道格•奥伯赫尔曼

    公司：卡特彼勒

    《财富》500强排名：42

    奥伯赫尔曼的父亲是约翰迪尔公司（John Deere）的一名销售员。他一直都很喜欢重型机械，所以，1975年，卡特彼勒公司给刚刚大学毕业的他提供一份信用分析员的工作时，他欣然接受。他从没想过自己会在这里工作一辈子，甚至成为公司的CEO（“我当时都不知道自己是否清楚CEO到底是干什么的，”他说），但每当有新的机遇出现时，他的眼界也会随之改变。奥伯赫尔曼曾被派往南美洲，这次任命恰逢拉丁美洲债务危机，他的任务是收回公司的设备；之后他又负责公司在日本的业务。他说：“面临挑战时，经验非常有用。对于业务上正在发生的事，你可以做到心领神会。而且，我对公司350位高层领导都有实质的了解——因为我的整个职业生涯都在这里度过。”他保证要带领卡特彼勒摆脱泡沫，不过：奥伯赫尔曼非常重视与同行在一起的时间，以确保自己按照必要的速度完成公司的改革。

Doug Oberhelman

    Company: Caterpillar

    Fortune 500 rank: 42

    Oberhelman, the son of a John Deere salesman, had always liked heavy equipment, so in 1975 when Caterpillar offered him a job as a credit analyst straight out of college, he took it. He never imagined he'd be there for life or ever become CEO ("I'm not sure I knew what a CEO was then," he says), but his outlook changed with each new interesting opportunity. Oberhelman was sent to South America, a stint that coincided with the Latin American debt crisis and involved re-possessing equipment; and later to run operations in Japan. "When things are challenging, experience is wildly helpful. You appreciate what's going on in the business. And I know virtually all of the top 350 leaders here—I have my entire career," he says. He makes sure to get out of the Caterpillar bubble, however: Oberhelman prioritizes time with peer CEOs to make sure he is pushing and changing the company as fast as he needs to be.