Nokia’s Canadian CEO Stephen Elop

On September 21, 2010, Stephen Elop became Nokia Corporation’s first non-Finnish Chief Executive Officer when he replaced Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

Elop boasts of a remarkable career as an executive. Before Nokia, Elop has a seven-year stint at Macromedia as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer. When Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia, he became the Worldwide Field Operations President for six months until he resigned in June 2006.

Elop was with Microsoft immediately before joining Nokia Corporation. He was the head of Microsoft’s Business Division, which is responsible for the Microsoft Office products. He was a part of the leadership team when his division released Office 2010.

According to sources, Nokia paid Elop a whopping signing bonus of $6 million. It was also reported that his annual salary at Nokia is $1.4 million.

Elop’s outstanding stint as Nokia’s CEO has been his internal memo entitled “Burning Platform.” In this memo, Elop illustrated Nokia’s standing in the smartphone market as a man standing on a burning oil platform. He meant the platform to refer to Google Android, Apple iOS or Symbian.

BBC praised Elop’s memo saying his message “is one of the most combustible and gripping documents ever to emerge from a major corporation.” Financial Times also noted his 1200-word communication as elegant but brutally honest message “far removed from the average management pep talk.” Elop’s memo also became a guide for Cisco’s John Chambers and many other businesses and political leaders.

True to his “Burning Platform” document, in February 2011, Nokia’s operating system shifted from Symbian to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. Nokia shifted slowly to Elop’s new business strategy, release only two new versions of Symbian operating systems: the N9, which is Meego-based; and the five dual SIM phones. Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 featured smartphone was not released until November 2011.

Stephen Elop was born on December 31, 1963 in Ancaster Ontario, Canada. He was a standout at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, when he finished second in his class with a degree in Computer Engineering and Management. During his time at the university, he was a part of the team which laid a 22-kilometer Ethernet cable around the school campus, making it one of the first internet networks in Canada.

Stephen is married to Nancy. They have five children, including a triplet.

Jeff Immelt: Among the World’s Most Powerful

The chief executive of multi-national General Electric, Jeff Immelt, is turning out as one of the world’s most powerful individual. It is an often overlooked fact that businesses can greatly influence public policy and decision making.

For GE that prides of AAA rating, it is one of only six U.S. companies that hold the distinction. Such credential can be converted into a huge advantage against any of its competitors for it to gain more profits. With GE’s wide breadth of products – ranging from locomotives, health equipment, turbines, etc. – not that many competitors can hold out a face to face confrontation.

Immelt also once headed the Business Council, the group of top executives that has a big say in the formulation of government policy, and on the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

In 2008, Immelt was heralded in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Immelt has surely made an impact in people’s lives through his achievements with GE.

GE’s CEO Becomes a Domestic Job Creator

With the lingering unemployment problem in the United States, President Barrack has chosen an unlikely businessman to help him in mapping out a solution. The Chief Executive Officer of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt, was hired by President Obama as the new jobs czar to come up with measures to boost American companies into hiring again. But what can the Obama administration get from an executive who practice global outsourcing of jobs when it comes to the challenge of solving domestic unemployment in America?

Despite his company’s aggressive drive to outsource jobs around the globe, GE is actually among the largest contributors in terms of domestic job creation in the United States. GE CEO Immelt is pushing the Obama administration into generously investing in job creation. Immelt says that while politicians both from the sides of the Republicans and Democrats are busy pronouncing solutions to the economic downturn, not much time is spent in discussions regarding job creation.

At least 300,000 new jobs for Americans need to be created each month for the US to regain its footing just before the recession.  Bent on solving the employment vacuum, Immelt and his company are actually constructing infrastructures for their manufacturing plants in the US. Immelt is also bringing back employment for thousands of workers who lost work opportunities due to companies which have gone global in their operations.

Now, the powerful businessman is challenging investors to pour in their billions of dollars in the US. He says that while companies enjoy the perks of tax breaks and tax holidays, these savings from taxes must not lay idle. Instead, the money should be converted into actual businesses and factories that will trickle down as wages to workers.

From being a businessman to a globalist job creator, Immelt is surely one of the few who have made an impact in both the private and public business sector.

The Techies That Rocked The Music Industry

In a span of just two decades, the music industry is riding on an exciting journey to suit the needs of listeners. With music going into the digital medium, the computer technology has had influenced the direction of the music industry.

During the 1990s, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker launched the short-lived download site, Napster. Those who cannot afford or who were not willing to pay for music made use of Napster to illegally download music for free and without limit. Consequently, the music industry broke because of online piracy.

The late Steve Jobs then entered the scene when he built iTunes to supposedly save the music industry through retail selling of singles instead of whole albums. However, the revenue of the recording industry still took a dive as online piracy persisted.

Here comes Daniel Ek with his online music service Spotify, to revive the music industry. In Sweden, Spotify is showing positive contribution to the music industry. Ek is determined to replicate his success in Sweden and conquer the United States.

With the achievements of these techies, we can look forward to the evolution of music sharing in the years to come.

Daniel Ek: Creating a New Rhythm in the Music Industry

The music industry in the US has come to absorb huge losses in revenues including prospective employment to tens of thousands of individuals because of piracy. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says that the volume of illegally acquired music and the subsequent revenue losses are staggering. From a study by the Institute of Policy Innovation, the losses are estimated at around $12.5 billion yearly in the US economy including 70,000 lost jobs and $2 billion of would-have-been wages to American workers.

While the music industry is seemingly grim, the online music player Spotify has come to emerge as the unlikely champion that might defeat piracy. Spotify allows users instant access to millions of music tracks in a legal manner.

In 2008, Spotify founder Daniel Ek began his campaign to lift the music industry out of dismal slide of revenue losses. Ek says that to win over piracy, any music service must make sure that it is more convenient: as if you are just opening an email account and then, viola!, instant access to 15 million songs.

In Sweden, where Spotify is headquartered, sales from downloads grew by as much as 28 percent the year Spotify launched its music service. Music streaming is estimated to earn 60 percent of Sweden’s $38 million dollar digital income. Moreover, businessmen in the music industry, in hushed, private admissions, say that Spotify practically account for all the revenues from music streaming.

The achievement of Ek is enormous considering that his business was able to thrive in a country infamous for lingering piracy issues. Yet, in 2011, Sweden’s music industry is touted to post its first ever positive growth since the Clinton Administration. Spotify is expected to contribute about 50% of the country’s overall sales. Under Ek’s command, Spotify is gearing for its launch in America, slowly but surely giving music lovers an opportunity to enjoy music—legally.