Reaching The Top From Another Company

Many top executives reach the highest position in their company by starting out from a lower position and slowly make their way to the top. Others have taken a different path. They start out from a lower position and make their way up the corporate ladder. Then they become the company head, but of a different company who have spotted their talent and hired them.

Take the case of John P. Daane. He spent fifteen years at LSI Logic Corporation which is a semiconductor manufacturer.  He reached the very high position of Executive Vice President for the Communications Products Group. Then he became President and CEO in November 2000, but for another company.

This company is Altera. Based in San Jose, California, and founded in 1983. It is a pioneer company in programmable logic solutions. The company provides software tools, intellectual property, embedded processors and customer support. In 2010 earnings was at $1.95 billion and had 13,000 global customers. Altera has 2,600 employees in 19 countries.

Daane was elected as one of the directors also in 2000. The company must have liked his performance as he was appointed less than three years later as chairman of the board of directors in 2003. As testament to his stewardship skills he has held the top positions for almost ten years or more.

When someone has talent it is appreciated not only in one’s own company but in other companies who may want to have someone’s management and leadership skills.