Magazines Profile Saving Nature of Corporate CEOs

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's CEOs to the rescue! Corporate America needs saving, it seems, and business magazines are casting top executives in a heroic light.

Who could be more suited to the role of Superman than Robert Crandall? The retired chief exec of AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, has the part down with his blue suit, red tie, and "a handshake that would make the Hulk wince," says Mark Tatge in the August 16 issue of Forbes. Plus, he knows how to fly. In fact, Crandall's got a plan to revolutionize the beleaguered airlines industry.

Along with fellow airline veteran Donald Burr, founder of the now-defunct discount carrier People Express, Crandall aims to change the way executives with large expense accounts fly. In "Sky Kings," Tatge explains, "their concept is vastly more convenient than commercial airline travel with all its waits and security lines, yet a lot less expensive than chartered jets or executive jet ownership. It amounts to creating an industry of air taxicabs."

The pair has named their fledgling company Pogo, gathered $8 million in capital, and ordered a small fleet of new-generation lightweight jets. Their idea for air-travel-on-demand involves routing small aircraft as needed to the country's underused 5,400 smaller airports, situated within a half hour of 93% of Americans. "No ticket counters, no terminals, no baggage handlers," Tatge writes. "You drive up to the airport minutes before your flight, the pilot loads your bags, and away you go."

But it was Chrysler Group Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche who made the cover of the same Forbes issue for representing another heroic figure—the Gambler. In "Saving Chrysler," writer Joann Muller looks at how the automaker and its union workers are taking a chance on a factory concept that might rescue them both.

"The two sides made an eight-year agreement that has the potential to radically change the way Chrysler—and all automakers—build vehicles, finance their factories, and manage labor," Muller says. She explains that Chrysler will replace its old Jeep Wrangler factory in Toledo, Ohio with four separate plants. Suppliers will own and run three of the four factories, providing the capital for machinery and employing the workers.

"While the deal protects current Chrysler workers from pay cuts, it offloads much of those costs to suppliers and could significantly lower Chrysler future labor costs," Muller writes. "For the struggling and newly pragmatic UAW, the alternative was the good chance that Chrysler would close the plant entirely."

Forbes rounds out a trio of favorite American archetypes with the Rebel—Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich. In "Banking on Brashness," writer Bernard Condon profiles this "banker who bucks trends." Kovacevich, who took a small Minnesota bank and turned it into a big player, has a long history of defying conventional wisdom—and making the right decisions.

Barron's hails its own savior—Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons—in the August 16 issue cover story, "It's About Time," by Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal. "Although the company still faces formidable challenges … a new management team led by CEO Richard Parsons is laying the groundwork for a powerful revival," the author says. "Once-warring business units have begun working together, debt has been pared markedly, and profit has begun rolling in."

And what do these dynamic leaders do when they're not leaping tall buildings in a single bound? BusinessWeek lets readers know in the August 30 special issue, "The Executive Life: A Personal Guide." The magazine offers "a guide to restoring some fun and balance to an exec's harried reality," including tips on hiring a trainer, finding out-of-the-way places to visit, building a home theater, and frequenting the best restaurants. Being a hero has its perks.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism