原创 Former ST CEO is (still) loved by everyone

Trying to persuade Pasquale Pistorio to show off an award—even one as prestigious as the IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal—is a fool's errand.

Some executives have a disconcerting habit of slipping into the first person when talking about their companies (i.e. "I can ship twice as much product as my closest competitor" or "I moved some of my manufacturing to China.")

Pistorio is basically the antithesis of these people. Urged to elaborate on his feelings about the Noyce Medal—which he picked up over the weekend in a ceremony in San Francisco—Pistorio uses two words more than all others: "we" and "team."

Pistorio is certainly honored about receiving the Noyce Medal, which is awarded for exceptional contributions to the microelectronics industry. But he bends over backwards to make absolutely certain that you understand that he could never have received it without the hard work of a lot of very talented people. In his view, personal awards like the Noyce Medal and the EE Times ACE Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received last year, are a reflection of the success of ST Microelectronics NV, which he helmed from the late 1980s—when the company was formed through the merger of Italy's SGS Group and France's Thomson Semiconducteurs—until 2005.

Reminded that the Noyce Medal is an individual award, not one that recognizes an entire company, Pistorio sums up his accomplishments simply and without fanfare. "I did my job," he says.

Though he goes out of his way to stress the teamwork involved, Pistorio is clearly proud of the turnaround he helped orchestrate at ST, which he describes as "a success story of people; of a team." When SGS and Thomson merged in 1987, both companies were deficient in several areas, Pistorio says. That year, the company did less than $1 billion in sales. "The company was quite sick," Pistorio says, adding that many in the semiconductor industry and the financial community did not expect the merged entity to survive.

Cut to 2005, when Pistorio stepped down as CEO (he still holds the title of honorary chairman at ST), and the company's sales were approaching $10 billion.

Pistorio credits focus on three areas for the turnaround—innovation, globalization (establishing the ST brand throughout the world) and productivity, driven by a culture emphasizing the concept of total quality management.

An important part of Pistorio's management philosophy is that employees must feel that they are part of the decision-making process in the company in order to feel engaged. "If people understand that you are honest, dedicated and transparent and won't ask them to do more than you would do yourself, people will follow you," he said.ÿ

Corporate citizenship
Pistorio has long been a champion of corporate responsibility and environmental consciousness. During an interview last week in San Francisco, Pistorio expressed concern about several global trends. "The world has developed high imbalances," he said, citing public debt, population explosions in developing nations and a rising number of environmental issues. "I think it's necessary to put some correction to this," he said.

According to Pistorio, the entire world must rethink sustainability and reduce waste—but without sacrificing quality of life. He thinks that growing corporate awareness of good citizenship can be part of the solution. "I think all of those problems can be solved on a big scale," Pistorio said. "There, corporations can play a big role."

Over the course of his career, Pistorio said corporations' concept of their role in society has evolved greatly. In the 1970s, when Pistorio was working at Motorola, most people believed that to be a good corporate citizen meant simply complying with the law. But Pistorio has always view good corporate citizenship as much more than that, including creating jobs and promoting environmentally responsibility.

"The number of companies that are much more sensitive to corporate responsibility is growing rapidly," Pistorio said.

Pistorio speaks after being awarded the 2011 IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal at the IEEE Honors Ceremony Aug. 19.

Now in his mid seventies, Pistorio is certainly staying business in retirement. In addition to being ST's honorary chairman, he is a member of the boards of directors of several other companies, including Italian automaker Fiat and, most recently, semiconductor test and assembly house Stats ChipPac LLC. He is also the president of the Pistorio Foundation, a non-profit organization that now supports 1,660 underprivileged children in the developing world. He is also a grandfather to five grandchildren ranging in age from four to 14 (with another on the way).

During the interview, Pistorio was graceful enough to put his 2010 EE Times ACE Lifetime Achievement Award on the same level as the Noyce Medal. The ACE Lifetime Achievement Award has gained a certain prestige since it was first bestowed several years ago, but the Noyce Medal—whose past winners include Morris Chang, Wilf Corrigan and Craig Barrett, among others—is kind of the upper echelon of the semiconductor industry's hall of fame.

Pistorio certainly belongs in that company. But you probably are not likely to hear that from him.

Dylan McGrath

EE Times