道格?奧伯赫爾曼 ????公司:卡特彼勒 ????《財富》500強排名:42 ????奧伯赫爾曼的父親是約翰迪爾公司(John Deere)的一名銷售員。他一直都很喜歡重型機械,所以,1975年,卡特彼勒公司給剛剛大學(xué)畢業(yè)的他提供一份信用分析員的工作時,他欣然接受。他從沒想過自己會在這里工作一輩子,甚至成為公司的CEO(“我當(dāng)時都不知道自己是否清楚CEO到底是干什么的,”他說),但每當(dāng)有新的機遇出現(xiàn)時,他的眼界也會隨之改變。奧伯赫爾曼曾被派往南美洲,這次任命恰逢拉丁美洲債務(wù)危機,他的任務(wù)是收回公司的設(shè)備;之后他又負責(zé)公司在日本的業(yè)務(wù)。他說:“面臨挑戰(zhàn)時,經(jīng)驗非常有用。對于業(yè)務(wù)上正在發(fā)生的事,你可以做到心領(lǐng)神會。而且,我對公司350位高層領(lǐng)導(dǎo)都有實質(zhì)的了解——因為我的整個職業(yè)生涯都在這里度過?!彼WC要帶領(lǐng)卡特彼勒擺脫泡沫,不過:奧伯赫爾曼非常重視與同行在一起的時間,以確保自己按照必要的速度完成公司的改革。 |
Doug Oberhelman ????Company: Caterpillar ????Fortune 500 rank: 42 ????Oberhelman, the son of a John Deere salesman, had always liked heavy equipment, so in 1975 when Caterpillar offered him a job as a credit analyst straight out of college, he took it. He never imagined he'd be there for life or ever become CEO ("I'm not sure I knew what a CEO was then," he says), but his outlook changed with each new interesting opportunity. Oberhelman was sent to South America, a stint that coincided with the Latin American debt crisis and involved re-possessing equipment; and later to run operations in Japan. "When things are challenging, experience is wildly helpful. You appreciate what's going on in the business. And I know virtually all of the top 350 leaders here—I have my entire career," he says. He makes sure to get out of the Caterpillar bubble, however: Oberhelman prioritizes time with peer CEOs to make sure he is pushing and changing the company as fast as he needs to be. |