Shouldn't the CEO take the blame for a company's falling fortunes?

Leaders who are able to steer their companies into profits stand to enjoy the gains. But one has to be prepared for the brickbats too! Dataquest takes a look at some leaders who've been in news recently. 

Sundar Pichai, Google: Leading Innovation

Sundar Pichai is a known name for being different in his fruitful leadership skills. He is known to have worked in the field of electronics at a time when there was no separate course on electronics in the curriculum of IIT Kharagpur. His thesis dealt with implanting molecules of other elements in silicon wafers to alter its properties.

During Pichai's stint at Google, market was rife with news that Twitter tried to poach him to leader its products. However, Google diminished the rough weather with its bonus offer that led to the continuity of his stint. Market reports peg this bonus amount to be in the range of $10 million to $50 million. The move to grab and retain highlights the leadership qualities of Pichai and ability to lead to profits by thinking differently.

Taking a leaf out of his leadership moves, Pichai led the development of chrome, when most felt that there was no need for an extra browser. However, chrome enjoys a dominant share among browers and is also central to the cloud-based Chrome OS that Google is portraying as an alternative to Microsoft's Windows. This explains his leadership skills to steering the company's margins justifying the bonus that Google decided to hand out. Meanwhile, there have been many leaders in the industry who have decided to accept the onus of their skills and let it reflect on their pay packages.

Stephen Elop, Nokia: Falling Fortunes

Take the case of Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop who accepted a 45% cut in his pay package last year as the company continued to witness a downfall owing to stiff competition by Samsung and Apple. These reports are based on a US regulatory filing.

The story goes that Elop was taken on board in 2010 from Microsoft with the sole motive to change the fortunes of the mobile phone maker. Elop took home around Euro 4.33 million ($5.63 million) in 2012, which was less than Euro 7.94 million that he earned a year earlier. According to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), his base salary rose by Euro 59,500 to Euro 1.08 million, his stock and option awards fell slightly and he earned no bonus. This could be related to the downfall of Nokia's shares by 22% last year. Though the company recorded profits in the fourth quarter on the back of cost cuts but the annual annual dividend payment scheme was for the first time felled.

 

Virginia Romnetty, IBM: Double Gains

IBM Chairman and CEO Virginia Rometty's saga is a positive one as she managed to take home double amount in the first year of her stint. Based on regulatory document, Rometty (the first woman to run IBM), received a 2012 pay package worth $15.4 million. This is more than $7.5 million that she earned a year ago. As with most CEOs, most of Rometty's compensation consisted of long-term stock awards that could wind up being worth more or less than the $9.3 million listed in the initial disclosures.

Rometty, commenced her stint with a robust focus on growing IBM's software business, which recorded higher profit margins, over hardware. The company's adjusted earnings climbed 13% from the previous year and it forecast 2013 results to be above analyst expectations. Its stock price was up 4% last year, though, lagging the 7% gain in the Dow Jones industrial average, which consists of 30 bellwether stocks, including IBM's.

On a final note, it is think different make a change to turn the revenues of the company and you (read CEO) stand to gain in the end.