From stocking merchandise in a small, family-owned grocery store at age 12 to becoming chairman and CEO of American Express, Ken Chenault credits his success to a combination of well-rounded business understanding and a willingness to take risks. In Q-and-A with Dean Tom Gilligan on Nov. 2, as part of the Undergraduate Business Council’s Distinguished Speaker Series, Chenault spoke to more than 450 students about his experiences and what led to his success.

Chenault joined American Express as director of strategic planning in 1981. In 1989, he was named president of the company’s consumer card group, and became president of travel-related services in 1993. He became the vice chairman in 1995, the chief operating officer and president in 1997 and was named CEO and chairman in 2001. He says that it is this experience in several aspects of business that has supported his success as CEO.

“What I tried to do was learn a lot about all aspects of running a company,” Chenault said. “What was critical was that I sought after a range of experiences and a range of skills.”

In addition to well-rounded business experiences, Chenault believes that a willingness to take risks is necessary, albeit difficult, for a successful business venture.

“I think what set me apart is that I believed to be successful in business, you always have to be willing to take a little bit of risk,” Chenault said. “I believe that the enemy of success is the status quo. The most dangerous part of being successful is getting comfortable. That’s a big problem in business. You always have to focus on innovation.”

Under Chenault’s guidance, American Express has remained profitable despite the state of the national and global economy, reporting a 1.2 percent increase in profits over the past year. According to Chenault, one reason that American Express was able to survive and even thrive in the midst of an economic collapse is an all-encompassing understanding of the brand.

“When I joined the company, we were right at the start of becoming a financial supermarket,” Chenault said. “We were an incredibly large financial services company, and we had a number of businesses that didn’t support our brand. If we had owned those business in 2008, let me assure you, I would not be sitting here because we would have been out of business.”

Among the divested businesses was major investment banking company Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy in 2008. Although business is unpredictable and impossible to entirely control, Chenault advised students to remember that they alone control their individual performance.

“You can make a difference, or you can come up with a lot of excuses or reasons why you can’t do something,” Chenault said. “The reality, particularly for our young people, is that they actually do have more control than they may think, and that control is to be focused on performance, whatever they do.”

Reposted from McCombs Today

Earlier this month, the McCombs School of Business hosted the National Energy Finance Challenge, and for the third consecutive year a Texas MBA team took first place and the $10,000 prize. The 8th annual business case competition took place October 4-5. It is focused on real financial issues in the energy industry, and is designed to put first- and second-year MBA students from top business schools across the country in contact with energy industry executives and recruiters. This year, the Texas team represented a multinational integrated oil and gas company, Integra, and negotiated an exploration and production farm-out agreement with an independent, mid-cap exploration and production company, Explora. Their winning strategy involved opening with an offer and negotiating until reaching a deal that met their objectives. The judges were representatives from the event’s sponsors, Chevron, Deloitte, EMC, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Schlumberger Business Consulting, and Wood Mackenzie.

A week before the competition, the competitors were given three days to create their strategies and submit their final presentations. Solutions were presented to the judges in Austin. Texas MBA team member Chase Machmehl says the most challenging aspect of the competition was sorting through the intensely detailed information without knowing how the other teams approached the situation or what the judges expected.

“We knew we had to put our best effort on the table,” Machemehl said. “Whatever the outcome, we were proud of the opportunity to represent McCombs on the national level against such strong business programs.”

The Texas MBA team was made up of second-year students Machemehl, Chris Stanton, and Matt Walters, first-year student Mark Marmolejo, and Dilin Naidoo, an exchange student from McCombs’ partner school in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Wits Business School. Sixteen teams from across the country competed, and in the final round the Longhorns defeated the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. The third and fourth places went to teams from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, respectively.

Machemehl says that the team was motivated by the high caliber of their competitors and their desire to continue Texas MBA’s successful legacy.

“Following two consecutive wins was intimidating,” Machemehl said. “Continuing the legacy of excellence in energy finance at McCombs was a huge opportunity, and I’m grateful for our achievement.”

Reposted from McCombs Today