Grand Ambitions, Grand Results

You could say Chung Mong Koo, the Chairman of Hyundai Motor Co. had a head start in life as he was after all the founder’s son. It can’t be denied though that he has made good use who the resources that he inherited.

He took over Hyundai Motor in 1998. The company that he would lead was not known for making quality cars. Hyundai actually came last in a quality survey conducted by J.D. Powers & Associates in 1994.  He started his leadership in 1998 by acquiring Kia in a bankruptcy auction and stated that the cars he would make would match the quality of those made by Toyota Motors.

Known for hard work and driving his executives and right down to the last worker to work hard, Chung has been able to raise the quality of Hyundai cars. This can be reflected in the sales of Hyundai cars that kept its car factories running at 104 percent of planned capacity last year. The cars are not sold in only one area but all over  the world including developed countries that have more car choices and can choose cars based on quality and not just price.

With his drive and high ambitions the Hyundai Motor Group is now the second largest chaebol in South Korea and the motor company is now the crown jewels.   Hyundai is considered the most profitable among the world’s six largest automakers. While previously known for cheap cars it is now known for making quality and highly advanced cars. It is even one of the companies leading in car fuel cell technologies.

At 73 years of age Chung has made significant accomplishments but still has other grand ambitions to achieve.

John C. Martin: At The Helm Of Gilead Sciences

While a company is not composed of one man, a good deal of its success (or failure) can be attributed to its leadership. One company has been led by a single individual for most of its over 20 years of existence. He is not a founder but has guided the company to continued growth and profitability.

John C. Martin joined Gilead Sciences in 1990 in a senior role.  By 1996 he became the President and CEO until 2008 when he became Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO until present. Since Gilead was established in 1987, it can be said that for most of the company’s existence Martin has been its head.

His stewardship has led the company to significant growth. With his vision and focus on antiviral research Gilead has a leading market share in drug treatment for hepatitis B, influenza, and HIV. The company has likewise gained leadership in offering access to low cost HIV medications in developing countries.

Gilead is a research-based biopharmaceutical company. It discovers and develops medicine with the aim of commercializing it. Its’ annual revenue in 2011 reached around $8.4 billion and the company has been cited in many publications for its strong business performance.  The company has 14 marketed products and has about 4,500 employees with offices in four continents.  Its products can be categorized in the following areas: HIV/AIDS, Liver Disease, Cardiovascular, Respiratory, and others.

Martin’s performance as head of the company has not gone unnoticed. Publications like Chief Executive.net rank him as one of the top 10 most valuable CEO. Prior to joining Gilead, Martin held high positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Syntex Corporation. Aside for his job experience, his academic background is quite suited to his work; he has an MBA in marketing from Golden State University and a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago.

The company’s continued growth and profitability is a reflection of Martin’s excellent leadership in running Gilead Science, Inc.

The Reclusive Mr. Christopher Chandler

Using the proceeds of the sale of their parent’s department store in New Zealand, brothers Christopher and Richard Chandler began investing in the Hong Kong property market in the mid- eighties. With their wealth increasing, they invested in Latin America and eastern Europe in later years. Through their investment firm Sovereign Global they became billionaires.

 In 2006, the brothers amicably split their $3.5 billion company.  Christopher named his new investment firm Legatum Capital (legatum meaning bequest in Latin) while Richard named his own investment company Orient Global.  Both brothers are low profile and not well- known even in their native New Zealand.

Christopher as of late has taken the socially sustainable path of entrepreneurship investing in such areas as microfinance.  He also has a philanthropic bend seeding the $100 million END fund which aims to eradicate tropical diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, he established in Boston, the Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The scholars in this centre are not aiming to get well-paid jobs but to establish businesses that will help the poor in developing countries. The centre was conceived and is headed by Iqbal Quadir the man who established a $4 billion company called Grameenphone in Bangladesh which allows cell phone owners to sell minutes of air time to others.

Christopher Chandler may be reclusive but the way he is using his wealth speaks volumes of his character and values.

Improved Figures With Sara Blakely

Many successful business started with meeting a need felt by the business owner.  One woman started her business this way. She felt that pantyhose did not exactly bring out the best of her figure whenever she put on a figure fitting outfit. She set out to make a product that would.

Sara Blakely had frustration with clothes that she thought would look great only to be disappointed with the exposure of panty line and imperfection. This led her to the idea of an undergarment like a pantyhose without the foot cover and of course the disappointing lines. It would help improve her figure not make it look worse. This was the start of SPANX.

The road to success was not easy. A sales trainer by day and a standup comedian by night, she managed to start her entrepreneurial quest with $5,000 dollars savings and worked out of her apartment. To keep cost down she even wrote the patent herself aside from the fact that the lawyers she approached thought her idea was crazy. She did finally got her patent and the trade mark name SPANX.

If the lawyers thought her idea was crazy then the mill manufacturers she visited didn’t really have a positive opinion of her product either. She kept on visiting until one of the millers said he would help manufacture her idea.

With an actual demonstration of her product to a lady buyer of Neiman’s she was able to show the before and after effect of wearing SPANX. It worked, Neiman’s displayed her products, and sales took off.  Saks, Bloomingdale, Nordstrom, later on sold her product. She was on her way up. Target got interested so she created the ASSET product line for a broader market.

She founded the company in 2000 and 12 years later, Forbes Magazine lists her as the youngest self- made female billionaire in the world with a net worth of $1 billion. Her figures have certainly improved.

The Right Choice

While Cisco was in place before the internet started to take off, it had a very shaky start as the founders of the company eventually left in not very good terms. The company managed to grow and its then president John Morgridge made a fateful decision, he hired a man by the name of John T. Chambers to be the senior vice president of World Wide Operations in 1990.

This turned out to be a great choice; with Morgridge’s backing Chambers became the company CEO in 1995. Like other tech companies Cisco’s stocks were overinflated; it became the most valuable company in the world in 2001. When the dot.com bubble burst the company’s value went down dramatically.  Chambers resorted to cutting workforce and taking a pay cut himself. He stood his ground and continued growing the company and making strategic acquisitions.

His management skills can be seen in the numbers that he produced. In 1995 when he took over as CEO annual sales was at $1.2 billion, today they are in the $40 billion level.  Cisco has maintained its leadership providing routers and other products that keep the internet humming.  Chambers also became chairman of the board in 2006.

As a sign of continuously adapting to new environment Chambers embarked the company on a new management approach that is decentralized in nature and has been happy to share it with other large companies as well. They have seen increased productivity with this approach. Of course the technologies used to enable this change involve using Cisco products.  Chambers has always been innovative but also keeps his eyes on the ball.

Steven Pinkert Possesses a Multifaceted Background in Medicine and Law

With a multifaceted background in law, medicine, and business, Steven Pinkert has held responsibilities as Managing Partner of Pinkert and Marsh, PA (formerly the Pinkert Law Firm, PA) for a decade. Prior to pursuing legal studies at the University of Miami School of Law, he gained 15 years of experience as a psychiatric physician in Chicago. In this capacity, he treated patients with serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder. He also held responsibilities as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois in Chicago, teaching about psychotherapy and diagnostic evaluation techniques.

Graduating from the University of Miami School of Law in 1998, Mr. Pinkert joined the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida’s Office of the Public Defender in Miami. He maintained diverse responsibilities over the next four years, serving as a Staff Attorney with the Juvenile Division, as a paralegal with the Indefinite Civil Commitment Unit, and as Assistant Public Defender with the Office’s Felony, County Court, and Capital Litigation divisions.

From 2001 to 2002, Mr. Pinkert practiced with the Miami maritime defense firm of Kaye Rose & Maltzman, offering counsel in complex litigation cases involving medical and psychiatric issues. Since establishing his Miami practice in 2002, Mr. Pinkert has focused on transactional law pertaining to international market entry, general civil litigation, immigration law, and real estate law. A certified patent lawyer, he regularly assists clients on intellectual property issues related to patents and trademarks. In addition to his current responsibilities at the practice, Steven Pinkert serves as Chairman of the Board at Signum US Healthcare Inc., working in joint-venture capacities with Chinese state-run hospitals to develop state-of-the-art radiotherapy centers.

Career Executive

John W. Thompson has been a career employee and executive. While many employees have transferred from one company to another in search of higher rank and compensation, Thompson was a dedicated employee of IBM for 30 years.  It was a fruitful career. He started as a storage sales representative and worked his way up the ladder.  He held many executive positions until he became the general manager of IBM Americas and a member of IBM’s Worldwide Management Council.

This was not the end of Thompson’s corporate career. In 1999 he joined the growing company Symantec Corporation as CEO and Chairman.  The company was already making $600 million in sales revenue when he came on board. Under his 10 year leadership he guided the company to more growth.  The company became one of the top providers of security, storage and systems management solutions in the world. Its products cater to all segments in the market from individuals to the world’s largest corporations. When he relinquished his CEO post in 2009, company sales totaled over $6 billion. He held on to the chairmanship until October 2011.

His top level position has made him wealthy affording him to make investments in promising startup companies.  Yet again he has taken on the role of CEO this time for Virtual Instruments, in 2010. Thompson has been a board of director for the company since 2009. He also serves on the board of UPS, the huge logistic provider.  Recently Microsoft announced his joining of their board.

Aside from his business undertakings Thompson has also served on the National Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NAIC).  This committee makes recommendations concerning the critical infrastructure of the U.S.  He served on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to look into the cause of the 2008 financial crisis and make recommendations to Congress on how this can be avoided or mitigated in the future.  He once served on the national board of Teach America. This group is focused on removing educational inequities among children.

Thompson is not known for having started a company, but he has made a significant impact by vastly improving companies or entities he has been a part of.

Doing It The Old Fashion Way

Many of today’s billionaires have become rich at a very early age. There is no doubt they put in the hard work.  One man not only put in the hard work, but had to face great adversity. How many of today’s young billionaires had to stop schooling at the age of 15 to support their families? He managed to do so by simply working hard, grinding through the years to get him to where he is right now.

Li Ka-shing was born on June 13, 1928. He took on responsibility at an early age. His father died when he was 15 years old. He had to stop schooling to support his family. He worked 16 hours a day for a plastic trading company to make ends meet.

All his hard work paid off. By 1950 he was able to start his own plastic manufacturing company which sold plastic flowers to America. This was a lucrative business.  When his lease was not renewed it forced him to buy his own land that led him to the real estate business in Hong Kong. Riots in 1967 caused people to flee Hong Kong, dropping real estate prices. He saw this as an opportunity to acquire more land making him eventually as one of the largest land owners in now booming Hong Kong.

He was able to acquire Hutchison Whampoa Limited in 1979, giving him a huge conglomerate with many businesses in different industries. It also made him one of the largest port container operators in the world.  Li is known to spot emerging trends like in the mobile phone industry, make investments, and then sell the company at a huge profit. 

He’s always looking ahead and is now into venture capital, funding startup technology companies. He did it the old fashion way.