Leadership Profiles

Lifting a team from worst to first

February 6, 2014
In just over a decade, the Tufts University men’s lacrosse team has gone from worst to first under head coach Mike Daly. Instead of focusing on wins, Daly urged players to take pride in mastering the details and always improving their craft.

Starbucks CEO takes a principled stand

February 5, 2014
Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks ­Coffee Co., has a reputation for speaking his mind. His strongly voiced opinions help shape the company’s image.

Military recipe for change: ‘Z-grams’

January 30, 2014
Starting his career as a junior naval officer, Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr. earned a series of promotions to become the youngest vice admiral in Navy history. He commanded U.S. naval forces in Vietnam and, at age 49, became chief of naval operations—the youngest man to serve as the Navy’s highest-ranking ­officer.

Calling the shots with some chutzpah

January 23, 2014
Typically, a CEO who seeks to impress an important client will defer to the client’s wishes. But Linda Kaplan Thaler isn’t a typical CEO. As chief executive of a big New York advertising agency, she recalls a 2001 meeting with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp.

Teamwork at its best

January 21, 2014
Running a global business with 1,500 employees means balancing steady leadership with an adaptable attitude that helps people withstand constant change. Irv Rothman has learned to maintain that balance in his successful career as CEO.

Ford runs on hard data, not soft hunches

January 16, 2014
Many CEOs favor fact-based leadership. Rather than rely on their impressions or gut instinct, they tend to scrutinize facts and make decisions rooted in hard data. Alan Mulally, Ford Motor’s 68-year-old CEO, has stood out among leaders of American auto companies for his intense focus on numbers.

A billionaire without a computer

January 14, 2014
An entrepreneur worth about $4 billion, John Paul DeJoria runs his business em­pire without a computer. The co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems fears that a computer would stymie his productivity because he’d always be buried in emails.

Leadership lessons from Mayberry

January 9, 2014

With the passing of actor Andy Griffith in 2012, his most famous TV character, Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, is worth another look for his low-key brand of leadership. Here are a few of the sheriff’s lessons on caring more and fussing less.

Flipping burgers sets example for team

January 2, 2014
There’s no single method to motivate entry-level employees. You need a range of communication tools to ignite their on-the-job passion. Consider the example set by Rich Snyder of In-N-Out Burger.

In pursuit of the world’s DNA

December 27, 2013
One of the signal traits of a leader is vision, but vision can be hard to capture or explain. Anne Wojcicki, founder of the mass market genetic testing firm 23andMe, has vision.