For the fifth year running, Cisco's John Chambers grabs the top spot in our annual Powerometer survey, a reader ranking of CEO power. This year, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, Intel's Craig Barrett, IBM's Sam Palmisano and HP's Carly Fiorina fill out the remaining Top 5 slots, according to 250 readers surveyed.

Palmisano's relative power has increased this year, as has Fiorina's. While respondents lowered both CEO's Power Ratings, Palmisano inched up to No. 4 this year, while Fiorina scored high enough to climb into the Top 5. These two leaders' chameleon-like abilities to adapt to changing industry dynamics are serving their respective companies well, respondents say. (See How we did it.)

SBC's Ed Whitacre, 3Com's Bruce Claflin and Sun's Scott McNealy also made significant moves up the rankings this year. Whitacre earns credit for leading SBC to big deals, such as a landmark managed VoIP services contract with Ford Motor and a Wi-Fi hot-spot agreement with UPS for its retail outlets. Claflin gets applause for combating Cisco on price, and McNealy wins credit for Sun's steady stream of new products.

Three CEOs slid down by three or more ranks in 2004: EMC's Joe Tucci, AT&T's David Dorman and Verizon's Ivan Seidenberg. Tucci's slide reflects reader uncertainty about the company's strategic direction. Dorman's fall results from continued uncertainty over AT&T's long-term viability. Seidenberg's drop was Whitacre's gain - as the two nearly swapped positions from last year.

Three new CEOs graced the survey this year, each achieving the same rank as their companies did in our related Powerometer survey of vendor power. Dell's Kevin Rollins, new to the survey, landed at No. 8 compared with the No. 4 rank held by his predecessor, Michael Dell, in 2003. Symantec's John Thompson entered at No. 15, while McAfee's George Samunek made his debut at No. 18.

2004 Power Rating Using a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 representing the highest level, 250 readers crowned Cisco CEO John Chambers as the most powerful vendor CEO.
Rank 2004 2003 CEO Power Rating % change 2004 2003 1 1 Cisco’s John Chambers 67.4 69.7 -3.3% 2 2 Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer 63.0 68.5 -8.0% 3 3 Intel’s Craig Barrett 57.0 59.4 -4.0% 4 5 IBM’s Sam Palmisano 55.1 57.9 -4.8% 5 7 HP’s Carly Fiorina 50.7 52.6 -3.6% 6 6 Oracle’s Larry Ellison 50.2 53.5 -6.1% 7 9 Sun’s Scott McNealy 49.6 49.0 1.2% 8 N/A* Dell’s Kevin Rollins 48.1 N/A N/A 9 12 3Com’s Bruce Claflin 47.3 44.7 5.8% 10 14 SBC’s Ed Whitacre 46.9 43.3 8.3% 11 8 AT&T’s David Dorman 46.4 50.2 -7.5% 12 N/A** Nortel’s Bill Owens 45.9 N/A N/A 13 10 Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg 45.6 47.0 -2.9% 14 15 Sprint’s Gary Forsee 44.1 42.2 4.5% 15 N/A*** Symantec’s John Thompson 43.6 N/A N/A 16 N/A**** Computer Associates’ Kenneth Cron 42.5 N/A N/A 17 13 EMC’s Joe Tucci 42.2 43.9 -3.8% 18 N/A*** McAfee’s George Samenuk 41.8 N/A N/A 19 19 Novell’s Jack Messman 41.7 37.4 11.5% 20 20 MCI’s Michael Capellas 41.0 36.0 13.9% N/A: New to the survey in 2004. *Michael Dell, former CEO, ranked No. 4 in 2003. **Frank Dunn, former CEO, ranked No. 11 in 2003. ***This is the first year in the survey for the company and its CEO. ****Sanjay Kumar, former CEO, ranked No. 16 in 2003. Since the survey, John Swainson has been appointed CEO.
Power gains Gutsy maneuvering accounts for the uptick in Power Rating for these six CEOs. CEO Rank 2004 2003 Increase SBC’s Ed Whitacre 10 14 4 3Com’s Bruce Claflin 9 12 3 HP’s Carly Fiorina 5 7 2 Sun’s Scott McNealy 7 9 12 IBM’s Sam Palmisano 4 5 1 Sprint’s Gary Forsee 14 15 1	Power losses These four CEOs have slid down the ranks as network executives struggle to understand their product/service strategies. CEO Rank 2004 2003 Decrease EMC’s Joe Tucci 17 13 4 AT&T’s David Dorman 11 8 3 Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg 13 10 3 Nortel’s Bill Owens 12 11 1
Of good repute When your organization is selecting strategic vendors, how important is the CEO’s reputation? SOURCE: NETWORK WORLD