Posts Tagged ‘Herb Kelleher’

In the May 2009 issue of Conde Nast Portfolio, they list the best and worst CEO’s ever. Number 1 on the “best” list was Henry Ford; Number 1 on the “worst list was Dick Fuld from Lehman Brothers. Now this list was judged on criteria for creating destroying/value, innovation, and management skills (or lack therof). The panel they chose for this list were professors from some of the best business schools in the United States (Sloan, Kellogg, Wharton etc.) What disappointed me the most about the “best list” was not one comment was written about how these CEO’s embodied strong human capital practices.

A couple of things stood out for on this list:

Best/Worst -Jack Welch of GE– the panel couldn’t decide whether or not to put him in the best or the worst category? Really? In my book, he is one of the best, if not the best CEO ever. Jack Welch may have fired many employees but at least he did it based on a credible measuring system. GE in many ways set the benchmark for Performance Management best practices. Jack thought his whole job was to put the right people in the right positions. Do this, and strategy and execution will come along for the ride.

Worst - Al Dunlap of Scott Paper and Sunbeam– if you asked the same panel back in 1998 what they thought of him, I’m sure they would have put him on the “best” side of this list. To me, Al Dunlap isn’t even a CEO. He was a liquidator. It doesn’t take much management skill to take a “chainsaw” to a company. When he actually had to manage Sunbeam he failed miserably.

Best – Herb Kelleher – SWA is the best, non-subsidized airline in the world. Instead of setting organizational goals to enrich shareholder value, they focus on the customer and their employees. Increased shareholder value is a by-product of this effort. It was disappointing to see the magazine cite their fuel hedging program as the reason for success when it’s the employees that make this company what it is.

The list focused on CEO’s of Public Companies and really looked at shareholder return. One person I would put on the “best” from the private side is Jim Goodnight of SAS. He said in an interview with 60 minutes a few years back, “95% percent of my assets leave the building every day, it is my job to bring them back.” Wouldn’t you like to work for a company whose CEO values you as his most important asset?

Time and time again, CEO’s who focus on their employees significantly outperform their competitors in every financial metric that matters. Hopefully, this panel will question the ratings criteria next time and rank CEO’s on their Human Capital practices. Now this is a list I would like to see.