Some of the leaders of the largest, well-known companies in the world began their career almost from scratch and achieved incredible success, becoming top managers of the companies at whose origins they stood. Some of them worked in distribution centers, while others worked on the assembly line. It took decades for their career growth, a change of ranks and positions, but as a result they managed to occupy top positions in these companies.
Mary T. Barra
Mary T. Barra (main photo) came to the assembly line at General Motors when she was eighteen years old. She examined the hoods and wings of cars. In 1980, Mary entered the General Motors Cooperative Institute, a branch of Pontiac Motors. For several decades, Barra was able to climb the career ladder, taking several positions, including vice president of human resources and senior vice president of product development.
In 1985, Mary successfully graduated from the university and, having received a diploma in electrical engineering, got a job at the Pontiac Fiero plant, where she quickly attracted the attention of plant manager Tim Lee. He immediately realized that a great future was opening up before this purposeful and energetic girl. In the same year, she became the wife of Tony Barra.
Mary won a company scholarship and enrolled at Stanford Business School. By her graduation, she became one of the best students.
In 2014, she was appointed CEO of the company, and two years later she became its chairman. Today Mary is the leading executor of the Akerson project, with more than 29 thousand employees worldwide in her subordination. She has a budget of $ 15 billion. Under her leadership, the obsolete production system was replaced by a new and more efficient one. With all the tasks before her, Barra copes brilliantly.
Barra believes that there are people who are leaders by nature. With time, with proper preparation, they turn into wise and experienced leaders. It is difficult for other people to work in a team; they are more effective as independent participants in the labor process. It can be difficult for large companies to determine which one of these categories falls within. Therefore, the people working for them need to try to demonstrate their best qualities.
Robert Iger
Bob began his career in 1973 as a meteorologist at one of ABC's news stations. He then moved to New York and was appointed head of the studio at ABC, owned by Walt Disney Company. He then transferred to ABC Sports, and then was approved as the Head of Programming at ABC.
In 2005, Iger took over as CEO of the company. In an interview with the New York Times in 2009, Eiger said that for his long journey to the executive director’s chair, he realized that optimism, but with some realism, should become a very, very important trait of a leader. He calls on everyone who wants to build a successful career to remember that people do not want to follow pessimists.
Abigail Johnson began her career as secretary
Although Abigail's father led Fidelity for many years, she began her journey from scratch. In high school and before entering college, the girl took orders and talked with customers as a service operator. After graduating from college, she returned to the company and took the position of analyst. She was responsible for completing the transaction management forms.The work was not difficult, but it gave the young specialist the opportunity to understand that it is important to be responsible for the well-being and lives of people and to be sure that all instructions are carried out accurately.
Over the years of her work at Fidelity, she performed a number of duties and in 2014 was appointed Executive Director.
Samuel Allen
He began his career at John Deere in 1975 as a process engineer. Since then, Samuel has been president of the global construction and forestry division. In 2009, he became the company's executive director and chairman of the board of directors.
Samuel believes that he was lucky, working at John Deere, not only to build a career, but also to start it from the lower steps and learn the activities of the company from the inside. Part of his career has been in forestry and construction. Thus, the diversity of activities and experience yielded brilliant results.
Doug Macmillon
As a high school student, Doug got a job at the Walmart distribution center to earn money for college. It was back in 1984. At that time, the young man was earning $ 6.5 an hour.
Since then, he has come a long way, rising through the ranks in the company: he worked as an assistant store manager, merchandiser and in 2014 was appointed CEO of Walmart.
Working at the company for a long time, Macmillon believed that he already perfectly understood what constitutes responsibility for the production and the people working at it, but, having taken a managerial position, he found that there are many problems of a different level that need to be addressed immediately.