Craig Barrett
| /**/ /**/ |
Craig Barrett inherited a lot from his Dad: a deep love for the outdoors, the silent communion with nature that comes from flyfishing and the wild magic that is born from the study of chemistry, math and science. And even though his Dad, who was a chemist at Shell Oil, was struck down by melanoma when Barrett was only 10, those early lessons stayed with him.
\
\
\
Slide Show: Craig Barrett
"My Dad got me interested in the outdoors, which is kind of why I wanted to be a forest ranger and also at the same time interested in chemistry, math and science," says the Intel chairman, who transformed the chip maker into a global behemoth by pioneering world-class modern
manufacturing techniques in this country. "So even though he died when I was fairly young, he had already instilled that interest and enthusiasm."
\
\
Enthusiasm indeed. Barrett recalls getting his first chemistry set as a young boy, building thermite bombs and using nitrogen triodide as a practical joke contact- explosive on toilet seats, leaving an iodinelike stain upon unsuspecting bathroom-goers.
\
\
"Those were the days when you got a chemistry set for Christmas," says the 67-year-old San Carlos, Calif., native, who was born in
Francisco. "You didn't get a Gameboy or PlayStation."
\
\
| /**/ /**/ |
If Barrett wasn't practicing his own particular mischievous craft of chemistry, he could be found fishing. Barrett's Dad, an avid flyfisherman, would take Craig and his brother fishing off Fisherman's Wharf after church on Sunday or flyfishing on getaways to the American River in Northern California.
\
\
Barrett's passion for flyfishing gave him a reprieve from his pressure-packed days as Intel's CEO during the biggest downturn in the brief history of computing. It also taught him a thing or two about how to vanquish Intel competitors. "The fish are looking upstream, and you want to come upon the fish from the backside so they don't see you," he says. "Maybe that is the primary rule of competition, which is always attack your competition from their blind spot."
That unyielding competitive instinct has left Intel rivals hanging from a fish hook and made Intel the undisputed world champion of the chip marketplace. The numbers Barrett put up as only Intel's fourth CEO speak for themselves. During his tenure, the company's sales shot up 55 percent from $25.1 billion in 1997 to $38.8 billion in 2005. And Intel's sales outside the United States soared to 81 percent of annual revenue, up from 56 percent when he took the helm.
Leading Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel during a treacherous industry downturn, the materials scientist who rewrote the rules for modern chip manufacturing made the big investments necessary for the company to continue to prosper well into the 21st century. While other industry CEOs heeded Wall Street's clamor for cuts, Barrett increased Intel's research and development spending from $2.3 billion, or 9 percent of sales, when he took the CEO job to $5.1 billion, or 13 percent of sales, when he handed the CEO reins to Paul Otellini in May 2005.
| /**/ /**/ |
Barrett, in short, made all the right moves to keep Intel at the top of the technology pyramid. At the same time, he has come to be known as the gold standard for integrity on all matters in an age of celebrity CEOs marred by stock option scandals and excess.
\
\
Intel co-founder and former CEO Andy Grove, a towering figure in the world of business who tapped Barrett for the CEO post, says what he admires most about Barrett is his uncompromising integrity. "You don't encounter that very often in humanity and business anywhere," Grove says. "He is off the scale on that." Grove says behind Barrett's Mount Rushmore gruff exterior is a populist who "believes in meritocracy and egalitarianism" and is "really personal to people."
\
\
As for his colleague's greatest contribution to the company, Grove credits Barrett with building a world-class chip manufacturing operation that is unparalleled in all of business, a feat he compares to the pharaohs' building of the pyramids. In the late '80s, Barrett completely revamped every nook and cranny of Intel's manufacturing operation, introducing just-in-time manufacturing and quality control elements that were unheard of in U.S. chip circles.
\
\
"At Intel's core is an absolutely unbelievable manufacturing company at a time when manufacturing companies are white elephants in the U.S.," says Grove. "Intel is not just a survivor in the U.S. It is a leader in the world. And that is because of Craig. We can make product errors, strategic errors, execution errors. That technology and manufacturing engine just saves our ass every time and pushes us forward."
\
\
Grove recalls a particularly tough period in the late '80s when Intel was being embarrassed by Japanese manufacturing giants producing unmatched quality levels. An incredulous Grove insisted there was something wrong with the measurement methods being used by the Japanese manufacturers. Those numbers are just not possible, he maintained. A steadfast Barrett noted that not only was it possible, but Intel could achieve the same numbers. "I started hollering at him," recalls Grove. "First of all, I said we will never reach it and, second, we are going to bankrupt ourselves pursuing it. And then came an argument with him. It wasn't unusual then and it is not unusual now." Barrett and Grove made a friendly wager large enough to be noticed by colleagues. Needless to say, Barrett was right.
\
\
Grove says it was Barrett's "thick-headedness and incredible persistence and energy" that brought Intel's manufacturing to a world-class level. Indeed, Barrett is every bit as competitive as his argumentative predecessor. At one Intel sales meeting, Barrett ran a couple of younger sales engineers, one a former Olympic volleyball player, into the ground. And he is known for pushing himself physically on outdoor hikes or on his ranch in Montana. Barrett met his wife, Barbara, on top of a 1,200-foot Arizona peak on a 112-degree day some 26 years ago. "The fact that he was out self-inflicting a mile-and-a-quarter hike up a peak at that temperature suggests that we shared something in common that very few others would find attractive," says Barbara, a highly lauded businesswoman and pilot who was the first civilian woman to land an F/A-18 Hornet on an aircraft carrier. She is also a winner of the prestigious Horatio Alger Association award for distinguished Americans. "There were only two of us on the peak at that time," Barbara says. "I guess there was a kindredness of our spirits from the beginning." That kindred spirit has led to a 21-year marriage.
\
\
Barbara, who lost her Dad, an Arizona cowboy, when she was only 13, says both she and her husband value education because it is the ticket to greater opportunity. "Neither of us were born of comfort, so we appreciate that there are needs around the United States and the world, and we have felt some of that personally," she says.
\
\
These days, Barbara says her husband is spending a lot more time on improving education both in the United States and around the world so "young people everywhere have a greater opportunity for contribution to the improvement of the world."
\
\
On a recent trip to India, Barbara says, it was a joy to see her husband respond as underprivileged young children excitedly lined up to use a rolling school
computer lab that visits rural areas. "What is fun to see is [Craig's] eyes light up as he sits down at a
console with what in our country would be fourth or fifth graders, and they are sizzling with excitement to show him what they can do on the computer," she says. "You can see the California boy coming out in him.'
\
\
Barbara says her husband's ultimate legacy will be as a role model for all young people. "I deal with a lot of CEOs in a lot of industries and I am immeasurably, insufferably proud of Craig, because I think he really is the top of the top," Barbara says. "He is just what you would want your child to emulate. He is a man of honor, of great achievement and of focused dedication to make things happen."