Jim Stengel
Jim Stengelwas global CMO of Procter & Gamble, where he oversaw an $8-billion-a-year advertising budget. Today, he is an author and authority on corporate management — in other words, an ideal “expert” for the new Fortune Fantasy Sports Executive League (Anyone can play, and scoring depends, in part, on how closely the player’s picks match those of experts like Stengel.)
Stengel spoke to Fortune’s Daniel Roberts about his Dream Team, and the logic behind his picks.
Jim Stengel: I approached it this way: If I were to start up a company, what chemistry would I want with this team? I thought about the team dynamics, the experience, the history of results, and the personalities.
I tried to imagine the dynamics between each person, not just on an individual basis.
My CEO is Tim Cook. My god, he learned from perhaps the greatest ever. He is gradually developing Apple (AAPL). To me, that’s a slam-dunk. I think he’s a quiet leader. He seems to have handled this beautifully. I haven’t heard a lot of, “Oh, it was better in the old days…” You’re seeing little things loosen up a little bit there at Apple. Imagine being at Steve’s side for all those years and having integrated it into your own style. There are other wonderful choices, but this one was obvious.
For CFO I chose Mark Loughridge, and I’ll tell you why. He has overseen one of the best transitions of all time. Delivered major results, kept the team together. I work a little bit with them, I’ve seen what’s behind Smarter Planet, and you don’t do that sort of thing without a great CFO behind it.
For COO, it has to be Sheryl Sandberg. Look at what’s happened today [Stengel spoke with us on the day of the Facebook (FB) IPO], for starters. She went into a company that was the most visible, amazing phenomenon of our time, and I think she’s still having an impact on it. They’re going to develop revenue models and ways to monetize it that I know we haven’t even thought of yet.
MORE: Field your very own Fortune Fantasy Executive Dream Team
On Strategist, I was going to go with Steve Greenberg, he was my choice, and he’s been involved with really tough and interesting transactions, but then I gave it a second thought and decided I’ve got to go with Zhang Ruimin. I like his philosophy, I like his idea that we have to develop Chinese brands, he’s been aggressive with developing outside China, and to have someone on my leadership team who understands China is priceless. I don’t think he’s going to be the choice of many, but to me he’s crucial.
Click to choose your own Executive Dream Team.
On CIO, this one was also tough. I went with Robert Carter — his longevity, the innovation they’re doing, the way that company just performs over time. I’m a little biased toward these brands that have been around a long time and are wonderful, but he really is the brand, what they’re doing is just relentless and it all comes back to their information system. Another great one who wasn’t on the list is that what Visa (V) does in that area is wonderful, really incredible. They cannot fail for ten seconds — it’s like the world stops.
On CMO, I know them all, great choices, and this is a tough one. But at the end of the day I go with Trevor Edwards. He’s been with Nike (NKE) so long, it’s one of the great brand stories of our life. How many brands have stayed edgy and developed market leadership, and has done it for 30 years. And he’s been there for a lot of it. I like his energy and what he brings to the brand. But Tripodi is great, and obviously Ron Johnson is a fabulous marketer too. Beth Comstock is wonderful, Joe Tripodi, all great choices.
Designer, you have to go with Jony Ive. Incredible results, but it’s also important that the head designer and the CEO understand each other. And there is no doubt Tim and Jony understand each other. I think Dyson would be interesting, I would love to have him on a team, but you have to go with Jony.
Non-executive chair, I thought about AG Lafley, Bill Campbell is amazing, but I chose Anne Mulcahy. She’s got a multi-talented background and she would be a really principled, and fair, and cohesive chairman.
For a utility player, I went with Carlos Brito. He’s done automobiles, he’s done energy, and now he’s doing beverage and consumer products and managing acquisitions, so what can’t he do? I think he’s really, really strong.
So, you know, if I was choosing any of these individuals I might have chosen differently, but I really wanted it to be a great team. This was good fun. It was really hard to decide in each case.
