Abel, Ternus, Furner, and D’Amaro follow a rich tradition of nuts-and-bolts CEOs, from General Electric’s Jack Welch to Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk.
George recalled visiting Musk’s Tesla factory in California a few years back.
“Man, he understood all the nuts and bolts,” George said, adding that Musk combined his grasp of the nitty-gritty with unmatched vision and creativity.
“What he did at SpaceX is nuts and bolts,” George continued. “Can you imagine doing more than anyone at NASA with all those tens of billions of dollars coming in?”
George said that Abel, Ternus, Furner, and D’Amaro had to be nuts-and-bolts leaders to reach the top of their companies, but that’s only “part of the equation.”
To succeed as CEOs, George said, they’ll need a compelling 10-year vision for their companies, and a deep understanding of their industries and the wider business environment.
They must also have the courage to make big bets and transform their companies as required, and the ability to adapt rapidly in a fast-changing world, he added.
“He can’t just be a hardware guy,” George said about Ternus, while discussing how Apple’s AI strategy will be key in the years ahead. “If that’s all he does, he’ll fail.”
George also underscored the need fo D’Amaro to determine what to do with ESPN and Disney’s broader TV-and-cable business, which has faced a slew of challenges in the streaming era.
The leadership guru, who runs training courses for CEOs, emphasized that the step up to CEO only gets harder when you’re succeeding a legend and shouldering enormous expectations.
“How would you like to follow Warren Buffett?” George quipped. He also pointed to Iger’s transformative acquisitions, Cook’s vision and courage to break from Jobs and play to his strengths in supply-chain logistics, and Furner’s bold embrace of e-commerce at Walmart.
“These gentlemen have their work cut out for them,” he said.
