The Best CEOs of 2015

Outstanding leadership is an often overlooked and undervalued driver of a business' competitive advantage. And with the pace of technological innovation accelerating, excellent leadership should only grow in importance in the years ahead. With that in mind, here are three CEOs who positioned their companies to win in 2015 -- and beyond.

Image source: Amazon.com.
1. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos has been the guiding force behind Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN) amazing ascent since he founded the company in 1994. After articulating his vision in his 1997 letter to Amazon shareholders, Bezos has remained steadfast in his long-term focus. Ever willing to sacrifice near-term profits to strengthen Amazon's competitive positioning, Bezos and his team have built a juggernaut that should continue to take share in the global retail arena for many years to come.

The e-commerce behemoth dominates online retail in the U.S and, increasingly, many other areas of the world. Its massive global distribution system, fast-growing Prime membership program, and army of third-party sellers combine to form a value proposition -- based on an unmatched selection of goods, low prices, and convenient shopping experience -- that rival retailers can't match.

Incredibly, Amazon's impressive retail operations may not be the most exciting part of its business. Amazon Web Services is quickly becoming the dominant force in cloud computing and a valuable driver of growth, with AWS revenue and operating income surging 78% and 431%, respectively, in the third quarter. Even better, Amazon executives believe that AWS can ultimately rival Amazon's retail business in size and scope.

While investors have come to respect Amazon's success, with the stock now trading near all-time highs after more than doubling in 2015, Amazon is yet to unveil its full earnings power as the company continues to invest heavily in its infrastructure and new business lines. That leaves plenty of long-term profits still to come for Amazon -- and its shareholders.

2. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Image source: Facebook.

Like Amazon in online retail, Facebook(NASDAQ: FB) has established itself as the dominant force in social media. With a platform that's used by more than a billion people on a daily basis, Facebook's reach is staggering.

The social-media giant is proving increasingly adept at monetizing its massive user base, with revenue rising 41% year over year to $4.5 billion in the third quarter. Impressively, Facebook's advertising revenue leapt 45% even as it reduced ad impressions by 10%, as Facebook enjoyed an increase of 61% in the average price of its ads. As Facebook works to improve its targeting capabilities to deliver more value to advertisers, it should continue to enjoy strong pricing power along with further gains in revenue and profits. Investors have begun to take notice, with shares soaring 35% so far in 2015.

Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 and is responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company. He leads the design of Facebook's service and development of its core technology and infrastructure. He's also proven to be quite the visionary as a capital allocator, as demonstrated by his $1 billion acquisition of the fast-growing Instagram photo-sharing network in 2012, which analysts now value as high as $37 billion.

More recent investments such as Facebook's $19 billion purchase of messaging app WhatsApp and $2 billion purchase of virtual technology company Oculus have yet to pay such impressive dividends. But based on Zuckerberg's success with Instagram, investors may wish to remain patient as Facebook unveils its monetization plans for these fast-growing properties.

3. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

Image source: Netflix.

While far smaller than Amazon and Facebook, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is quickly becoming a global media powerhouse, with the online streaming pioneer projecting that its distribution network will span nearly every country on earth by the end of 2016. 

The company that CEO Reed Hastings founded in 1997 as a DVD-rental-by-mail firm has grown into the leading Internet TV network. But in addition to being an aggregator and distributor of licensed content, Netflix has also become an award-winning creator of original content, garnering 34 Emmy nominations across 11 of its original programs and winning four in 2015. That strong performance combined with a renewed appreciation for Netflix's accelerated international expansion plans and forecast of "material global profits" profits beginning in 2017 has led Netflix's shares to more than double so far in 2015.

Hastings and his team have built a formidable competitive moat around Netflix, with its global content distribution system, popular original programming, and valuable data-collection cycle that allows it to effectively invest in shows with a high likelihood of success among its customers. As such, I expect Netflix to remain the primary beneficiary of the cord-cutting phenomenon, with the company -- and its shareholders -- poised to profit handsomely from the growth of Internet TV in the years ahead.

After Months Of Neglect, Government To Build Memorial For Former President Kalam

Five months after the death of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, work on his memorial is about to begin at the Pei Karumbu burial ground near his hometown Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.

This is after Mr Kalam's family raised concerns and pictures of dogs roaming the burial site flooded social media. The delay over beginning construction at the site, and the state and the Centre blaming each other for it only compounded the allegations of neglect. 

Sources told NDTV, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) - which Mr Kalam headed once - will pay for constructing the memorial. It has also sent a team of officials to the site. "We will, however, start constructing the boundary wall to maintain the sanctity of the spot, a senior DRDO official told NDTV and added that guards have already been posted.

While officials in Delhi said land hasn't yet been transferred, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha said her government had already "transferred the required land to the Central Government." The empowered committee headed by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, set-up to decide on the memorial, has written to the state government asking for another two acres of land. The current site is 1.5 acres.  

Also, sources said that Centre has started looking out for an architect to design a memorial suitable for Mr Kalam's image of being people's president - an epithet he earned as president. Apart from the memorial in Rameshwaram, the Centre is also planning to build a memorial at the DRDO complex in New Delhi.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Biography

Engineer, Scientist, President (non-U.S.) (1931–2015)

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is an Indian scientist and politician who served his country as president from 2002 to 2007.

Synopsis
Born in 1931 in Dhanushkodi, India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam joined India's defense department after graduating from the Madras Institute of Technology. He was a central figure in the development of the country's nuclear capabilities, and was hailed as a national hero after a series of successful tests in 1998. Kalam served as India's president for one term, and died of a heart attack on July 27, 2015.

Early Years

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born into a Muslim family on October 15, 1931, on the island of Dhanushkodi off the southeastern coast of India. He developed an early fascination with flight by watching birds, which developed into an interest in aeronautics after he saw a newspaper article about a British fighter plane. 

Despite his modest beginnings – his dad built and rented boats – Kalam was a bright student who showed promise in science and mathematics. He attended St. Joseph's College, and went on to earn a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology. 

Rise to the Presidency 

His hopes of becoming a fighter pilot was dashed when he narrowly missed out on a spot with the Indian Air Force. Kalam instead joined the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as a senior scientific assistant in 1958. After moving to the newly formed Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 1969, he was named project director of the SLV-III, the first satellite launch vehicle designed and produced on Indian soil.

Returning to the DRDO as director in 1982, Kalam implemented the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. He then became the senior scientific adviser to India's defense minister in 1992, a position he used to campaign for the development of nuclear tests. 

Kalam was a key figure in the May 1998 Pokhran-II tests, in which five nuclear devices were detonated in the Rajasthan Desert. Although the tests resulted in condemnation and economic sanctions from other world powers, Kalam was hailed as a national hero for his stanch defense of the country’s security. 

In 2002, India's ruling National Democratic Alliance helped Kalam win an election against Lakshmi Sahgal and become India's 11th president, a largely ceremonial post. Known as the People's President, Kalam set a goal of conducting 500,000 one-on-one meetings with young people over the course of his five-year term. His immense popularity led to him being nominated by MTV for a Youth Icon of the Year award in 2003 and 2006. 

After leaving office in 2007, Kalam became a visiting professor at several universities. He formed the "What Can I Give Movement" in 2011 with the goal of creating a compassionate society, and in 2012, his efforts to improve healthcare led to the release of a tablet for medical personnel to use in remote areas. 

Death and Legacy 

On July 27, 2015, Kalam suffered a massive heart attack while lecturing at the Indian Institute of Management and subsequently died at the age of 83. 

Kalam was laid to rest on July 30 with full state honors in his native Tamil Nadu. In honor of the scientist and former president, the southeast Indian state government of Tamil Nadu created a "Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award," which recognizes exceptional individuals who promote the sciences, students and humanities. The government has also established Kalam's birthday (October 15) as "Youth Renaissance Day." Discussion about building a large-scale memorial at his burial site is underway. 

Among his many accolades, including honorary doctorates from 40 universities, he was granted the Padma Bhushan (1981), the Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the Bharat Ratna (1997) — India's highest civilian awards — for his contributions in modernizing government defense technology. He also wrote several books, including the autobiography Wings of Fire in 1999.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam QUOTATION