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No Yes Men. Few of G.E.'s management trainees would recognize in Cordiner the image of the successful executive they aspire—and are taught—to be. Cordiner thinks the world is moved by men of independent thought ("I have a strong aversion to yes men"), has strong convictions on virtually everything from politics (far to the right) to television ("We are in danger of becoming a nation of watchers instead of doers"). He has been married for 33 years, lives a Spartan life in which he drinks little (a few Scotches now and then), eats little (no desserts, frequent salads and sandwiches), sleeps little (average: six hours), generally avoids social contacts with company people—and, for that matter, with just about everyone but his own family (four married daughters, ten grandchildren).
Cordiner's carefully regulated, jam-packed life, relieved occasionally by golf (low 80s) or deep-sea fishing, is the product of a near obsession about time—the "fourth dimension in a corporation—beyond men, money and materials." When a G.E. executive recently suggested a 1963 deadline for a project, Cordiner asked for 1959. Says he: "That way we stand a good chance of getting it by 1961. Otherwise, we might get it in 1965."
Cordiner will not have to retire until 1965, but he has planned his retirement as carefully as G.E.'s future (friends are convinced he has the date and hour marked on his calendar right now). Four years ago he bought a cattle ranch on Florida's west coast to prepare for his retirement. There, on 1,820 acres, he has set up "decentralization on the farm," intends to build a "Cordiner Motel" some distance away for his visiting daughters and their families, under his longtime policy of "decentralization in the home."
Layers of Fat. Ralph Cordiner has always made good use of his time. He was born in 1900 on his father's 1,280-acre wheat farm near Walla Walla, Wash., just eight years after a genial Quaker named Charles A. Coffin merged two electrical firms to found General Electric. Cordiner went to small Whitman College, where he worked his way through school by doing odd jobs and selling wooden-paddle washing machines for the Pacific Power & Light Co. He went to work for Pacific Power after graduation, became such a star salesman that he was soon lured away by the Edison General Electric Appliance Co. Edison was a subsidiary of General Electric, then under its third president, brilliant, public-minded Gerard Swope, who kept the company reins firmly in his own hands. Cordiner celebrated his new job by marrying his college sweetheart. Gwyneth Lewis.
He was made head of the northeast office in 1928, moved past 16 men to become Pacific Coast manager in 1930, soon chose to transfer to G.E.'s new merchandising department in Bridgeport, Conn, to "get closer to the hub of the corporate wheel." He hiked sales in the electric heating division 60% in four years, became assistant to Bridgeport Boss Charles E. Wilson. When "Electric Charlie" Wilson moved up to become executive vice president of G.E., Ralph Cordiner stepped into his shoes at Bridgeport. He was only 38.