What Companies/CEOs do you admire?

While not universal, there's been a lot of "love" for Warren Buffett & Steve Jobs on this board.

Curious to here who else -- or what companies -- you admire.

Personally, I thought Gordon Bethune was a great CEO for Continental Airlines.

I was really impressed with Best Buy's former CEO Brad Anderson.

Shit, I could name a bunch more. I'll add 'em if this thread gets going.

 

I wouldn't say admire, but Wegmans is an awesome grocery chain. It had been two years since I was able to shop at one and going into one last week literally put a smile on my face. It's consistently ranked one of the best companies to work for and that's obvious in every one I've ever been in. The staff is incredibly pleasant, but not in annoying/fake way, and so helpful. And on top of a great general atmosphere, they have the best selection, by a long shot, of any grocery store I've been in and their pricing is not only competitive, but often better than other places.

 

I like these guys.

 

Well, that was pleasant.

 

I give the guys from Google a lot of credit, not very often that the founders remain the head of the ship while it changes from a startup to an established, huge publicly-traded company, all the while the company retains the same culture. I only hope it lasts before the arbitragers come in.

Same for Gates. While he's been a ruthless competitor about his competition, Microsoft has stayed the same at least appears.

 

I'll give you the same answer I would have given you (40 years ago) at age 14:

Hef.

 

The free pens are nice. I could do without the two dollar fee for non-TD Bank ATM's, though. But yeah we've liked them too.

In Minnesota, Glen Taylor and Taylor Corporation were always pretty well-respected, even after he refused to fire Kevin McHale, especially in southern Minnesota.

 

Chick-fil-A

 

As a Detroiter, I have to thrown in Ford and Alan Mulally. Guy came in just before the bottom fell out and brought Ford from a middling giant that was over-extended and making mediocre products to the company on the forefront of technology and innovation. Avoiding the bailout alone should bring him some praise but the company is definitely on the upswing and continuing to get better.

 

It's a toss-up between Lean Dean Singleton and Sam Zell.

I can't really think of anyone besides perhaps Jack Welch.

 

You can't really be saying Google has kept the same culture, not after they caved to China's censors, the allegations that they use search vindictively against certain businesses, and the age-discrimination lawsuit from the guy who got fired because he wasn't a "cultural fit" with the snowboarding set. Google long ago shed the first word of its "Don't Be Evil" slogan.

 

I have always been a big fan of John Chambers at Cisco. He has been CEO since 1995, which is like Connie Mack for the tech world. Things have not been going well for him lately and he might get run out, which is too bad, because for a long time he kept that company on the straight and narrow -- surviving the bubble of the late '90s/early '00s (the stock inflated and deflated with all the rest, but the cash reserves and the business principles stayed strong), staying away from the options fudging that led so many other companies and executives into criminal trials, and growing a business out smartly from its core. (They're in trouble now because that expansion went a little too far, but his moves were pitch-perfect for a long while.) I have known enough people who worked there to take their nearly unanimous word for it that Cisco is (or was, until recently) a very good place to work.

Also, my respect for him is in no small measure due to the fact that, although he is a staunch Republican and a vocal one, he has always approached politics as a conversation and not as if he was the man with all the answers.