited great leadership in his role as CEO.
SHARE believes that 'doing good' is compatible with 'doing well' and envisions a future where all organization leaders try to emulate this ideology. The above-mentioned famous leaders have led their company to success and glory by inculcating this ideology in their actions and decisions. We hope this inspires the next generation of leaders.
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