How can I pay myself extravagant amounts and then expect those at lower levels to keep a close eye on costs?
Helmut Maucher, Nestlé chief executive, 1927-2018. He died recently.
Helmut Maucher was as good a leader as Harry, Dr Goh and the other PAP Old Guards.
Harry and gang led the transformation of S’pore from a port to a prosperous city-state. Mr Maucher made Nestlé great.
Nestlé was two-thirds the size of Unilever in 1981 when he was appointed Nestlé’s chief executive. When he retired in 2000, it was double its rival’s size by market value. For the record, in 1990, he added the title of chairman, a position he held until 2000.
.
Many leader-manager greats have taken $1 a year salary or zero dollars. E.g. JF Kennedy (donated his presidential salary), Steve Jobs, Lee Iacocca, Google’s founders, Mark Zuckerberg. During WW1 in the US when millions of young men were being drafted en masse, older biz execs & leaders volunteered to step-in & run govt ministries on $1/yr salary; they became known as One-Dollar Men.
Of course most of the above were already rich & financially independent when they volunteered for the $1 salary.
Another guy who is also particular about costs is Warren Buffett, who continues to draw the same $100K salary for 20++ years already. His basic pay is merely 1.87X the median employee at Berkshire — far cry from the 200X to 300X at major banks. Buffett obviously doesn’t need salary increments to tackle inflation.
Moreover in recent years, he tends to give back 50% of his pay to Berkshire for “personal usage” of company equipment. Probably to “compensate” some of the costs that Berkshire spends annually on his medical coverage & security/bodyguards. Buffett still has the mentality of an SME entrepreneur — pumping back as much returns as possible into the enterprise.
Oh … before I forget … Trump also promised to give away his $400K president’s salary. However as his mouth & actions don’t always coincide, need to see his tax returns to verify.