Ellen Kullman is the Chairman and CEO of DuPont.
This is not an ordinary company by any standards. On longevity alone it’s been
around for 210 years. The company had earnings of $38.7 billion in 2011.
Ellen is the first Chairman and CEO in the company’s long
history. She started her career at
General Electric then joined DuPont in 1988 as a marketing manager. She was on
her way up the leadership ladder. After
a series of management positions, in 1995 she became the vice president and
general manager of White Pigments & Mineral Products.
She was already comfortable with her job leading around
6,000 employees and managing a $2 billion business. Then in the latter part of 1998
she was asked to create a consultancy business based on the company’s safety
practices. DuPont’s CEO then told her it
was alright if she would not accept the new job assignment.
Taking this challenge had its perils. It would seem like she
was being pushed out of a stable job position for someone else to take
over. Kullman would start with virtually
nothing but an idea.
Both her mentor at DuPont and her husband were not in favor
of it. It would be something totally new for her since she would have to be
more entrepreneurial in this undertaking. It would also be new for DuPont since
it was a company that sold products and not services.
It must have been the challenge that made her decide to take
the job. It would really put her to the test. It was totally new and she had a
clean slate to start with. Kullman was able to convince some people to work
with her. She assured them that she would
help them find another job at DuPont if it didn’t work out.
Turning the idea into reality was not an easy task there
were failures along the way. It was all worth it since she was able to turn
safety consultancy into a $
5 billion dollar business. This
achievement certainly helped her rise to the top.
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