What Goes Around: The Power of Being Nice

In this Business Week article, the style of former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli is contrasted with James McNerney, his counterpart at Boeing.

Consider how the former GE rivals approached their new jobs. Nardelli arrived at Home Depot full of bombast, standing up at one meeting to say "you guys don't know how to run a f---ing business," according to a former senior executive at Home Depot. In contrast, McNerney spent his first six months at Boeing talking to employees to better understand the businesses. He didn't yell or publicly humiliate anyone. And though the aerospace giant was reeling from a binge of corporate misconduct, McNerney didn't stuff the top ranks with his GE pals--as Nardelli did. He called for teamwork and heaped credit on shunned CEO contender Alan Mulally. A modern-day Dale Carnegie, he even remembers low-level staffers' names. "Jim's problems have been as tough, or tougher, than the ones that Bob had to face," says a former GE peer. "But he has tried to solve them in a much more pleasant way. The guy is loved over there at Boeing--and that's got to make a difference."