Fortune magazine began its list of the 500 largest U.S. companies by gross revenue back in 1955. It has become an important, if not symbolic, indication of a company's arrival in the big leagues of the corporate world. Operating a Fortune 500 company is a demanding, complex and public job requiring multidisciplinary skills, talent and experience.
Communicate with honesty and clarity. This means externally and internally. There have been enough corporate scandals over the past several years to make it clear that operating a Fortune 500 company requires more transparency than it used to. Every single individual within the company should share the same understanding of the core values, culture and goals of the company. There should be one, very stringent set of ethical standards communicated repeatedly to the entire organization.
Identify the talent. Operating a Fortune 500 company cannot be done alone. Use the talent and expertise that exists inside the company, and prepare this talent for leadership roles in the future. The human capital inside of a Fortune 500 company can be just as important as its patents, products, technology and customer lists.
Manage risk. Most Fortune 500 companies are publicly traded, and scrutinized by stock analysts, credit rating agencies, government institutions and business journals on a daily basis. Operational, credit, interest rate, foreign exchange, commodity and litigation risk are but few of the challenges confronting any company. Operating Fortune 500 company with success will require that all of these risks are understood and quantified properly. In addition, it is up to leadership to know what the high-impact risks are. This refers to the catastrophic events that can destroy or severely weaken any company, such as natural disasters, fraud, systems breakdowns and environmental hazards.
Understand the business completely. This includes having a firm grasp of the marketplace, products, services, competition, regulations, customers and technology. If the individual operating the Fortune 500 company has come up through the ranks, she probably has a good grasp of her particular areas of expertise. However, she might need to gain a better understanding of other areas within the company. Also, given the nature of last year's credit crisis, mastery of exactly how cash moves through the company is also essential, especially for sales, marketing and technical people who do not have finance experience.
Lead by example. This is hard to do within very large organizations, but nothing drives morale within a company more than the perception that its leadership is in touch with and respectful of the efforts of every individual at every level. Being visible, and hands-on to the extent possible, will greatly increase the operational success of a Fortune 500 company by driving its employees to perform at their highest level.
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