EDITOR’S NOTE

REMEMBERING J.P. DONLON

THE NAMING OF Chief Executive’s CEO of the Year, a juried decision arrived at after not a small amount of discussion among a panel of top-notch CEOs, past and present, represents the very essence of our company’s core beliefs: Excellence is hard, but sustained excellence is harder—and it matters more. Leadership carries with it an immense burden of responsibility—and is the decisive difference-maker for any organization. So it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate the man who created this honor, and, in many respects, set the template that Chief Executive is still following today: our editor emeritus, J.P. Donlon. He died in June at age 73.

J.P. joined the magazine as a senior editor a year after its launch in 1977, was named managing editor a year later and then editor-in-chief in 1981. When J.P.—a music writer for alternative Boston weeklies—was hired, Chief Executive was a publication operating at an entrepreneur’s whims, far more a networking vehicle for its original owner, a Dutch oil trader named John Deuss, than a platform for helping CEOs do a better job.

Deuss “had grandiose dreams of creating a vehicle where leaders in business, government, religion, education and society would advance their thinking on an equal footing,” J.P. wrote in the 40th anniversary issue of Chief Executive in 2017. “The archbishop of Canterbury graced the cover of issue two, and in later years Saudi Arabia’s oil minister and the sultan of Oman were featured. But before long, the magazine directed its editorial efforts to becoming a voice for chief executives in business, principally international business.”

J.P. drove that change, and for 37 of Chief Executive’s 44 years of publication, through economic slumps and recoveries and across multiple owners, he worked to make the magazine ever sharper and more useful to its audience. He became both a confidante and a voice for two generations of CEOs along the way. “J.P.’s name is synonymous with Chief Executive,” says Bob Nardelli, CEO of XLR-8, who knew him for more than 20 years.

In 1986, J.P. debuted the CEO of the Year award. He designed it as an honor bestowed by a selection committee comprised entirely of CEOs—not editors judging from the sidelines. His instinct was spot on. The job of being a CEO is incredibly difficult, incredibly important, and only CEOs—not consultants, not academics, not others in the C-Suite, and no, not even editors—really know what it requires. The award, which was given to GM’s Roger Smith in its inaugural year, became a career-capping highlight for those who received it precisely because it was handed out by their peers.

And J.P. loved it. At the CEO of the Year gala, he enjoyed nothing more than quietly moving through the crowd, connecting one guest to another based on his intimate knowledge of what was on their minds— and how the right introduction would benefit both. “Colorful, creative, erudite and always smiling” is how Yale’s Jeff Sonnenfeld, a friend and Chief Executive columnist, remembers him.

Over time, the award J.P. created went to a who’s-who of American business leadership, including Jack Welch, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Larry Bossidy, Anne Mulcahy, Bill Marriott, Charles Knight, Andy Grove, Fred Smith and many more. The roll is a lasting tribute to the craft of sustained leadership—and to J.P. Donlon, who made recognition of that craft his life’s work.

“J.P. dedicated his career to serving the CEO community,” said Wayne Cooper, executive chairman of Chief Executive Group. “He helped establish Chief Executive and Chief Executive Group as the leading voice of America’s CEOs with his sharp mind and the wisdom he gained speaking to the best CEOs in the world over the past 50 years. He will be missed, but his legacy will continue.”

—Dan Bigman, Editor