15 CEOs Who Started on the Ground Floor
Tales of climbing the ladder from clerk to CEO aren't reserved for the plots of Hollywood movies such as 9 to 5, Jerry Maguire or How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The real world is filled with leaders who worked their way up from obscurity to earn millions running huge corporations.
How did they do it? Their stories, inspiring and instructive, reveal a drive to succeed, a willingness to buck convention and, of course, an unshakable work ethic.
If you start at the bottom, can you really make it to the top? As actress Audrey Hepburn said, "Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, 'I'm possible!'"
Meet 15 executives who have proved it:
David Cote
Age: 65
Started: Hourly employee at General Electric jet engine plant, age 21
Finished: CEO, Honeywell (2002-2017)
Quote: "If you blame someone else, that's not a stand-up thing to do."
"To lead, you have to address what people really want to know in a simple, transparent way. Just treating people with respect makes a big difference.
"At 33, I was a mid-level corporate financial planner at GE. My staff wanted me to make an internal request for ROI [return on investment] projections from another business unit. I didn't want to--I knew our CEO, Jack Welch, didn't want us to focus on that--but my team voted me down, so I agreed.
"I get a call from Jack Welch summoning me to his office. He berates me for 15 minutes for requesting that info. I call my wife and tell her I'll be fired.
"A few months later, a buddy on my team mentions to Welch that I never wanted to request the ROI numbers. Impressed, Welch calls me and says, 'You took a knife for those guys?' I got a three-level jump to a CFO role in an aircraft engine production unit managing 200 employees."
Ronald E. Daly
Age: 71
Started: Proofreader at RR Donnelley, age 17
Finished: CEO, OcĂŠ-USA Holding (2002-2004)
Quote: "I kept improving myself and investing in myself."
"In 38 years at RR Donnelley, I went from apprentice proofreader to president of its largest unit, Print Solutions, a $3.7 billion business. The
