John Paul Austin

John Paul Austin – President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of The Coca-Cola Company: 1963- 1981

Personal Life and Early Career

John Paul Austin was born on February 14, 1915, in LaGrange, Georgia. He was educated at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana and also Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He also attended Harvard University and graduated in 1937 with a degree in Liberal Arts. He went on to pursue a law degree from Harvard Law School and graduated in 1940. During World War II, he served as a Naval Intelligence Officer and at the end of service, with a rank of Lieutenant Commander, he received the Legion of Merit. He could speak 5 different languages, his native English, French, Spanish, Japanese and also read Italian.

In 1949, he joined the Legal Department at Coco-Cola Company, starting in plant in Chicago where he supervised the buying of bottling plants. He spent about 5 months working at various positions in the plant and then as a route salesman, an experience of which he said was the route to success in this business. He met and married Jeane Weed, a secretary working in Coca-Cola in 1950 and they have 2 sons. After a decorated career which saw him decked with accomplishments, both for the company and for the country, J. Paul Austin passed away at his home in Atlanta after a long illness. He was 70 years old.

Career

1961 – Austin was elected Executive Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company

1962 – Austin was officially elected as President of The Coca-Cola Company, succeeding Lee Talley

1966 – Became Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

1970 – Became Chairman of the Coca-Cola Company

Achievements

• With Austin at helm, Coca-Cola achieved an unprecedented tenfold growth from earnings of $46.7 million on sales of $567 million in 1962 when he took over as President, to earnings of $481 million on sales of $5.9 billion in 1981 when he retired.

• Brought Coca-Cola’s advertising and branding to a global impact

• Grew Coca-Cola’s export markets dramatically, bringing the soft drink even to countries that did not have amicable relations with the United States.

• Austin is acquainted with business and government leaders worldwide and advocated a strong international business posture.

• He opposed trade boycotts and spoke against the trade boycott of Cuba in the 1960s. He believed that strong business ties encouraged community relations among nations.

• Brought Fanta Orange to the Soviet Union, ending Pepsi’s brief monopoly there.

• Through meetings with the Egyptian President, Austin helped restored operations in Egypt after a 12-year boycott.

• Brought Coca-Cola back into Portugal after a 50-year ban.

• In 1977 Austin was awarded the annual Man of Conscience award of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.

• In December 1978, Austin announced that Coca-Cola would return to China after a 30-year ban.

• Gave Governor Jimmy Carter his personal and professional support which he eventually got elected to the white house as President.

• Keen supporter of environmental initiatives, including water purification programs and glass bottle recycling machines

Our Insights

John Paul Austin was known as one of the great business leaders of his time, propelling The Coca-Cola Company from what was essentially a family business to a prominent industrial giant of the beverage sector. This can be attributed to his perceptive nature and having a keen sense of doing business that made him moved and align the company’s vision to his far-sighted goals.

Great leadership has the capacity to translate vision into reality, and that is exactly what John Paul Austin did, evident in how he brought Coca-Cola’s earnings up by tenfold during his helm. Also, having worked in different positions of the company’s plants, he has extensive knowledge of how things work and so, he is able to lead by example, having been there and done that because one who has never learned to obey cannot hope to command effectively in the future.

“In order to align followers to buy into the vision, first, they have to buy into the leader.” – John Maxwell

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Paul_Austin

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/10/16/quotes-on-leadership/

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/27/us/jp-austin-dead-coca-cola-leader.html