In the mid 90's, experience in begetting your hands dirty" as a foreman in the mines, power plant manager, bench chemist, or similar position provides a leg up on your marketing, legal, finance and administrative competitors for the top spots in American industry. In Management Practice Inc.'s 1995 annual survey of CEOs routes to the top, Operations/Manufacturing is the preferred background of newly appointed CEOs (figure 1), followed by TechnicaU Scientific in second place.

For Operations/Manufacturing, this seems to be a replay of its mid-80' s heyday. For Technical/Scientific, this is a step down, having, been ensconced at the top for the previous seven years.

Even in the hot new growth industry, Computers and Communcations, an operations background can make you a prime candidate for CEO. As Steve Raymund of Tech Data Corporation says, Execute flawlessly."

When the total sample of in-place industrial CEOs is measured, Technical/ Scientific is still the preferred route to the top at 24 percent (figure 2). Operations/ Manufacturing continues in second position at 20 percent. Marketing/Sales has moved up to 17 percent, tied with Finance/Accounting, which is down 1 percentage point from last year's survey.

MPI believes the reason for this ranking is that satisfying customer demands effecfively with the right products and services continues to be the primary source of competitive advantage. However, satisfying customer demands eff ciently with ever faster response times and reliable delivery schedules is increasingly important to directors choosing CEOs.

When the changes in CEO routes to the top are analyzed over the past ten years (figure 3), Administrative and Legal are the losers, probably caused by the trend to focus on product and technological advantage rather than deal making and administrative cost reduction.

One brand new CEO who exemplifies the new breed is Albert Costello of W.R. Grace who is a chemist by training. Prior to his current position, Costello was CEO of American Cyanamid, which was taken over by American Home Products Another new CEO with a "getting your hands dirty" background is Gordon Bethune of Continental Airlines who started out as a naval mechanic. From the navy, he became a mechanic at Braniff and worked his way up in the airline industry to VP, Operations at Piedmont. Switching over to aircraft manufacturing, Bethune joined Boeing where he became VP, Commercial Airplane Group and General Manager of the Renton division, manufacturer of 737s and 757s.