The New Breed

(2 of 8)

When Jeroen van der Veer was thrown into the top job at Royal Dutch Shell, in the midst of a major crisis following disclosures that the company had overstated oil reserves by more than 20%, he scribbled down three key issues to address with his colleagues: "Reserves, keep eye on the business, and culture/structure." But in the eight months since, Van der Veer, 57, has done a lot more than those jotted notes suggest. He has radically overhauled Shell's management and governance structure. After months of discussions with regulators and institutional investors, Shell announced in November the full merger of its two parts into a single company with a single board and one chief executive. Shell has been fined by regulators and still faces numerous lawsuits, but even the most critical investors are applauding the speed and boldness with which the CEO faced the crisis. "He deserves a lot of credit," says Eric Knight of Knight Vinke Asset Management, which, together with the California state retirement fund Calpers, led the push for change. Shell stock has rebounded, and it's now well above where it was before the crisis began. Will Van der Veer be as forceful in less turbulent times? His perspective: a unified Shell under one leader will be more accountable — and a more effective competitor. "We sometimes had the right ideas and were early with trends," he says, "but we were slower to execute them than our competition." Not anymore, he vows. --By Peter Gumbel

Pony Ma
TENCENT HOLDINGS

Pony Ma may be one of China's most eligible bachelors. Only 33, the tech entrepreneur has a $190 million fortune. But Ma is embarrassed by the text messages he has received from lovelorn Chinese girls. "I don't want to attract too much attention," he says. That's hard to avoid these days. Ma is the founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, which operates China's largest instant-messaging service, with 355 million users. In June, Tencent made an IPO in Hong Kong. While many recent China issues have flopped, Tencent shares are up 58%. Ma quit his job at a paging company in 1998 and, with four friends and total combined savings of $120,000, started the company. Ma did just about everything himself, from designing websites to mopping the floor. Tencent's break came in 1999, when it launched its QQ instant-messaging service. Today, despite competition from Yahoo! and Microsoft, QQ boasts 74% market share in China. Profits rose 44%, to $40 million, in the first nine months of this year. But Ma hasn't abandoned his tech-geek lifestyle — except for one thing: "I don't sweep the floors anymore," he says with a laugh. --By Michael Schuman/Hong Kong

Balaji Krishnamurthy
PLANAR SYSTEMS

Four years ago, CEO Balaji Krishnamurthy devised a jaw-dropping inverted-bonus plan at Planar Systems that put himself dead last when it comes to receiving extra cash: his policy rewards rank-and-file employees first, before moving up the management chain. Since then, this maker of flat-panel displays, based in Beaverton, Ore., has been bombarded with questions from other CEOs about the bonus system, which, Krishnamurthy claims, is a better incentive for every employee to create shareholder value. "Those with a higher capacity to influence the results of the company must first ensure that those with a lower capacity are fully served before serving themselves," says Krishnamurthy, 51, a fast-talking native of Pilani, India. "Clearly, yours truly has the highest capacity to influence the results of my company."

Planar's CEO, ever mindful of spending shareholders' money, keeps costs down when traveling too. Says Sarah Teslik, former chief of the Council of Institutional Investors, who invited Krishnamurthy to address her members last year: "Unlike most CEOs, who come with entourages, fly in their own planes and, in general, act royal, we discovered — via the hotel's rooming list — that he had booked the cheapest single in the hotel, right beside the kitchen." --By Julie Rawe

Sheik Mohammed
CROWN PRINCE OF DUBAI

Local executives affectionately call him Sheik Mo. From the nickname, you would hardly know that he is the Crown Prince and de facto ruler of Dubai and the man who has directed the tiny emirate's transformation from an ancient Persian Gulf port into a glitzy international hub of spas and skyscrapers — and a beacon of modernity for the Arab world. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum is building the Singapore of the Middle East, a free port where business and ideas can mix. On behalf of Dubai's ruling al Maktoum clan, Sheik Mohammed, 56, has spurred growth by channeling government funds, providing infrastructure and slashing red tape for new resorts, business centers and port facilities. The sheik's tax-free policies have helped attract global brands like Microsoft to set up in Internet City, a free-trade zone for ebusinesses. Some 5 million tourists a year stream to Dubai's beach resorts, anchored by the superluxe Burj al Arab. The sheik's latest projects are a series of man-made islands featuring luxury hotels, and purportedly the world's tallest building. Dubai's GDP has rocketed from $8 billion to $20 billion since 1995. Says Osama Gargash, senior manager of Emirates Islamic Bank: "Sheik Mohammed doesn't have the word failure in his dictionary." --By Scott MacLeod/Cairo With reporting by Tanya Goudsouzian/Dubai