Douglas Oberhelman on long-term strategy
From Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar Inc., & Kent Adams, VP | Terry Leadership Speaker Series · · Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia
“The thing, the heaviest obligation I feel on my shoulders is to make sure that this company is here a hundred years from now because over the last hundred years there have been how many ever CEOs at Caterpillar that have given me this wonderful absolutely fantastic company to manage. And so I'm looking out for 10 and 20 and 30-year decisions much more than I am every quarter earnings or the day-to-day stock price.”
On , Douglas Oberhelman, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Caterpillar Inc., spoke about long-term strategy during Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar Inc., & Kent Adams, VP | Terry Leadership Speaker Series on Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
About Douglas Oberhelman
At the 2014 CONEXPO press conference, Oberhelman described the global economic outlook as a "fairly mixed bag," with North America leading a "very slow recovery." He said housing was "certainly better" and that the Washington budget agreement meant the debt ceiling would not be an issue that year. Regarding Europe, he stated that "most of the bad news in Europe is behind us" but that he would not expect a "great boom" in 2014. On China, he said the country was "recovering" from a "rigid downturn" but that he would not expect "the big boom that we have been used to." He characterized his overall view as "very guardedly optimistic," noting that "the world's economy is a fragile thing." In a 2012 leadership talk, Oberhelman discussed Caterpillar's decision to move small bulldozer and excavator production from Japan to Athens, Georgia, calling it "an endorsement of what Caterpillar can do, but again, America can be competitive." He said his "heaviest obligation" was to ensure the company's survival "a hundred years from now," adding that he focuses on "10 and 20 and 30-year decisions" rather than quarterly earnings. He also stated that he had tried to instill a culture where employees "own the results" and treat every customer as if they were "a golden ring."