Second annual route to the top: on the cusp of change - survey on CEO career path - includes profiles of CEOs

Chief Executive, The, Jan-Feb, 1997 by Tom Neff, Dayton Ogden, Barbara Ettore

"The Switch-Hitter" Mark H. Willes, Chairman, President, and CEO of Times Mirror Co.

After 15 years in senior positions at General Mills and the presidency of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Willes crossed into the media industry in mid-1995 and was immediately faced with the necessity of streamlining staff positions and killing off the unprofitable New York Newsday. Willes's experience with consumer brands at General Mills focused his attention on the question of brand equity. He found that the Newsday brand, popular in Long Island, did not translate in the New York City market.

"The Morale-Builder" C. Stephen Lynn, Chairman & CEO, Shoney's, Inc.

When chosen to head this troubled restaurant chain in 1995, Lynn already had a reputation as a leader who could effectively engage and motivate people at all levels within an organization. Gained during his 12-year tenure as CEO of Sonic Industries, Inc., his leadership image was based on success in revitalizing and restoring the company - which had floundered under the leadership of its founders and 12 franchise owners - to profitability. Lynn quickly reconstituted the board, restructured the committee system, and gave the chain's franchisees a greater voice in the management of the company. The success of his approach underscores the essential role of the CEO in building morale and fostering internal communications.

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Michael Bonsignore points to the day in 1982 when he was named president of Honeywell Europe as the most significant milestone along the route that would take him, 11 years later, to the post of CEO. "Running Honeywell Europe," he says, "was from a unique perspective like running a miniature Honeywell. All the lines of business were there, all the policies and procedures, the tax issues, human-resource issues, and cross-border operations."

As an engineer who had been with Honeywell since 1969, Bonsignore had been groomed for the Brussels-based post from within, holding marketing, business development, and operations management positions with the Aerospace Group and the Marine Systems Division. The assignment marked Bonsignore as one of three young executives tapped for the fast-track experience. Looking back now, he says, "There was no question that we were candidates to be CEO."

During the intervening years, he relocated to Minneapolis as executive vice president/international, leaving the Honeywell Europe post to be filled by CEO-to-be Jean-Pierre Rosso (see profile, page 24). In 1990, Bonsignore was named chief operating officer, charged with international and home and building control segments, and elected to the board.

At the helm today, Bonsignore is guiding 112-year-old Honeywell, a market leader in home and commercial control systems, as well as systems automation, to strong results. With current revenues of $7 billion, Honeywell is on track to meet his goal of $10 billion in sales by 2000, an annual growth rate of 10 percent. The company stock was $30 a share a year ago; it is now $65. Bonsignore gets praise for breaking down Honeywell's long-entrenched bureaucracy.