He asked 1 Question – and it made him a Billionaire.

He asked just 1 Question -- and with that 1 Question, this Manager became a Billionaire.

Atlanta, 1981, The Tower, which came to be called The Bunker. Coca-Cola’s top managers were in summit.

Roberto Goizueta (“Goy-zwehta”) stood before his chiefs. He was a man of impeccable suits, an uncluttered desk, and a broad smile he used like a mask.

He’d worked his whole career for Coke. Born in Cuba four centuries after Cortes had gone west to conquer Mexico, Goizueta began work as a chemist at a local Coca-Cola plant. He moved north to the States, went into management, and rose to become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Coca-Cola.

Now he asked his general staff, “What is our market share?”

Marketing had the figure. “45 %.”

Then Goizueta asked, “How many ounces of liquid does a human being need to drink each day?”

A Senior VP answered, “64 ounces.”

“ ‘64 ounces.' Okay -- now of all our brands,” Goizueta asked, “of Coke, Tab, Mr. Pibb, Sprite, all the Fanta flavors, the fountain syrups, everything – on the average, how many ounces does a human being drink of Coca-Cola products each day?”

That stat was handy. “2 ounces.”

Now the CEO repeated his first question, “What is our current market share?”

At Coca-Cola, Roberto Goizueta’s strategic questions and global answers yielded unprecedented value for its shareholders. He was a shareholder himself. And it marked the first time in history that a manager who was not a company founder became a billionaire.

Conclusions:

Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta asks Marketing a question and it is the questionwhich holds the value, not its answer.

How much value? That year alone it put sixty-two million dollars in his wallet, and much more in the wallets of Coca-Cola shareholders. Just by knowing the right question to ask.

It is the question that drives the strategy.

The example of Roberto Goizueta illustrates what the competitive CEO does. As a strategist, he looks to improve his position, even the intangibles in his position.

As CEO, he revitalized the meaning of market share. He championed a new approach to positioning Coke. Coffee was the enemy, tea was the enemy, milk was the enemy, even water was the enemy.

From colas to juices to water, market by market, he strengthened his core product's position, and therefore he strengthened his company.

Goizueta positioned Coca-Cola’s flagship product at the core of corporate strategy. He positioned Coke to survive the cola wars and maintain its leadership position.

Coke -- the product -- became what I call a "strategic positioning unit" in the struggle of Coca-Cola – the company -- with its rivals.

Essential to marketing the product was availability of the syrup. So Goizueta established a network of anchor bottlers -- in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America – to serve entire regions of bottlers. That strategy captured one-half of the international soft drink market. It built the market capitalization of the firm to one hundred fifty billion dollars, reflecting the growing brand value of Coke the product.