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What's driving the rise of Australian CEOs at American companies? Consider this: the top executives of Ford (Jac Nasser), Philip Morris (Geoff Bible) and Coca-Cola (Douglas Daft) all hail from the land Down Under.
CEOs may seem an unlikely export from a country originally settled by convicts. But this fledgling trend has been big news in Australia.
Nasser told NEWSWEEK that playing sports as a kid--particularly Australian "football," with its loose rules--prepared him well for the top job. He also noted that Australians often leave the country to broaden their business experience--good training for running a global company. The Aussie management style, which tends to be open, egalitarian and not overserious, also plays well with the troops. And Daft, Nasser and Bible certainly seem sprung from Central Casting for their roles. If the success of Paul Hogan playing Crocodile Dundee is any indication, Americans simply like Australians. David Lyon, president of Temerlin McClain, the agency that creates ads for Subaru and has used Hogan for about five years, said consumers see in Dundee qualities of "wit, cleverness and an ability to cut to the point."