BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : DECEMBER 18, 2000 ISSUE
PEOPLE Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Headhunter Code names. Private aircraft. Out-of-town airports. Hastily arranged meetings. For eight days, the life of master headhunter Gerard R. Roche had all the makings of a bad spy novel. But instead of a pulp-fiction potboiler, this was the real-life story of how a kingmaker bagged the two biggest trophies in Corporate America: W. James McNerney Jr. and Robert L. Nardelli. When the two executives were passed over in November in the race to succeed General Electric Co. (GE) CEO John F. Welch, dozens of companies started vying for their services. But Roche, the chairman of search firm Heidrick & Struggles Inc., pulled off a coup by nabbing both in rapid succession on Dec. 4 and 5. First came the announcement that McNerney would take the CEO's post at 3M (MMM). Home Depot Inc. (HD) quickly followed, claiming Nardelli as its new CEO. As Roche tells the tale, it wasn't easy. When Welch chose Jeffrey R. Immelt as his successor on Nov. 27, McNerney and Nardelli were officially free to roam, and Roche leaped into action. With the media, not to mention headhunting rivals, focused on the executives' every step, secrecy was paramount. Frantically calling board members at 3M and Home Depot to set up interviews, Roche used code names for the two executives--''Meatball'' for Nardelli, a reference to the GE logo, and ''Engine Man'' for McNerney, after the aircraft-engine business he runs at GE. On Saturday, Dec. 2, Roche put Nardelli on a private plane bound for Atlanta--instructing the pilot to land at an out-of-town airstrip to avoid detection--where he was to spend two grueling days interviewing with the Home Depot search committee before meeting with the full board on Monday. On Dec. 3, he put McNerney on a private plane to St. Paul, Minn., where the 3M board was waiting. Compared with the cloak-and-dagger arrangements for the interviews, selling the directors was a snap. Says Roche: ''They realized they had one of the very best management talents in the world available to them....It went extremely well.'' And not just for McNerney and Nardelli, who as two of the most sought-after executives in recent history are expected to command generous pay packages. Roche won't say how much Heidrick & Struggles made, but search firms typically charge one-third to half of the executive's first-year compensation. A small fortune? Sure. But you won't hear 3M or Home Depot complaining. By Louis Lavelle in New York _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow TABLE: 3M: GE Junior TABLE: As Growth Slows...Profits Are Taking a Hit Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Headhunter INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

Copyright 2000-2008, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Use   Privacy Notice