Fortune has a good piece about Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, lauding his management style and focusing on his result-oriented management style and goal of doubling the company's sales. You can read the entire profile here, but there is a passage from the story, written by Patricia Sellers, that I thought worth sharing:
"Muhtar Kent says he is constructively discontent. It's day one of the trip through Asia (Coke is letting me tag along), and Kent and I are having breakfast in Bangkok -- coincidentally, the first home he recalls from childhood, when his father was Turkey's ambassador to Thailand. I ask Kent what 'constructively discontent' -- his preferred description of his leadership -- means exactly. 'Not fast enough, not innovative enough, not entrepreneurial enough,' he replies. 'It's all about an entrepreneurial mentality. I've worked religiously to get that into the company.'
"Injecting entrepreneurial religion involves getting Coke's 146,000 employees to think like owners. 'People need to feel like they are chasing pennies down the hallway,' says Kent, who has been known to roam the 25th floor of Coke's Atlanta headquarters and turn off lights when he works late. At Kent's Coke, managers must pay $15 monthly if they use their cellphones for personal calls. (The rule applies to the CEO too.) He believes that one of Coca-Cola's problems was -- and America's problem still is -- lack of respect for cash. 'When you don't see cash, all sorts of things go wrong,' he says. 'You overspend as an individual and overspend as a company.'
"The CEO pays cash when he fills his BMW at the gas station. When I ask him how much cash he has on hand he pulls out a money clip and counts $181. In fact, the only currency Kent doesn't monitor seems to be Coke stock. The CEO tells me that he looks at the share price only once a week."
"Muhtar Kent says he is constructively discontent. It's day one of the trip through Asia (Coke is letting me tag along), and Kent and I are having breakfast in Bangkok -- coincidentally, the first home he recalls from childhood, when his father was Turkey's ambassador to Thailand. I ask Kent what 'constructively discontent' -- his preferred description of his leadership -- means exactly. 'Not fast enough, not innovative enough, not entrepreneurial enough,' he replies. 'It's all about an entrepreneurial mentality. I've worked religiously to get that into the company.'
"Injecting entrepreneurial religion involves getting Coke's 146,000 employees to think like owners. 'People need to feel like they are chasing pennies down the hallway,' says Kent, who has been known to roam the 25th floor of Coke's Atlanta headquarters and turn off lights when he works late. At Kent's Coke, managers must pay $15 monthly if they use their cellphones for personal calls. (The rule applies to the CEO too.) He believes that one of Coca-Cola's problems was -- and America's problem still is -- lack of respect for cash. 'When you don't see cash, all sorts of things go wrong,' he says. 'You overspend as an individual and overspend as a company.'
"The CEO pays cash when he fills his BMW at the gas station. When I ask him how much cash he has on hand he pulls out a money clip and counts $181. In fact, the only currency Kent doesn't monitor seems to be Coke stock. The CEO tells me that he looks at the share price only once a week."
- KC's View:
