View From the Top: An Inside Look at How People in Power See and Shape the World

Conclusion

In early 2013, everyone had something to say about JCPenney Company CEO Ron Johnson. The Apple retailing wunderkind, had been hired to transform the dowdy retail giant, but after just 17 months on the job, Penney's board fired Johnson, whose revolutionary plans backfired, costing the company over $2.5 billion in cash. The board then turned to former Penney CEO, Myron “Mike” Ullman, to bring stability to the beleaguered company. This decision was met with some agitation, as Ullman, though certainly competent, had been at the helm during the recession, which hit retailers hard. At the same time, his leadership had produced some measurable results. At the time of his retirement in 2012, one in two families in the United States shopped at JCPenney over the course of a year, customer-satisfaction scores were higher at Penney than at Nordstrom, and the company's employee-engagement scores (a measure of employee satisfaction) matched those of Starbucks. Indeed, he was seen as exceptional among his CEO peers. In 2010, the Yale Chief Executive Institute honored Ullman's work with its Legend in Leadership Award.

I first met Ullman many years earlier in 2004, the first time he was contemplating the invitation to take the helm of JCPenney, which was recovering from the brink of bankruptcy. We met over breakfast at The Pierre, a ritzy hotel bordering Central Park. Ullman's plain-spoken demeanor and no-nonsense vibe revealed his Midwestern upbringing, but he's been an achiever for ...