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Kenneth I. Chenault is the CEO of American Express

Satisfactory Essays

Kenneth I. Chenault was born on June 2nd, 1951, in Mineola New York. He went to Bowdoin College and he also went to Harvard University. Before he became CEO he was working at Bain & Company from 1979 to 1981 as a management consultant. Chenault is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of American Express. He went to go work for American Express in 1981 as Director of strategic planning. He saw an opportunity to work in a different department within the company, which was the merchandising group. Chenault saw and wanted a challenge, and he got one. He took the company from making 150 million to 500 million. He manages 70,000 employees at American Express; he describes his leadership style as simple but complex. The simple part is that he has been consistent in his goals, which are to serve responsibility of customers, employees and shareholders. He is always looking for good leaders within the company. He feels like since 70,000 employees work at the company and he will not have the chance to interact with all of them, he says that every person at the meeting should share what was discussed to 20 or more employees so everyone can feel part of the company. Constructive confrontation is key and very important to him he wants employees to have that; people should have the ability to speak up, and he believes that leadership can be taught. Even though American Express does not have formal leadership training, Chenault hopes to teach people, by people following him and

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