Top 10 Smartest CEO Decisions
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Yesterday, we took a look at 10 really dumb business decisions, as admitted by CEOs on our radio show. Today, we reverse course and pull out our:Top 10 Smartest CEO Decisions
As heard on The Motley Fool Radio Show.
Steve Sanger, General Mills (NYSE: GIS)
The smartest decision was maybe back in the '80s when we decided to promote the health benefits of Cheerios. Some people thought that that was marketing it to older people and it's basically a kid product. Turns out that everybody eats Cheerios and it has become our biggest brand.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN)
The smartest decision we ever made was to figure out that e-commerce was a fixed cost business and that you needed a lot of scale. So getting big fast and spending that first four years really focused exclusively on growth -- that, combined with doing it in a way that gained us a reputation for genuinely caring about customer experience, those are the primary assets the company has.
Jim McCann, 1-800-Flowers.com (Nasdaq: FLWS)
One of the toughest decisions I made was buying the company that had the telephone number 1-800-Flowers. I wasn't smart enough or sophisticated enough to understand the role of due diligence, so I did due negligence and acquired an awful lot more debt than I planned on. But because I'm an entrepreneur and I don't know enough to lay down and die, you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on going, and it turned out to be one of the better business decisions we've ever had the good fortune of surviving.
Jim Sinegal, Costco (Nasdaq: COST) food warehouse
I think our smartest decision was the merger with Price Club. I think it was a difficult process but it turned out to be a great move for us. Not only did we get some very good businesses in there, but just as importantly we got some great people and some great management that came along with that merger. I doubt that we could have grown to the size that we have since that point if we hadn't picked up that very mature management team.
Bob Davies, Arm & Hammer maker Church & Dwight (NYSE: CHD)
In the '70s the winner for the smartest decision was to put the open box of baking soda in the refrigerator. Incredible thing... overnight it doubled the size of the business and it poured money into the company. It's written up in textbooks as a major evidence in the power of advertising.
Fred Smith, FedEx (NYSE: FDX)
The smartest thing I've done in my business career is to make sure to have very, very smart and able business partners like the members of our strategic management committee today. They're a pleasure to work with and they had predecessors who were equally as able. That's what I'm most proud of and the thing that I've done most right.
Garry Ridge, lubricant maker WD-40 (Nasdaq: WDFC)
I think my smartest business realization was recognizing that people who are encouraged, trained, and motivated to perform magnificence on a daily basis is really what it's all about.
Bruce Hertzke, RV maker Winnebago (NYSE: WGO)
I think the smartest business decision I ever made was the ability to work with people. A lot of people like to make business pretty difficult. If you stick to the basics, you can be successful. I have no problem with those people making me look good. That's probably been the biggest asset I've been able to attain.
Ron Sargent, Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) office products stores
My best business decision ever was joining Staples when I did. It was high risk but it turned out to make all the difference for me. I was leaving a terrific organization, a $25 billion company (The Kroger Co.) where I felt like I had a great career and joining this little startup. I told my wife at the time this is either going to be the greatest thing I did or I'm going to be unemployed in 12 months.
Rick Goings, Tupperware (NYSE: TUP)
The smartest decision we've made was to figure out how to get to other socioeconomic groups of consumers with other channels of distribution without undermining "the Tupperware party." Whether it's Internet, whether it's Target, no matter what we do, if I make sure that the local distributor is a partner and I teach her those other channels, then she'll win when we win.
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