A sneak peek at what goes on in their world and how they go about nurturing an institution:
Jobs, Buffet, Nooyi among top 5 CEOs of the decade
He single-handedly saved Apple, wrought a revolution in online music, created a world-beating smartphone and led Pixar to dominate computer animation. So it's no surprise that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was named CEO of the decade Thursday by Fortune magazine, which said that Jobs' success in reordering four industries - computers, music, movies and mobile telephones - was "unheard of."
Microsoft CEO sees Yahoo partnership outside US
Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company's search engine partnership with Yahoo would not be limited to the U.S. but would be introduced around the world, once it gets regulatory approval.
CEOs: Who do they pick up their virtues from?
You don't get to the top without looking up to someone. People who run companies don't start out as pillars of business, character and morality. Some of them don't even end up that way. But they all have to learn somewhere about right and wrong and integrity and passion and persistence. Many of them look up to a particular role model who more than anyone else shaped who they became.
Glamorous wives of glorious CEOs
The world's top CEOs are, of course, known for their expensive hobbies, ridiculous spending, and legendary work habits. But what they're not always known for is good taste. Their wives, on the other hand, don't have that problem. These women can often overshadow their doughty, work-obsessed husbands. We took at look at the most glamorous and successful wives of the well-respected business moguls....
Do Indian CEOs over pay themselves?
India's top honchos could not have had it better. High salaries, perks, fancy cars, club memberships, and a lot more are all for them to keep. A demand-supply gap for senior talent has resulted in very high CEO salary levels in good times and now, in tough times, these numbers have begun to look 'indecent'. In the past, each person hired was benchmarked against the best available candidate and the best company, and this pushed up compensation levels to unreasonable limits, irrespective of competence....
Transition at TCS: How Ramadorai groomed his successor
Eighteen months ago, sometime in the early part of 2008, speculation began to do the rounds on who would succeed S Ramadorai as the chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest information technology company. Ramadorai had been its public face for many years. But he was turning 65 in 2009, which is the retirement age for all Tata chief executives. A successor had to be found in time. Here is how he went about grooming his successor.
Best-paid women CEOs of America's largest companies
The chief executives of America's 500 biggest companies took a collective 11% pay cut last year, earning total compensation of $5.7 billion. After a 15% collective pay cut in 2007, chief executives of the 500 biggest companies in the U.S. (as measured by a composite ranking of sales, profits, assets and market value) took another reduction in total compensation, 11%, for 2008. The last time the big bosses took a pay hit for two consecutive years was in 2001 and 2002. In total, these 500 executives earned $5.7 billion in 2008, which averages out to $11.4 million apiece and computes to less than 1% of total revenues and 3% of total profits of their companies.
CEO salaries: One must pay for the talent, says FICCI
Amid the raging debate over high CEO salaries, industry chamber Ficci's President Harsh Pati Singhania said if talent is to be attracted one has to pay for it and that in most cases they are "within limits". Asked for his reaction to Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's recent remark on outrageous salaries paid to CEOs, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries chief Singhania said, 'If you want talent, you have got to pay for it'.
CEOs hired from outside firms more likely to be dismissed
A new study has revealed that CEOs hired from outside are more likely to be dismissed because Boards of Directors commonly make mistakes during their appointments.For example, during CEO selection, the board of directors of the hiring firm knows less than the candidates regarding the person's true competencies. As a result, it is possible that the board makes a faulty hire and then dismisses the CEO shortly after the succession.
CEO speak: Staying fit with no time for fitness
The executive life can drain your energy and inflate your waistline. Fight back. In your early days as chief executive officer, you had all the energy in the world. The fast pace of the life exhilarated you. You occasionally had to strain to do everything you could, but you pushed through. Now you're starting to feel fatigued. Just that pushing through gets harder and harder.
Power women: America's top paid female CEOs
In January, President Obama signed the historic Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which aims to guarantee equal compensation for men and women. Yet even in the corner office, it seems, women still don't enjoy the same rewards for their managerial performance as men. This year, America's top-paid female CEOs earned, on average, $3.9 million. Compare this to the men, who raked in an average of $11.9 million.
Leave corporate salaries to market forces: India Inc
The need for austerity in these trying times is understandable, but India Inc cannot ignore the market forces to determine salaries to attract the best talent in this highly competitive world, shows a survey by a leading industry lobby. The survey among 100 top corporate chief executives conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) also showed 60 percent of the respondents maintaining that the best talent can only be attracted if salaries were not regulated.
Austerity infects India Inc: Senior Ambani takes hefty pay cuts
Aiming to set a "personal example" of moderation in executive salaries, Reliance Industries on Thursday said its chief Mukesh Ambani has decided to lower his pay package by nearly two-thirds to Rs 15 crore for 2008-09.
At the same time, India's most valued corporate house also announced a new structure for salaries and remuneration of top executives wherein the pay packets would be capped, as against the prevailing system of commission linked to profits.
What's vulgar? Infosys board members took the deepest cut
Keen on setting an example in tough times, Infosys Technologies board member T V Mohandas Pai said the board members had taken the "deepest cut" in variable components of their salaries.
Reacting to questions on 'vulgar' or outrageous salaries paid to IT honchos, made by Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Kurshid, he told media during the release of quarterly results "We don't have an issue here. We pay our CEO, COO much less than other members of the board". As per a decision arrived five year ago, it was decided that those who are founding members and share holders should be paid less than those who are not, he said.
Montek dittos Khurshid, says no indecent pay packets please
The debate over remuneration of CEOs grew louder with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia stating that company heads should not be paid "indecent salaries". "I have seen those news reports. They have said there should not be indecent salaries and that is right also," he told reporters here. Especially, when governments all over the world have pumped in $1.6 trillion to bail out the global economy from the financial crisis, Ahluwalia said there are concerns over the issue. "Globally it is the concern. There is no regulation on CEOs' salary. It is the responsibility of corporate boards to fix salaries judiciously," he said. The debate was triggered by remarks made by Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid that "I don't think anyone in India today, in politics or outside politics ...has reached the level of liberalism where vulgarity is also a fundamental right."
No 'vulgar' salaries, India Inc told
To put a check on the public expenditure, the Government has advised India Inc to refrain from doling out "vulgar" salaries to CEOs. "I think when we are working on this (austerity), we can hardly say that we (will) shut our eyes on what salary the CEOs are going to take," Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told PTI when asked how the Government intends to control salaries of CEOs which at times appear vulgar. Pointing out that the salaries of CEOs should be decided by shareholders, he said, "I don't think anyone in India today, in politics or outside politics has reached the level of liberalism where vulgarity is also a fundamental right.
Tata Consultancy Services CEO spells out growth agenda
Natarajan Chandrasekaran took over as chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, vowing to boost the global market share of India's largest outsourcing company. "We're going to focus on growth," he said. Under the 13-year leadership of his predecessor, Subramaniam Ramadorai who stepped down at the mandatory retirement age of 65 and will serve as a non-executive vice chairman and member of the board the company's revenues grew from about $150 million a year to nearly $6 billion. "The $6 billion is only a 1 percent share" of total information technology services spending, Chandrasekaran said.
GE's CEO to test new management model in India
General Electric Co plans to test a new management model in India that the largest U.S. conglomerate believes will help it flourish through a long period of sluggish post-recession growth in developed markets. Rather than taking its high-end, high-cost equipment and finding ways to make it less expensive for developing-world customers, GE needs to focus on designing lower-cost technologies that will appeal to customers in emerging markets, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt argued in an article published on Tuesday in the Harvard Business review.
Is your self esteem determining your salary?
Since becoming a CEO, Elizabeth Miles, a co-founder and chief executive of Iken Business Ltd., a legal software company based in Bristol, U.K., has been "shocked to find that (on average) women employees are grateful for pay increases, whereas men expect and demand more. It's as if women can feel less deserving."
Women on top? Wipro, PwC, Biocon are game
For most companies, hiring women employees at an entry level has never been a problem. However, very few of them make it to the higher levels. This has been a concern for recruiters. To correct this, companies have become aggressive on taking up HR schemes to increase the number of women in the top echelons of management. At Bangalore-based Wipro Ltd, women make up close to 25 per cent of the workforce. However, there are only 5-8 per cent of them in the higher echelons of the company. Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO-IT business of the company, said that the numbers begin to dwindle towards the top.
Even MBAs manipulate CVs to get the jobs: Survey
If you believe that only techies fudge their resumes to get jobs, you may want to think again. Many employees who hold a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree appear to be doing the same, too. Around 37 per cent of B-school respondents, according to a new survey by a job portal, say they manipulated their resumes at some stage in their careers. While 26 per cent of the respondents confessed to lying about their employment history and projects in their previous organisations, six per cent said they lied about their academic credentials. The survey adds that 63 per cent of the respondents said they search for new job listings at the workplace using their employer's resources.
Sap India CEO Ranjan Das dies of cardiac arrest
Ranjan Das, CEO and MD of SAP Indian subcontinent died after a massive cardiac arrest on Wednesday. One of the youngest CEOs, he was 42. Reports said the Das collapsed at his Raheja Bay home at Bandra after returning from a work-out at the in-house gym on Wednesday morning in Mumbai. He was soon rushed to the Lilavati Hospital where he passed away. Das was fitness freak. He was hard-working and believed that he needed only four hours of sleep a day to keep him fit and fresh. He ran Chennai marathon a couple of months ago.
