Who's the boss.

PositionFavorite CEOs of chief financial officers - Cover Story

If you could work for any CEO, who would it be? A recent flash survey of our CFO readers reveals the person you believe is the ultimate chief executive.

From the buttoned-down executive suites of the Fortune 100 to the raucous playing fields of our national pastimes, our readers looked everywhere for the top chief executive!

Some nominations didn't surprise us. There were votes for Microsoft's Bill Gates, Disney's Michael Eisner and Gillette's Al Zeien. But our very informal survey of a random group of CFOs also drew some rather interesting responses. Nominations ranged from CEOs of the nation's largest companies, like IBM's Louis Gerstner Jr., to CEOs from some less traditional organizations, like the Chicago Bulls' Jerry Krause.

Here's a look at the CEOs who rank highest in our survey and why.

BENCHMARKING THE TOP CEO

When the ballots were in and the responses tallied, John F. "Jack" Welch Jr. of General Electric emerges as the CFO's ultimate CEO - garnering just under 20 percent of the votes. What's the attraction? You value Welch's track record: consistent earnings, financial performance and a strong commitment to shareholder value, as well as his uncanny knack for setting the benchmarks to which everyone else must aspire. As one respondent writes: "He's always 10 years ahead of anyone else when it comes to vision. He downsized in the '80s."

Others recognize Welch's "extraordinary" ability to manage a diversified company while at the same time keeping the corporate culture intact. Remarks one financial executive: "Welch has successfully reinforced and updated the traditions and philosophy established decades ago."

History plays a role in another respondent's assessment of Welch: "A 20-percent shareholder return during his tenure. Not bad for a 100-plus-year-old firm that historically was a GNP company."

We weren't surprised so many of you judged Welch on GE's financial performance, but we were impressed with the number of respondents who voted for Welch because of his. people skills. While nearly all of the ballots we received on Welch's behalf contain comments about his management style, about half of them discuss this attribute exclusively. "He challenges people to be innovative and take risks, and he doesn't micro-manage" reads one ballot. Others note that Welch, while tough and demanding, allows and encourages individual achievement and has created an entrepreneurial culture within a larger corporate environment.

Other attributes...

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