Tony, >>> What Mary implied was that business types make better CEO's than engineers. <<<
Wrong! You could go to school to learn engineering, book keeping, finance and come out and get a job so you could really learn engineering, book keeping, and finance. But nothing teaches you to be a CEO.
I'm willing to bet that very few CEO's ever graduated at the top of his/her (mostly his) class. I'm also willing to bet that relatively few of the top CEO's graduated from the top business schools.
What I was really looking for was some clue as to what kind of CEO Craig Barrett was going to make when he is given the ball to run Intel by himself.
But, I don't even know what characteristics I was really looking for. I would never have put my money on Andy Grove in the early years, but I guess his incredible drive overcame any and all deficiencies.
In the selection of a successful CEO, I would have lost my blouse betting against Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison. To this day I can't see how these people can get through a normal day, much less successfully managing a company.
Now Jack Welch and the late Roberto Gozueta I could understand. These are discplined managers, know the technical details, financially astute, and above all else know how to select personnel, define objectives, and have everyone marching to the same tune. But there are a lot of people with these characteristics. There must be something more to it.
Bill Gates is really something else. He built this thing from the ground up with his own hands and keeps it going. What he does defies anything that I could understand.
If Craig Barrett has anything like what Bill Gates has in terms of a secret ingrediant for CEO success and given the Intel franchise, investing in Intel would allow all of us to retire rich like Paul, Jim, John, Carl, and some of the others.
Regards,
Mary |
