TOP CEO's OF THIS CENTAURY
Triumvirate Ambanis, Reliance's Famed Fables!
Adjectives fail to describe the sheer audacity with which the Reliance Group has managed to grow not just in the markets, but also in the minds of shareholders. The late Dhirubhai Ambani managed to create a business empire that is incomparable to any other individual non-legacy Indian success story, both in size and in scale. Dhirubhai muscled Reliance's way into the Indian capital markets in 1977 with a public issue of a whopping 28 lakh shares under the Reliance Textile Industries banner. Dhirubhai's fable of being ruthless, cunning and shrewd spread thick and fast as he exploited opportunities much quicker than his peers. Dhirubhai rewrote the record books in Indian corporate history by defying established wisdom with every project that he undertook.
The younger scions of Dhirubhai's ascendancy, Mukesh and Anil Ambani, have taken the legacy forward after the death of their father, despite this being amidst a string of mud-slinging and muck-raking activities between them. Millions of shareholders across the country heaved a sigh of relief when the settlement was made in June last year. While the core petroleum business was grabbed by Mukesh, Anil walked away with businesses in the sunrise sectors of telcommunication and energy.
For years, while the media savvy Anil Ambani remained the poster boy of the company, Mukesh was always the sober and silent of the two. If Mukesh brought eye for detailed expertise and analytical skills to the table, Anil brought with him networking skills, aggression and sharp financial acumen. If Mukesh was the inheritor, then Anil was the visage of the family. With the ownership issues laid to rest, it's time for the younger scions of Reliance to take the march forward. And forward they seem to going, what with the spate of acquisitions and new businesses announced.
Neutron Jack, Straight From Two Guts
Not to be missed in any list of iconic CEOs, he has literally redefined corporate strategy and leadership in the past two decades. He is credited with leading GE in a major structural transformation, from a manufacturing giant to a services based growth engine of the 21st century. A lot of this growth was inorganic, led by hundreds of acquisitions. Notably, the most memorable of his businesses was GE Capital. In the process, he also increased the market capitalisation of GE by around an unbelievable $400 billion in 20 years.
Few would question the impact that Welch has had on GE's growth. He was successful in employing the carrot and stick approach to the hilt. Criticism of Welch, on the other hand, has largely been on his handling of people. For starters, Welch undertook large scale layoff s of hundreds of thousands in GE, earning him the sobriquet of Neutron Jack. Apart from that, Welch also faced the wrath of worker unions for his sheer intolerance with employees if his expectations weren't met. Nevertheless, leading from the front was Welch's strongest point; and one can definitely learn from his adeptness at aligning people to his vision (with perseverance and passion) and his excellent decision making abilities.
Welch continues to be in the public limelight post his retirement from GE, whether it was for accusations on irrationally high retirement perks or for his extra-marital affair with former HBR editor - and current wife - Suzie Wetlaufer, with whom he co-authored the book Winning. Winning indeed, in the corporate and personal sphere continues to be Welch's blind penchant!
Aditya Birla, The Vision Vanguard
Right from his early childhood, Aditya Vikram Birla was the favourite grandson of the legendary G. D. Birla, earmarked for the bigger things of life. After the "usual" education in the United States, Aditya Birla came back to India and started off with a modest role in his father B. K. Birla's businesses. In the 1980s, when the Birla clan split after the death of G. D. Birla, Aditya Birla inherited the juiciest chunks of the empire during the division. In just a few years, he managed to expand his inheritance into a multi-billion dollar global business empire straddling textiles, cement, aluminium, fertilisers and a small presence in financial services.
Aditya Birla is now widely acknowledged and respected as the man who had a clear vision of Indian companies emerging as true blue multinationals. Sadly, Birla fell victim to cancer well before he could see his awesome vision come true. But now, son Kumaramangalam Birla surely seems to be well on his way to fulfil his father's dreams.
Y. C. Deveshwar, yogi with a cause!
While the corporate world is going gaga over ITC's successful diversifications, the fact still is that cigarettes contributed 75% to the bottomline in the financial year 2005-06. In that regard, Deveshwar's task of successful diversification is far from over. However, he still is the man who has successfully changed ITC's image of a cigarette company to an FMCG major competing with HLL.
Born on February 4, 1947, he passed out of IIT Delhi and immediately joined ITC. When Deveshwar took over the mantle of Chairman and CEO, he successfully handled a $100 million foreign exchange fraud accusation on ITC; and even handled frayed egos in the case of BAT - which owns around a third stake in ITC - that was threatening to withdraw. Credited with pioneering the concept of e-choupal, which went on to become a Harvard case study, he also set up India's first private sector school for hotel management. ITC recently diversified into lifestyle retailing. On Deveshwar's anvil are investments of around Rs.140 billion by year 2010 for expansion. For ITC, Deveshwar has proven to be a reformist, belligerent as ever.
Subir Raha, The Royal Bengal Tiger
Aorkaholic, spending 18 hours a day on job, one of the shrewdest negotiators of the trade, downstream man as per his critics, determined and brusque at times, affable according to his friends. Fond of Earl Gray tea, Rabindra Sangeet, Hindustani classical music and mutton cooked with spring onions. A rare combination of colourful and fierce, he is Subir Raha, the Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). He is that rare leader, who makes colourful headlines in spite of heading a PSU. After a degree in electronics engineering and telecommunication from Jadavpur University, he joined the oil PSU in 1969; and ended up working with the oil sector for 31 years in various capacities.
Raha was adjudged as the second most influential oil man in the country, by Upstream, one of the leading policy advocacy journals. His claim to fame could most definitely be attributed to Raha's seat of the pants responses to government diktats on oil pricing and other related policy measures. Despite being at the giving end to the government, Raha continues to rule!
Lakshmi Narayan Mittal, The Prince Of Steal
Stealing a march, that is! Mittal is the poster boy of an industry that was not supposed to have any poster boys. Lakshmi Mittal is that extraordinary man who has given a new meaning to the phrase "rags to riches" and brought glamour and glitz into the dull world of steel. Born in the remote village of Sadulpur in Rajasthan, in 1950, Mittal's initial years were spent in abject poverty as the family reportedly did not even have decent beds to sleep on. The family's fortunes changed when Mittal's father started a steel business in Calcutta. After finishing college from St. Xavier's, Calcutta, Mittal joined the family business in 1969.
However, his journey truly started in 1976 when he founded a steel plant - Ispat Indo in Indonesia. In 1989, he took up the challenge of turning around a government owned steel firm in Trinidad and Tobago, which was reportedly making losses of $1 million a day and turned it into his magic formula. Mittal followed the same strategy with several steel mills in Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico and Kazakhstan. In 1994, Mittal split from the family and started on an acquisition drive, which eventually made Mittal Steel the world's biggest steel producing company in 2004. Today, Mittal is the richest man in UK and the fifth richest man in the world, according to Forbes. He also owns the most expensive house of the world ($128 million) and hosted the most expensive wedding of the world ($60 million) when his daughter Vanisha got married. His son, Aditya Mittal, is the CFO of Mittal Steel and is currently busy working out the intricacies of the recent $25.5 billion hostile bid on Arcelor, the world's second largest steel maker. Lakshmi Mittal will always be remembered for being the prince of steal and the emperor of steel!
Subhash Chandra, The Quintessential Karmayogi
A school drop out and a beedi smoker, Subhash Chandra - who prefers to be known as a karmayogi - is not your usual run-of-the-mill CEO. But his is a name that will forever be chronicled in the history of television in India for starting India's first Hindi, satellite channel Zee Television on October 2, 1992. Chandra, showed sparks of business brilliance at the age of 19 when he set up a vegetable oil unit. Born on November 30, 1950, at Adampur Mandi village in Haryana, Chandra is famed to have started off with Rs.17 in his pocket; and is now worth Rs.40 billion. In 1981, a visit to a packaging exhibition led to the foundation of Essel Packging Limited, one of the biggest packaging companies in India. Later, his visits to amusement parks abroad made him jump into the amusement parks business, and Essel World was established.
But it was his brush with media that ultimately brought him fame and earned him the nickname, "Rupert Murdoch of India". The idea for the cable channel took root with a visit to one of his friends at Mumbai Doordarshan. He became famous for toppling hot contenders and clinching a historic deal for a transponder on AsiaSat with Star TV. Later, he also stozod his own ground in the face of competition from NewsCorp. Today, the Essel group deals in various businesses like multiplexes, education, publishing, animation, online lottery and even movie production, with the latest venture being direct-to home. He & his wife Sushila are keen social workers, but Chandra continues to shun publicity.
