肯?鮑威爾

????公司：通用磨坊公司

????《財富》500強排名：169

????加州本地人鮑威爾于1979年加入通用磨坊公司，擔任格蘭諾拉麥片的銷售助理。之后他曾擔任過許多職位，其中包括：公司旗下酸奶及谷類食品公司Yoplait USA與Big G（包括Cheerios、Chex與Kix等品牌）的總裁。不過，鮑威爾職場的轉折點是他被公司派往歐洲協助成立谷物聯盟有限公司（Cereal Partners Worldwide，CPW）。這家公司是通用磨坊與雀巢公司（Nestle）的合營公司，目前在140個國家銷售谷類食品。這段經歷讓鮑威爾對國際業務有了深入了解，并讓他接觸到其他公司的工作方式。1999年，他45歲時被任命為CPW公司CEO，開始執掌CWP，把它發展成了一家全球性的谷類食品公司。

????鮑威爾于2007年當選通用磨坊公司CEO的時候，他對這家公司已經有非常透徹的了解，包括公司的組織結構、人事、產品、客戶與文化。這一點非常關鍵，但他在歐洲的經歷以及他對于團隊背景多樣化的堅持同樣至關重要：“（從頭到尾在一家公司工作的）劣勢是，你會存在盲區，因為你一直都在按照相同的方式工作。一旦在一家公司工作太長時間，你所面臨的問題是‘到底需要做出哪些改變？’”

Ken Powell

????Company: General Mills

????Fortune 500 rank: 169

????A native Californian, Powell joined General Mills in 1979 as a marketing assistant on its granola account. Among his many roles since: president of the company's yogurt and cereal lines, Yoplait USA and Big G (Cheerios, Chex and Kix are among its brands). But the turning point for Powell came when he was sent to Europe to help launch Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture with Nestle that now distributes cereal to 140 countries. The experience gave Powell insight into international business as well as the workings of another company. In 1999, when he was made CPW CEO, Powell assumed the reins to a global cereal company at 45.

????By the time Powell was elected CEO of General Mills in 2007, he really knew the company—the organization, its people, products, customers and culture. That was critical, but so was his time in Europe and his insistence on having a team with diverse backgrounds: "The downside [to being a lifer] is you have blind spots because you've always done it this way. The question becomes 'what really needs to be changed?' when you've been embedded in it so long."