Sunbeam's Chief Tells How He Kept Afloat Amid Crisis

By JOANN S. LUBLIN


Jerry W. Levin never expected to run Sunbeam for long. Instead,
his temporary CEO gig has turned into a four-year pressure cooker
 full of seven-day weeks and sleepless nights.

The 58-year-old executive took command of the Boca Raton, Fla.,
consumer-products maker in June 1998 after it fired his predecessor,
Albert J. Dunlap. Mr. Levin is a veteran lieutenant of billionaire
financier Ronald O. Perelman, who became a major shareholder after
Sunbeam bought his controlling stake in Coleman, a camping-goods company.

Lessons in Leadership


Under Mr. Levin's command, Sunbeam uncovered massive accounting fraud,
 restated 18 months of earnings and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The company survived -- and may soon emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.
 A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in New York is set to hold a confirmation
hearing Nov. 20 on Sunbeam's amended reorganization plan.
If approved, Mr. Levin would remain chairman and CEO.

How can you minimize stress and potential career damage
 when you manage a major corporate crisis? It's an increasingly
 common problem for top executives nowadays.
Mr. Levin shared his insights during a recent interview
at Sunbeam's New York office. Excerpts follow:

WALL STREET JOURNAL: It's taking longer to emerge from bankruptcy
than the six to nine months you predicted when Sunbeam filed early
 last year. Why?

Mr. Levin: We really did not anticipate the magnitude or the duration
of the downturn. In 2001, as in 2000, we missed our income forecasts.
 In 2002, the economy stopped hurting us.

WSJ: How hard has it been to negotiate with Sunbeam's
creditors during the bankruptcy?

Mr. Levin: It is a very different environment than I have ever faced before.

When you get in a room of people involved in this Chapter 11 process,
nobody trusts each other. The aggravating part is when it starts getting
 personal. I am constantly questioned about things. I am learning to
live with it. I can't say I like it.

That lack of trust makes it painfully slow and difficult to work through
problems. Things I can do in a day outside of Chapter 11 will take me
a month inside Chapter 11. It requires an incredible amount of patience
and understanding.

When I get really aggravated with the creditors, I sit back and say:
"OK, you know they are a bank. All they want is their money back."
 From that perspective, what they are asking makes sense.
It is not what I want. I want to grow the company.

Our lenders have learned I will tell them exactly how it is.
I expect my employees to do the same thing. Tell me everything
 that is on their minds. We have a policy here:
Sucking up to the CEO is a really dumb thing to do. If somebody
 sees somebody trying to appease me or make me happy,
they start laughing. They pick on the individual. It could go on for months.

There is not a soul here in senior management who isn't
afraid to call me an idiot on any particular issue.

WSJ: How do you handle the personal pressures of leading a troubled company?

Mr. Levin: I just don't get stressed out. In the beginning,
we were hit from every conceivable direction.
 Every government agency decided they might as well investigate us.

Staying healthy is a challenge. I need to be fit for this
because the hours are long and you are juggling so
many balls at once. Don't skip your exercise because
 you have a meeting.

Every morning, I get up and do a series of sit-ups,
stretching. I work out with dumbbells, a lightweight workout.
 I try to mix that with running two or three times a week for
two to three miles a day. Not very fast miles.

When I get away, I hike. We have a place in Tucson where
 mountain hiking is pretty rigorous.

WSJ: Many executives with the toughest jobs feel they must
work hard constantly.

Mr. Levin: You won't be able to. The last thing you need to do
 is develop a heart condition and high blood pressure.
I watch my blood pressure all the time. It doesn't go up.

WSJ: Even after a creditors' meeting?

Mr. Levin: Then, a little bit. But it will go right back down.

WSJ: Did you have trouble sleeping during your initial months
at Sunbeam when you worked virtually nonstop?

Mr. Levin: I had so many things going on, it was really difficult
to turn them off and go to sleep. I found myself glazing over
during long meetings. It was embarrassing. I would look up
and everybody was staring at me [and] laughing at me for
 falling asleep in the meetings.

I went back to drinking coffee in the afternoon.
It solved the problem.

WSJ: Why have you stuck with this CEO job for so long?

Mr. Levin: There are days where I ask myself that same question.
 But by and large, everyone has really done a lot to help
Sunbeam through all this. It doesn't seem fair just to walk away.
 We are so close to victory that I am absolutely going to see it through.