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Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO of Red Hat, on the other hand didn’t plan out his career path. Instead, his professional life was “full of surprises.” A self-described “computer geek,” Whitehurst never really thought about going to business school. But he ended up being sponsored to study at HBS by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). After graduation, he enjoyed many years of client work at BCG before being named partner at the very young age of 32. Then, his client Delta Airlines presented him a life-changing offer. Although he said he knew little about being a treasurer at an airline, Whitehurst’s eagerness to “figure things out” let him take on different challenges and eventually become the company’s COO who helped put together a turnaround plan that saved the company.
Whitehurst believes that one can only “learn leadership on the job.”
“I learned it at three o’clock in the morning standing in front of the 500 mechanics who were going to lose their jobs and looking at me asking why. That was at the midnight shift the day Delta Airlines filed for bankruptcy,” said Whitehurst. “And that’s when you learn to build character and leadership skills - how you respond, act, inspire and motivate people in good situations and bad situations.”
After saving Delta, Whitehurst soon became sought-after for turnaround plans when a Raleigh-based company called Red Hat attracted his attention.
“It is something I can be really excited about – at Red Hat we are starting a new, unimaginable business model that is shaping the industry.”
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