Soon to be CEO's

Being the CEO of a large multinational corporation ....

Being responsible for billions of dollars in revenue,
Influencing the lives of millions of people,
Creating a strategy and watching it filter through the organization,
Visiting dozens of countries every year,
Corporate jets and huge expense accounts,
Meeting political leaders, activists and other cool people ...

The latest issue of "Fortune" got me thinking about the joys of being a CEO. Of course, there are quite a few negatives to counter-balance this - Some prominent ones being the lack of personal time, Sarbanes-Oxley and huge amounts of accountability ....

In an article, the magazine profiled 12 up and coming executives that they predict will become CEO's of their own company or another very shortly ...

They were:

• David Calhoun, GE
• Ursula Burns, Xerox
• Greg Brown, Motorola
• Kevin Johnson, Microsoft
• Eduardo Castro-Wright, Wal-Mart
• Brad Sheares, Merck
• Steve Burke, Comcast
• Mary Minnick, Coke
• Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs
• Ellen Kullman, DuPont
• Jeff Dewkes, Time Warner
• Bob McDonald, Procter & Gamble

Each of these executives have had a meteoric rise to the top - They have been responsible for great projects/ideas that turned the company or an important division of the company around. Each of them has challenged the norm and has gone beyond changing processes/business rules - They have challenged the company's philosophy - Which is what the CEO needs to do ...

However, the most interesting thing that I noticed was the fact that almost all of these 12 has overseas experience (Particulary in Asia) - Running an overseas business unit is fast becoming a pre-requisite to success in the corporate world. And I am referring to a position that is actually based overseas as against one that has the word "Global" in it !

Some examples ...

• David Calhoun - Ran GE Plastics Asia
• Eduardo Castro-Wright - Ran Wal-Mart Mexico
• Mary Minnick - Former head of Coke Asia
• Bob McDonald - Soon to run P&G Asia