Making the Call

How Nokia's chief turned cell phones into a necessity--and took the market

His smile is more Stuart Smalley than business genius, but sit down with Jorma Ollila and it quickly becomes clear that Nokia's chairman and ceo doesn't need to practice Daily Affirmation. He knows he and his people are good enough and smart enough to make the world's best mobile phones--and that, yes, people like them, buying more Nokias than Motorolas or Ericssons (Nos. 2 and 3 in the market, respectively). Yet after listening to Ollila, 49, tell of his Finnish firm's transformation from a money-losing industrial conglomerate better known for toilet paper and tires into a $20 billion global telecom powerhouse,...

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