The best IT heads of the world 2005 - Term II

Behind each group's success, there is a shadow of at least one "weak". Their decisions and strategies can sometimes change the world technology. Portrait of the best technology leaders in the field of BusinessWeek Online (part II).

The best IT heads in the world 2005 (Part I)

7. Marissa Mayer - "Beautiful woman" behind Google

The way of operating in Google machines is always unusual. Officials are extremely helpful in guiding their employees under. Free engineers pursue projects that make them most excited. That is Google's maxim: Every idea comes out of the engineers' heads and they nurture them into successful products.

In this "tight-laced softball" operation, Marissa Mayer is the most adept. The vice president of Google search products always meets with employees outside the cafe or fast-food restaurant, not inside 4 office walls. She also regularly goes "hunting" prospective ideas by holding "open meetings" 3 times a week.

Now 30 years old, Mayer has helped Google discover and implement many key products such as desktop search software or MySpace social networking. The only challenge that Mayer faces is: now Google has more than 5000 employees.

8. Robert Iger (Disney)

The first call Robert Iger received after taking office as CEO of Walt Disney was from Steve Jobs, the leader of Apple, and immediately, Iger understood this was a "good omen". His predecessor, Michael Eisner, had been hated by Jobs and the two Disney companies and "Apple" did not look at each other even once.

But the situation changed 180 degrees under the reign of Iger. Two weeks after taking office, Iger appeared on the San Jose theater stage, claiming that Disney would produce popular TV shows for Apple's iTunes service. A new chapter in Disney history was born, and Iger wrote it in the words "Makeover". The old communication model, which is adhered to small screens, will be overthrown to make way for an era of multimedia without borders.

No one has conducted such a complete and urgent reform as Iger: pouring $ 100 million to reinforce the video game division, spending an additional $ 130 million to develop a Disney-branded, private mobile phone with ESPN, co. time to search for a film / television program release on demand.

And yet, all three Disney movies released last year are "Sky High", Herbie: Fully Loaded and Chicken Little are very successful in sales.

9. Chris DeWolfe & Tom Anderson (MySpace.com)

Last July, two Los Angeles young entrepreneurs scanned the Internet. But now, two years later, the MySpace.com website they created, with the parent company Intermix Media, was sold to News Corp for up to $ 580 million.

With the idea of ​​setting up a virtual social home, where members can share messages, biographies, pictures, music and paintings, Chris and Tom have hung up on MySpace. This virtual space is so famous that it has formed a new generation of young people in the US, the generation that BSW dubbed "MySpace Generation" and joined it to become a fashion. In last October alone, 11.6 billion pages of Myspace were visited, bringing this website to the list of the Top 4 most busy destinations on the Web - almost double Google.

Many people fear that under News Corp's new empire, MySpace will be commercialized. However, the number of members is a constant number of visits during the fall. What is the secret of the success of this website? "We just focus on mass culture, not pure technology," Anderson shrugged.

10. Adam Curry - Podshow

In just 18 months, Adam Curry has sparked an online innovation revolution. In July 2004, the former VJ (host) of the MTV channel posted a software that allowed anyone to produce and broadcast a radio program of their own. Podcasting was born like that.

And now, the Internet is extremely cool with more than 20,000 channels of podcasts, from Delta blues to music . Yoga. Podcasts became the keyword of 2005 while Curry was named the father of the Pod (podfather). As of August this year, his company PodShow has raised $ 8.9 million to build an independent Podcaster network and attract millions of listeners. Advertisers rushed in and profits began to pour.

But what is Curry's big ambition? At least $ 30 billion per year from podcast advertising.

11. Stefano Marzano (Philips Design)

During his 14 years as CEO of Philips Design, Stefano Marzano has proven that it is only innovative to win the upper hand in a market that is full of "warriors".

Since 1991, he has tripled the number of employees working in the Philips Design Ideas Creative Center. 450 people working in 12 different countries spread the continents, making Philips Design one of the world's largest Creative Centers. From here, a series of successful products, both innovative and commercial, have emerged, such as the Senseo coffee machine that has sold more than 10 million units since 2001 until now.

Now Stefano is pouring all his energy into his new idea of ​​"Smart Space", where everyday things around us can "feel" and serve human needs. Since the beginning of 2005, Stefano's team has won a prestigious design award for a new X-ray camera product, allowing patients to choose their favorite music and decorations to reduce stress during shooting. mat.

12. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (Nokia)

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was chosen to succeed Jorma Ollila to hold the CEO position at Nokia, the world's number one mobile phone maker in June 2006. Before and right now, he is still playing a role. A key role in the reforms that Ollila initiated, aimed at turning Nokia into a telecommunications giant with annual revenues of not less than $ 40 billion and extremely focused business.

With the increasingly fierce competition from Motorola and Samsung, Kallasvuo will have to launch more attractive, attractive and fashionable products, while still watching over the price. A strategy he will be able to change the way the world uses mobile phones in the future.

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