The Right Manager for These Times

First of all, I always like to see the CEO of a company have a substantial amount of shares in the company.  The CEO will have more of a vested interest in the company.  The next major quality that I like to see is when the CEO takes more of a long term view on the company's success rather then worrying about making the numbers each quarter.  The perfect CEO for these times is Richard Woolcott, the CEO of Volcom.  

Richard Woolcott just so happens to be the founder of Volcom and is currently the Chairman and CEO.  He owns over twenty percent of the company and therefore is on the same team as the common stockholder.  Times are tough right now and almost every company is making job cuts to come in line with the depressed revenue base.  Volcom, not being immune to this crisis, just came out with a reduction in the workforce of around 10 percent.  Richard Woolcott also took a 15% reduction to his salary, which is already under industry standards.  This tells me a lot about the kind of person Mr. Woolcott is and that he is interested in the long term success of Volcom.   A good amount of cost cutting that takes place in the corporate world can greatly impact the long term success of a company.  For example, Volcom can cut some costs by ending some promotional events.  This can effect the long term success of the company. (although probably moderately). Instead, Richard Woolcott decided to take a cut in pay, a move that does not at all impact the long term prospects of Volcom.  For that I greatly respect him.  Especially in a time where all we read about in the news are greedy businessmen with scams happening left and right.