The Way to the Top Read online

  “Okay, then” Tresa finished, and with great ceremony said, “we’ll now hand out the list of apartments!” The crowd inched forward and I wondered if I should have hired a few uniformed policemen to protect her, or at least for dramatic effect.

  Like a Macy’s One-Day Sale without the clothes, people began to run the moment the list was in their hands. In the mayhem, everyone had a strategy for charting, hunting, darting, looking, rushing, signing, and buying. Some people waited on elevators, while others bolted for the stairs. Some worked alone, while others worked in pairs.

  The first successful buyer had flown in from Paris and had camped in line since four in the morning. He signed a contract for a one-bedroom on the highest floor, sight unseen, six blocks away.

  One savvy couple had a pair of cellular phones and were calling each other back and forth as they dashed through the buildings looking at apartments. It was the first day I saw cell phones in use. When they decided on an apartment they liked, the husband ran to the table while his wife kept looking, just in case. As he signed the contract, he called his wife on her cellular phone and said, “Honey, we got one, you can stop.”

  One man rushed back to the contract table announcing he liked the C line of apartments in the building. “It doesn’t matter which floor, I just want to buy a C, any C.” When we told him that all the C’s had been sold, he decided he liked B’s too, “any B.”

  We started the day with eighty-eight apartments that nobody wanted and our company near bankruptcy. By day’s end, eighty-eight proud new owners were celebrating their good fortune, and we had eighty-eight checks to deposit and had earned over a million dollars in net commissions. I continued to build my business until 2001, when I sold it for $70 million.

  So, the best lesson I ever learned in business was from my mother:

  When there are ten buyers and three puppies, every dog is the pick of the litter.

  When there are ten buyers and three puppies, every dog is the pick of the litter

  Jerry COUVARAS

  CEO of Atlanta Bread Company

  When people emigrate, as I did, they tend to change fields to find a “new opportunity.” I think that’s a mistake. In South Africa, I was an investment banker with holdings in three retail food operations. Before I moved to the United States, I met with a successful entrepreneur. I asked him, “What should I do when I get to America?” His advice: “Stick to what you know.”

  So I stayed in the food business. If you’re a plumber, become a better plumber. If you studied to be a doctor, be a better doctor. Stick to what you know. The grass always seems greener on the other side, but it’s not. Build on your experience rather than jumping ship. It’s easier to do different, new, and exciting things—but often it’s smarter to stay the course.

  I pass this advice on to my franchisees—stick to Atlanta Bread Company and you will get better and better. Look at me: I purchased my business in 1995 when it had two locations. Today there are almost two hundred. Look at Trump—he stuck with it; you can, too.

  Stick to what you know

  Michael J. CRITELLI

  Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes Inc.

  Ian Morrison, former president of the Institute for the Future, told me that I had two choices as Chairman—to either be a steward or to be a change agent. And that in reality the only choice I had was to be a change agent. The trade-off for being a change agent was that I probably wouldn’t get much credit at the time because a lot of the benefit would come after I was gone. He also taught me that the pace of revolutionary change is usually overestimated in the short run and the magnitude of such change is usually underestimated in the long run.

  Recognize that the rewards of success may come late

  Michael DAN

  Chairman, President, and CEO of The Brink’s Company

  During one of my first job assignments, when I was twenty-two, I was faced with a very difficult decision. I asked the founder of the firm for guidance. He replied, “It’s your job to weigh all the available information and make the call in the best long-term interest of the firm. If you do that, you will be fine.”

  That advice has steered me throughout my career and never failed my company or our people.

  When you don’t know what to do, just make the best call

  Karen N. DANZIGER

  Executive Vice President of The Howard-Sloan-Koller Group

  Accept, change, or leave.

  In other words, don’t try to change that which cannot be changed. Accept that which is a given, change what you are able to, or move on to something else.

  Accept, change, or leave

  Thomas F. DARDEN

  Chairman of Quicksilver Resources

  1. Go where the traffic isn’t.

  2. You will never achieve more than you are willing to settle for.

  3. The only currency that has finite limits is time—so spend it wisely.

  4. You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

  5. Get in too late and get out too early (that’s how I made all my money).

  6. Do business with good people.

  7. Be one of those good people and people will do business with you.

  Seven simple principles for building a successful business

  John DASBURG

  Chairman, CEO, and President of ASTAR Air Cargo

  Adam Smith got it right in the eighteenth century when he said that a market economy is only sustainable with an educated citizenry and when large organizations don’t have significant political influence. Without an education, people lack opportunity and are more prone to rebellion. When large businesses have too much political power, it leads to monopoly, followed by consumer and political rebellion. Therefore, all business leaders have a responsibility to support public education and oppose the concentration of political power in business.

  Support public education, not political power in business

  Richard E. DAUCH

  Cofounder, Chairman, and CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing

  In 1990, when I was Executive Vice President of worldwide manufacturing at Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, the Chairman and CEO, thoughtfully shared with me advice that set me on a course to become Cofounder, Chairman, and CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing, the tenth largest tier-one automotive supplier in North America and the twenty-fifth largest in the world.

  Mr. Iacocca’s advice was complex in its simplicity. He said that if my ambition was to be the leader of a significant industrial corporation, I would have to do what he had done more than a decade earlier, when he completed a legendary resurrection of Chrysler as it spiraled toward bankruptcy. I would have to make my own mark at a different corporation. I would have to either resuscitate a floundering automotive company as he had done or create a new one. Given Mr. Iacocca’s renowned success, I took his advice to heart and decided to create my own company.

  Mr. Iacocca arrived at Chrysler Corporation in dire straights, but he got right to work. He surveyed the situation, developed a plan, and then hired the right people with the right automotive design, manufacturing, marketing, finance, and applied engineering experience to get the job done. He convinced the federal government that he had a sound business plan and obtained government loan guarantees, which Chrysler was able to pay back seven years early. Mr. Iacocca and his team succeeded in saving tens of thousands of jobs and an automotive nameplate that might have been lost forever. I am proud to have been part of that distinguished team.

  Mr. Iacocca’s advice inspired me to retire early from Chrysler Corporation, giving me the time and energy to focus on an automotive-related business that I could create—one that would meet my personal and professional standards and ambitions. I knew that choosing the entrepreneurial approach of founding and forming a new company would involve a great amount of personal and financial risk. It would also require a tremendous amount of energy, enthusiasm, and focus.

  After careful evaluation of all of the pertinent issues and choices, I put Mr. Ia
cocca’s guidance to the test by leading a small investment team that purchased five of eighteen assets that General Motors had for sale. The company had lost more than $20 billion between 1991 and 1992; it was hemorrhaging red ink and needed to divest itself of unprofitable, troubled operations. The driveline and forging assets that we purchased were among the most challenged in General Motors’s asset portfolio. The business units had outdated manufacturing processes and products and dispirited workforces. This would be a Herculean management and leadership challenge. It would be right up my alley.

  I recognized the risk, but I was familiar with the driveline and forging operations. Earlier in my career I had served as plant manager at GM’s flagship plant, the Chevrolet Detroit Gear & Axle complex. I was convinced that I could create a profitable, multibillion dollar, multinational company, one that would be a value-added driveline systems supplier for General Motors and the other world automotive original equipment manufacturers.

  It was a situation not dissimilar to what Mr. Iacocca had encountered in 1978 at Chrysler Corporation. The big exception was that I would be an owner of the assets. I would have to lay it all on the line, assuming considerable personal financial risk along with my investors.

  Less than a decade after the official operating and legal start of American Axle & Manufacturing, the company has become the ultimate entrepreneurial and executive success story, in an auto industry that has seen more than its fair share of failures and misery. By taking Mr. Iacocca’s advice to heart, I have been able to create a company that fulfills and satisfies both my personal and professional goals and that has been extremely rewarding for all shareholders and stakeholders.

  We were able to retain the original 7,500 jobs that flowed from General Motors Corporation. Today, the workforce is 12,000 strong and strategically located in twenty-three locations on four continents. The company has been profitable all nine years of its existence. In 1999, through a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) process, we converted the company from a private firm to a company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as “AXL.” Since that time we have generated seventeen straight quarters of performance that have met or exceeded Wall Street expectations. Revenues have more than doubled since 1994: they have grown from approximately $1.6 billion to $3.5 billion.

  We have built a world-class quality and technology product portfolio possessing outstanding performance capabilities, and customers have expanded from the original two to more than seventy-five. We originally shipped product to two countries; now we ship to twelve.

  The company’s execution of challenging investment decisions regarding revitalizing old facilities and investing in new product, process, and systems technology earned it a place on the Fortune 500 in 2002. In 2003, AAM moved up to number 450 on that prestigious list, and we have also been honored through the Forbes Platinum 400 as one of America’s Best Big Corporations.

  Nearly $2.5 billion has been invested to rebuild and modernize AAM’s original plants and infrastructure, and this activity continues to be done strategically and thoughtfully with an eye to achieving a positive return for our investors. As a result, AAM was awarded the 2001 Shareholders Value Award from Automotive News and PricewaterhouseCoopers with a total return on investment (ROI) of 169 percent.

  I grew up on a working dairy farm in Ohio and my parents were my role models. They were hardworking, entrepreneurial Americans who encouraged their seven children to be bold, brave, bright, and courageous. They also taught us honesty, integrity, human compassion, and caring. Teamwork was expected and leadership was allowed to develop in the environment that they provided.

  The strong sense of fundamental values and teamwork instilled in me by my family set the stage for the man I would become. It was the advice I received from Mr. Iacocca that helped set the stage for the owner-operator-entrepreneur that I enjoy being today.

  Make your own mark

  Harris E. DELOACH, Jr.

  President and CEO of Sonoco

  Charles W. “Charlie” Coker, Sonoco Products Company’s current Chairman of the Board of Directors and former CEO from 1976 to 1998, once gave me these words of wisdom:

  “Sonoco has prospered for over one hundred and four years because of the achievements of its people. Such prolonged success can come from nothing else. A company, after all, is a collection of people who create products, make it all work to achieve financial results, and, ultimately, create its reputation. The right people build businesses!”

  I have found that the biggest successes and failures in business are most often determined by whether or not the right people are in the right jobs. You can have the best strategy, but it has no value without the right people to execute it. Conversely, if you have the wrong strategy but the right people, they will correct it. The right people truly do build businesses.

  The right people build businesses

  John M. DERRICK, Jr.

  Chairman and CEO of Pepco Holdings, Inc.

  My career has been spent in the energy and utility business, where knowing and serving your customers well is critical. It was in the Navy, however, where I learned a crucial piece of business advice. I was a Civil Engineering Corps officer specializing in base public works operations. Staff officers in the Corps had oak leaves on their sleeves and the line officers we supported had stars on their sleeves. When I paid my initial call on the Commanding Officer, he asked if I knew what my job was. I responded, “I think so, but perhaps the Captain should elaborate.” He said, “Your job is to serve the people with the stars on their sleeves.” In other words, know your customers and devote yourself to their well-being—a simple and direct piece of advice that has guided me for more than forty years.

  Serve the ultimate boss, your customers

  Richard “Bo” DIETL

  Chairman of Beau Dietl & Associates

  Upon retiring from the New York City Police Department in 1985 as one of its most highly decorated detectives, I started a security and investigation firm. The success of my business can be directly linked to my going out every night to network continuously. Although my networking detracted from my being a good father and a good husband, it was the sole reason that my business was and is successful. Being able to go out and make those important contacts makes for a thriving company.

  One of the most overlooked parts of a network are the assistants to the people you are trying to cultivate. As a chairman and chief executive officer, I have absorbed some valuable truths regarding assistants. If you are doing business with a chairman or CEO of a company, become friendly with their assistant—even if you already know the boss. Having a good relationship with the assistant will secure a spot for the meeting you’ve been wanting but have had trouble fitting on the executive’s calendar. After the assistant schedules the meeting, the chairman or CEO most likely will not change or reschedule it.

  Also, when hiring an executive assistant, I do not go with the candidate with the highest IQ; I go for the one who has the best all-around attitude. I prefer someone giving me 100 percent of what God gave them than someone with a high IQ giving me 50 percent. Having a good attitude makes for a successful relationship between the boss and the assistant.

  The value of assistants

  David DOMBROWSKI

  President, General Manager, and CEO of Detroit Tigers, Inc.

  Early in my career with the Chicago White Sox front office, Roland Hemond, then the general manager, advised me not to worry about what I couldn’t control and to stay focused on what I could. One day we entered the park together when it was raining. There were many questions on my youthful mind regarding what we were going to do in regards to the rain delay, how we would get through the day, and how our game would be affected.

  Roland told me to not worry about the weather. It was something we couldn’t control and was an element we had to deal with in our game. He said that if we ended up having a rainout, we would then deal with all of the necessities that were caused by the cancellatio
n. This sound advice not only led to my dealing successfully with many rain delays, but also in dealing with other aspects of my professional and personal life.

  Don’t worry about things you cannot control

  Donald L. DRAKEMAN

  President and CEO of Medarex, Inc.

  The best advice came from my father, Fred J. Drakeman, an international business executive. He said, “People will do what you measure and review.” This does not mean just focusing on the annual performance review, however. Managers should monitor and review employee tasks and accomplishments in real time, in order to ensure that everyone accomplishes their goals.

  If you review it, they will do it

  Ron DRAPEAU

  Chairman and CEO of Callaway Golf Company

  Andre Horn, then the Chief Financial Officer of Joy Manufacturing Company, now Joy Global, offered me some valuable advice on integrating an acquisition (which could apply to any major project): “Run it like the French Cavalry: plan long, order short.”

  Plan long, order short

  Leon DREIMANN

  CEO of Salton, Inc.

  My mentor, Gunter Petz, once said: “Half drunk is a waste of money.” If you’re going to do something, do it right, with 100 percent commitment.

  All or nothing

  Archie W. DUNHAM

  Chairman of ConocoPhillips

  I received some good advice in the United States Marine Corps, something called the Five Ps: “Prior planning prevents poor performance.”

  Received may be too mild a word. The mantra was pounded into my head, just as it was pounded into the head of every newly commissioned lieutenant who served with me. (In the Corps, it was actually the Six Ps, and you can guess what the fourth P was. But five or six, the principle is the same, and I’ve been grateful for the lesson ever since.) Whether in the military or in business, preparation is critical. One reason why the Marines are so successful is the thoroughness with which they plan: they think about alternatives, they anticipate what could go wrong, and they provide for contingencies. When I participated in maneuvers as a young lieutenant, I kept a notebook where I logged every mistake and every area where I thought we could improve. Then I shared the benefits of this ongoing education with the young lieutenants who followed me. I did the same thing in the business world as I rose in the corporate ranks and trained the young, up-and-coming managers. The result was that for the rest of my career, I almost never went to a meeting unprepared. Equally important, I had a management team behind me that was trained to think the same way.