SEATTLE – Ford CEO and corporate turnaround specialist Alan Mulally is being mentioned as a top candidate to replace Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who has announced his retirement a year hence.
That word comes from All Things D's Kara Swisher, citing unnamed sources.
I covered Mulally closely and was standing next to him when the Boeing 777 took off on its first flight from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. on Jan. 4, 1994. At the time Mulally was a senior exec at Boeing, charged with turning around the aerospace giant's competitiveness vs. Airbus, which was stealing market share with twin-engined fly-by-wire jetliners.
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Mulally successfully introduced Boeing's first all fly-by-wire jetliner, leapfrogging Airbus on two huge fronts. Unlike the Airbus jets, the 777 was to have no mechanical backup controls, and it also would be the first jetliner certified to span the Pacific Ocean with only two very large jet engines.
In aerospace engineering and safety circles those were notions that pushed the edge of the envelope. And Mulally pulled it off. But that was not enough to vault him to the CEO post at Boeing. So he left to take the top post at Ford in 2006.
At Ford, Mulally turned around the auto giant's fortunes and was included in the 2009 Time 100, Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Ballmer himself is quoted in that Time article saying Mulally, "understands the fundamentals of business success as well as any business leader I know."
In addition to his proven business acumen, Mulally has terrific people skills, and is known as a consensus builder. He took pains to be friendly to reporters covering Boeing, and attempted to make us feel like we were part of the grand adventure of making an impossible project – the 777 – a reality.
If he does replace Ballmer, Mulally, 68, the father of five, would bring a grandfatherly presence to the tech industry. He would compete against Google CEO Larry Page, 40, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, 52, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, 38.
Courtesy: USAtoday
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