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Dealing with Crisis: Three Leaders Speak Out
For one CEO, the challenge was to use the company's near bankruptcy as a catalyst to emphasize customer service, set up new partnerships and recommit to R&D. For another CEO, the first test of leadership was firing the top management team and whole board of directors. For another, it was initiating a strategy that flew in the face of traditional industry practices.
The three leaders mentioned above -- Anne Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox, Edward Breen, CEO of Tyco, Aditya Mittal, president and CFO of Mittal Steel -- spoke to Wharton students and/or to Knowledge@Wharton during recent visits to campus. Their thoughts on management clearly reflect their own personal journeys up the leadership ladder, but, as is often the case, they agreed on some of the skills necessary to run a company nowdays: a constant focus on the customer, a commitment to globalization, the importance of finding and motivating the right mix of employees, and a willingness for both corporations and individuals to take on risk.
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| The Cow in the Ditch: How Anne Mulcahy Rescued Xerox |
Anne Mulcahy, chairman and chief executive of Xerox, calls pressure from Wall Street for short-term performance "one of the most dysfunctional things going on in the marketplace today," and said she "applauds companies that have pulled back from setting earnings expectations and are trying to reshape the rules of the road. If I could take Xerox private, I'd do it yesterday." Speaking a few weeks ago as part of the Wharton Leadership Lecture series, Mulcahy talked about the challenges she faced trying to bring Xerox back from the brink of disaster.
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| How Mittal Steel Proved Its Mettle in a Tough Marketplace |
Five years ago, Aditya Mittal, then head of mergers and acquisitions for his family's company, Rotterdam-based Mittal Steel, wanted to acquire a steel mill owned by the Romanian government, even though the plant was losing $1 million a day. After long and arduous negotiations, both sides eventually agreed to the deal. That transaction, one of many over the years, illustrates what has made the company the world's largest steel maker -- a commitment to consolidation, globalization and risk-taking. Aditya Mittal, now president and CFO, talked with Knowledge@Wharton about the company's strategy and future plans for expansion.
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| Tyco's Edward Breen: When Leadership Means Firing Top Management and the Entire Board |
Edward D. Breen understood that he was taking on one of the toughest jobs in corporate America when he agreed to become chairman and chief executive officer of Tyco International in July 2002. After all, the former CEO had resigned and was under investigation for stealing hundreds of millions from the company. Then, hours before Breen was to announce his new position, CNBC reported that Tyco might file for bankruptcy. The company's stock fell 18% that day. "I knew I was going to be in the fire," Breen recalled during a recent talk on campus as part of the Wharton Leadership Lecture Series. "But you never know the intensity until you are really there."
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