Left to their own devices: gadgets are more than just toys for these CEOs. They wouldn't be caught dead without them - Technology - chief executive officers - Product/Service Evaluation

Chief Executive, The, Dec, 2002 by Daniel Tynan

The CEO's job hasn't changed much in 20 years. What has changed is where and when the job gets done. Thanks to personal computers, wireless networks and the Internet, the world is your office.

The funny thing about tech fans is once they find a gadget they like, they get more than a little attached to it. Some CEOs practically sleep with their cell phones under their pillows. With others, you'd have to kill them to pry their Blackberries out of their cold, blue fingers. We caught up with six head honchos, from Hollywood CEO Peter Cuber to Reuters chief Tom Glocer, and asked them about the devices they can't live without. Naturally, all claimed their tools made them more accessible and productive. Still, we couldn't help thinking they also made their jobs a lot more fun.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Road Warrior

RICHARD GINSBERG

Title / CEO, Protection One

Annual Revenues $340 million

Tool / Garmin Street Pilot III (Global Positioning System)

You think your carry-on bag is heavy? Talk to Richard Ginsberg, head of the nation's second-largest security firm. Ginsberg, who's on the road every day, carries nearly 30 pounds of gear -- including two laptops, a digital camera, an MP3 player, a slide projector and, of course, dozens of AA batteries. But his favorite gadget is the Garmin Street Pilot III, a handheld device that uses satellite positioning to pinpoint his location and recite step-by-step driving directions.

"I just plug in an address, and the Street Pilot tells me where to go," says Ginsberg, who downloads travel information the gizmo before each trip. "If I want to check out a cool city, it tells me where to find restaurants, lodging and attractions," he gushes. "It's the best thing ever made."

Ginsberg says his constant travel lets him meet with all of Protection One's 2,600 employees at least once a year. "My staff gives me some of the best ideas for running the company," he explains.

The downside? Going through airport security, says Ginsberg. "I just walk up to the counter, open up my bag and say, 'O.K., let's get this over with.'"

The Player

PETER GUBER

Title / CEO, Mandalay Entertainment

Annual revenue / Approximately $15 million (private)

Tools / Dragon Naturally Speaking and the Compaq iPaq

When your job takes you between an office in Los Angeles, a home in Kaui, Hawaii, and movie locations from Canada to Cambodia, you can't be picky about when you work. So when Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber decided to write a book--Shoot Out: Surviving Fame and (Mid) Fortune in Hollywood with Peter Bart--he used a handheld computer and voice recognition software to make the most of his time.

Guber, whose credits include "Midnight Express" "Batman" and the upcoming "Beyond Borders, due out February, started each chapter by jotting a few notes on his Compaq iPaq--"more like a to-do list," he explains. On his home PC, he'd look at his notes and dictate into his word processor, using Dragon Naturally Speaking software to convert his spoken words into editable text. He'd transfer the word processing file to the iPaq and edit it--usually on a plane--using a wireless keyboard. Back home again, he'd download the edited file to his computer, print it out, mark it up with a pencil and manually add those changes to the file.

"This process allowed me to be my most creative," says Guber, "to use inspiration more than perspiration. It also shortened the distance between me and completion... In that way technology achieved something for me that Einstein couldn't--it created more time."

The Convert

DAVID D'ADDARIO

Title / Chairman of Wise Metals Group Annual Revenue / Approximately $1 billion (private) Tool / Blackberry

David D'Addario used to be an analog guy in a digital world. Until about a year ago, the CEO of D'Addario Industries and chairman of Wise Metals Group, ran his business using index cards and a leather-bound calendar filled with Post-Its. But when he purchased a majority interest in Wise Alloys, the nation's third-largest producer of aluminum, the Wise executives staged an intervention.

"I thought I was doing just great," says D'Addario. "Then my IT guy came to me and said, 'Dave, you've got more than $1 billion in gross sales and 1,000 employees. You can't run this business with sticky notes and index cards."'

So they bought him his first computer and, over the course of several painful months, trained him to use it. Now D'Addario won't go anywhere without his laptop, cell phone or his Blackberry email pager--by far his favorite device.

"I'll be in a meeting and the Blackberry will buzz in my pocket," he says. "I'll take it out, read the email under the edge of the table and respond right then. If they made a Blackberry that opened attachments, I'd get rid of my laptop."

D'Addario sounds a little wistful about his pre-digital days. He still carries his old leather calendar as a souvenir. But he's never going back.

"I used to think of myself as being really organized," he says. "Now I look back and see what a bananahead I was. What was I thinking?"