Michael Poehner: Fujitsu Consulting CEO

A Day in the Life of a Snow-Bound CEO

Although he heads an international company, Michael Poehner isn't above fetching the coffee or taking an undesirable parking space.

As the leader of a billion dollar international company, Michael Poehner is a pretty powerful guy. As president and CEO of Fujitsu Consulting, Poehner heads a billion dollar management and technology consulting company with more than 70 offices worldwide. Fujitsu Consulting is the global consulting arm outside Japan of Fujitsu Ltd., the third largest IT services group in the world.
Mother Nature is not impressed. Poehner had carefully planned his agenda so I could shadow him and chronicle his events for Continental readers. But weather would have it differently. With more than a half-foot of snow thrown into the mix, Poehner had to scramble and make quick decisions throughout the day, keeping one eye on his agenda and the other on the increasingly bleak weather forecast.
It comes with the territory. With offices and his management often scattered throughout the world, Poehner's adept at changing on the fly, the model of a modern major mobile executive.
Poehner began his career in 1968 with IBM, where he spent 15 years working his way up the corporate ladder. After holding top executive spots at AGB TV Research and Businessland, Poehner joined Amdahl Corp., serving as worldwide general manager of the company's Business Solutions Group. After a couple of mergers, Poehner became President and CEO of DMR Consulting. On April 1, 2002, Fujitsu Consulting was created from the merger of DMR Consulting, Fujitsu Systems Business of America, Fujitsu Systems Europe and other business units from the Fujitsu group. Poehner was put in charge of the entire Fujitsu Consulting empire. It's a big job, but Poehner keeps it in perspective.
"I'm very proud to be an executive of a billion dollar company, but Fujitsu's a $38 billion company. Being a billion out of a $38 billion company, you're not a very big piece," Poehner says.

Some might argue with that, but Poehner's the type of guy who doesn't put on airs or put himself up on a pedestal in fact, he loves to delegate and then shine the spotlight on employees who perform well. Throughout the day, he remains approachable to his colleagues and myself. He also exudes a reassuring quality, as if he can handle any problem that might arise.

Here's an account of Michael Poehner's day, as he contemplates merger and acquisition deals, fetches coffee and battles Mother Nature.

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7: 21 a.m. We pull into the driveway of Michael Poehner's blue colonial house. It's an old house with a welcoming rustic feel, upscale yet laid-back at the same time. Some wooden beams in the home date back to the 1700s; the foyer area where Poehner greets me is well over 100 years old. A portion of the home is built into a hill, as was common years ago, and that area originally contained the kitchen and living areas. When his family moved in, Poehner a wine enthusiast quickly decided the hillside part of the house, which tended to stay cool, would make for a great wine cellar.

"The key to fine wine drinking is to have a buying strategy in place that is predicated upon value. In other words, any person with enough money can buy blockbusters from France or California. But the true wine lover will hunt for the highest ratio of quality to price. For example, in the early 1990's, Caymus Vineyards produced what is now a well-known Cabernet Sauvignon. Back then, it was going for about $16 a bottle. It was a phenomenal wine, and I bought it by the case. I still have some of that, though now it is much more expensive. Spain is a source of good values." One of Poehner's current favorites is "G" by Gago.

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7: 24 a.m. I grill Poehner on the morning activities before her arrival. Some of the highlights include letting out his dogs two Golden retrievers named Fraser and Kyrieand a quick workout. "I find that staying in shape and exercising is really important to having the energy to do your job," Poehner says. Of course, there's the scan of the company's network to check for any critical news. "We're owned by a Japanese company," Poehner says. "And they're ending their day right about now, so I want to make sure nothing critical needs to be done." Considering roughly 40 percent of his company's business is located outside the United States, Poehner accommodates his schedule to the rest of the world.

7: 29 a.m. Bypassing the SUV, Poehner instead leads me to his Jaguar. It's not a matter of choosing style over reliability, but simply that his "mobile office" is housed inside the Jag. He hooks up his cell phone, attaches the headset and we're off.

"By now, people have realized that this is a good time to get me," Poehner says. "It's helpful because once we get into the office, things start to move faster, so it's good to have this time available."

Poehner embraces high-tech toys that help him maximize his working hours and spend more time with his wife and children. Poehner and Jeanne, his wife of 16 years, have six children. Besides his cell phone, Poehner also has a laptop (the latest Fujitsu model, naturally). And for watching the Bears and Giants on Sunday while getting a little work done, his home is equipped with a wireless network.

Dinner with his family is a top priority for Poehner; he's typically out of the office 6 o'clock, toting work home for an evening conference call with the parent company as the next day begins in Tokyo.

7: 30 a.m.Poehner begins navigating the Jag down the mountainside, while discussing his thoughts on leadership. "You can do just about anything in business if you have the right people on your team. I spend a lot of time worrying about that and making sure that all down through the ranks we have the right people. The main thing is facilitating and enabling people. Everybody thinks leadership is 'doing,' but it really isn't. You have to have the folks who work for you 'do.' You build the framework and as the leader set the goals where you want to go and put the incentives out there for them to do it. And then you turn around and you become their servant and you ask them, 'What can we do? How can we facilitate, to get things done? What investments can we make to make those goals happen?"

7: 52 a.m. It's a slow, slippery ride towards Fujitsu's office in Edison. "I'm starting to wonder if this is a good idea," Poehner says.

8:05 a.m. Alan Baxter rings in from London. Baxter is Poehner's chief operating officer. They spend a few minutes on golf and, appropriately, the weather before moving on to the meat of the call: analysis of the professional traits of a British businessperson who factors into a potential business deal.

8:20 a.m. Poehner wraps up the call with Baxter. "I don't believe that everybody who works for me needs to be at this location. We're an international business and I think we need to have executives internationally."
Most of Poehner's top executives speak at least one other language fluently. Blending his love of high-tech helpers and his international focus, Poehner himself utilizes a simultaneous translation system whenever he and his executives have conference calls or meetings with foreign colleagues. He has no plans to study any foreign languages fortunately, most of the Fujitsu executives he deals with speak English very well. For a guy likes to participate in Town Hall meetings because he believes that's the most open, credible and valuable forum, communication is important.

International business, of course, goes well beyond language and location. For Poehner, it's part of life, explaining, for example, how the cultural difference factors into his plans for an upcoming business trip to Japan.
"The Japanese chief executive and I will do something socially on Sunday, and then we'll have meetings on Monday. It's very much a part of the culture to socialize and build trust relationships. It's an incredible experience dealing with all the cultures of the different countries where we do business. We and the Brits speak the same language, but we're very different culturally. When you look at the German and English cultures, their cultures and Japan's work very well together, although they're very different. Our culture is a little too aggressive for them."

8:35 a.m. Traffic tally: Poehner has passed one snowplow out of commission after running off the road, several jackknifed tractor trailers and at least 20 stalled, smashed, flipped or snowbound cars.

8: 45 a.m. Poehner stops at Starbucks to pick up coffee for himself and Ron Charow, his chief financial officer.

9: 00 a.m. arriving at the Fujitsu parking lot, Poehner grabs the first open space he finds. Surprisingly, the CEO has no reserved spot. "We pride ourselves on being a company of peers," he says, coffees in hand.

9:10 a.m. Conference call between Poehner, his CFO and an executive from a European mergers and acquisition firm, which is helping Fujitsu Consulting try to sell one of its properties. "We're looking at selling one of our assets, and using those proceeds to buy something else. So if it all works out, we'll basically be flipping one thing for the other."
The swap would work nicely with Poehner's long-range vision for the company. "Our strategy is to acquire those companies that offer both a better fit for our business and our clients," he says.

9:30 a.m. Although rushed because of weather delays, Poehner still gamely allows the photographer to snap some quick photos in the CEO's office. It's a tidy office with one unusual, and revealing piece of furniture: a chest-level desk. "I work better on my feet," he says. On his toes, might be more fitting, considering the shuffling he's had to do in light of the day's bad weather. He's already been forced to reschedule several meetings that had been planned for the afternoon, and the slow pace of the traffic clearly frustrated the executive who hates to be late for anything.

10:30 a.m. After answering a few calls and attending to some minor tasks at the office, Poehner heads to a meeting with AT&T seeking their approval for the second phase of a value management project Fujitsu Consulting is handling for AT&T. It translates into major business for Poehner's company, so he's willing to navigate an untested Jaguar through a winter storm to personally attend the business development meeting.

11:05 a.m. Baxter calls again, with good news to report. "We got a $1.8 million surprise in the bottom line," Poehner reports. "See, they call me right away with the good news. When it's bad news, they try to fix it before they call. An interesting thing about the job I have is you get the opportunity to solve all the problems that your staff couldn't solve. Because it only comes to you when it's an unsolvable problem. So you get all the great challenges."

11:30 a.m. One of Poehner's executives calls from California to shares news about a beloved employee with a medical crisis.
"We had a woman that ran our U.S. operations," Poehner says. "She was only about 45, and to be an executive in that level, that's pretty young. We all love her. And all of a sudden they find out she has Lou Gehrig's disease. And it's progressing really fast. It's just so sad. She had such promise and we had such hope for her. It's a big hole in our business, but that's obviously insignificant compared to the impact on her family. So, I go from finding out that we have a $1.8 million to hearing that she's not doing as well as we'd hoped. That's the ups and downs, I guess."

11:45 a.m. The snow's wreaking havoc with his usual punctuality. Poehner has his assistant tell the AT&T people he's almost there. "Tell everyone else to go on in even if I'm not there yet. The meeting needs to go on with or without me. It's that important to us." Poehner also decides to close his office so that employees can head home before the weather worsens. "Let's get everyone home before it gets any worse."

Noon Poehner reaches the AT&T building just a few minutes late, although he must scramble to find the one entrance that is open because of weather-related closings. The meeting goes well, with Fujitsu consultant David Frye's presentation illustrating how Fujitsu Consulting's value management service is helping AT&T improve the way it evaluates its technology assets and projects with the goal of optimizing cost without sacrificing competitiveness.
Is it unusual for the CEO of a billion dollar company to sit in on client presentations? Perhaps. But it's typical for Poehner.
"He is very client-focused and understands the needs of our of Fortune 1000 client base better than most executives, says Chris Williams, Fujitsu Consulting's chief marketing officer. "As an accomplished business executive, Mike Poehner has navigated companies through both good times and bad, and has always helped his clients to come out ahead. He is dynamic and has a clear vision of where he is taking Fujitsu Consulting." He's also clear where he's taking his Jaguar … home.

1:00 p.m. With the office closed, Poehner reschedules a meeting to review ad copy with his corporate communications director; shifts a conference call with Williams, and heads home to work the rest of the day from the safety and warmth of his home office.

5:30 p.m. Poehner enjoys a family dinner.

Early evening Conference call with Fujitsu offices in Japan

And so Poehner ends his day as he began, on the phone with overseas executives. Only this time, he watches the snow pile up outside from the cozy warmth of his home office window. As he speaks with Japanese executives who are just beginning their day, he looks forward to a good night's sleep after his snowy one, in which he literally proved to be the calm in the storm.