Chapter 1: The Exceptional Seven and the Traits that Defined Them

Overview

The seven CEOs featured in this book were selected on the basis of research that I conducted over a 4-year period. This research—which added up to several hundred hours of study and analysis, all told—included interviews with CEOs, interviews with experts such as Northwestern's marketing guru Philip Kotler (who provided enlightening insights on my material), and a careful review of literally hundreds of books, articles, speeches, annual reports, web sites, stock charts, and so on.

While very specific criteria were employed to narrow down the list to the final seven, there was a subjective element to the selection process as well. As the editor and publisher of more than 250 business books, I have edited works that documented the lives and insights of such business leaders as William Paley (founder of CBS), Michael Eisner (Disney), Michael Ovitz (founder of Creative Artists and later president of Disney), Jack Welch (GE), about whom I also wrote a book, Ross Perot (founder of EDS), and Lou Gerstner (IBM), among others. It was, of course, impossible not to form opinions of these individuals as I studied them and learned about their accomplishments. This was good background, but it was also a potential source of bias. I attempted to counteract any such bias by studying other business leaders about whose careers I had no special knowledge.

When this project began, the list of possible CEOs numbered more than three dozen. The final list was determined fairly late in the process—in the spring of 2002, when the initial research phase of the book was complete. Without naming names, I will confess that I wrote partial (and sometimes complete) chapters about other individuals who, for one reason or another, failed to make the final cut. In some cases, these also-rans fell victim to the hard times that followed the turn of the century. (They didn't survive professionally, or their organizations were acquired or merged.) But more often, they fell off the list because I learned that, strong reputations notwithstanding, they did not meet the criteria for inclusion. Yes, they were accomplished in their own way, but their accomplishments did not seem to speak as loudly as their reputations, or did not promise to apply across a broad spectrum of business situations.