Jack Stahl has all of the right qualifications to write his book, Lessons  on Leadership -- The Seven Fundamental Management Skills for Leaders at All  Levels (Kaplan). During his 22-year at mega-brand marketer Coca Cola, Stahl held many executive positions including chief financial officer, chief operating office, and president. In 2002, he left Coca Cola to become CEO of Revlon, a well-known consumer company struggling to deal with a $1.76 billion debt load. For five years, he led the company through a critical period of strengthening Revlon's market share, profitability, balance sheet, and brand awareness.

Stahl left Revlon in 2006. He has lectured at HEC, an elite graduate business  school in Paris, and at New York University.

Enterpriseleadership.org recently sat down with Stahl to talk about his book and his leadership experiences at both Coca Cola and Revlon. Here's what he had to say:

EL: You took Revlon through a difficult financial phase. Why did you  decide to leave?

JS: I joined Revlon to help the executive team stabilize the company's financial situation and to accelerate the growth of the Revlon brands. We completed both goals. After five years, I had accomplished most of the things I set out to do. I also brought in about six people, one of whom was very well prepared to take the company to the next level. I was fortunate to have had a good leader behind me. I wanted to finish my book, to teach, and to serve on some corporate boards. It just seemed like the right time to leave.

EL: As a member of the executive team at both Coca Cola and Revlon, what type of a governance model did you have for getting strategic initiatives done?

JS: Companies undergoing a lot of fast-moving changes, such as Coca Cola and Revlon, need to have senior people who understand every aspect of the business. We had an executive operating committee that focused on, not only the strategic direction of the company, but at all the details of important projects. This committee met weekly for a minimum of three hours, and we dug deep into key projects at every level possible. Our important decisions could change the environment. I would call it a very active, hands-on approach by a team of very experienced people. We expected other leaders in the organization to follow that same model, so they would be actively involved in projects they were accountable for.

EL: How did you drive innovation at either company?

JS: In both cases, driving innovation has to start by hiring people who are  intellectually curious, who are open to new ideas both from inside and outside the company, and who are aware of what's happening in the world as a whole.

You also need to do good market research focused on the needs of your customers. For example, at Coca Cola, we studied the lifestyle habits of consumers from the time they got up to the time they went to sleep. This research provided us with a good understanding of their beverage needs, which we translated into beverage marketing opportunities for us. Because people are spending so much time in their car, we created a resealable package that would fit in a cup holder.

EL: In your book, you talk about how Coca Cola helped one customer who was going public and another customer become more competitive. What benefit did Coca Cola get from doing this?

JS: At Coca Cola, we felt that selling beverages was an important aspect of our customer relationship. If we had knowledge or expertise that could help a customer's business, then we wanted to offer it. We followed the same philosophy at Revlon. By exposing customers to different types of functions, you can bring them a lot of value that goes beyond traditional approaches.

EL: You learned a lot from Robert Goizueta, the former CEO of Coca Coca Cola. In your book, you say that "he knew not only how to assess employees, but also the positions they inherited." What advice would he give to CIOs who want to move into higher C-level roles?

JS: Although CIOs focus on information technology, they use many leadership skill sets, which include identifying problems and opportunities, planning against these, executing and getting things done, and communicating and developing an organization. These same skill sets are important in any executive leadership role -- whether it's as a CEO or the director of a business unit. My advice would be to remember those skills that allowed you to be successful in the world of information. Many of those same skills translate over to general management.

EL: In your book, you talk about information reporting tools, links to strategic plans, and health of the organization. Did you do anything with the Balanced Scorecard or Six Sigma at either company?

JS: Although I've never worked directly with those best practices, I'm quite familiar with their methodology. In the book, I outline some of the key approaches we used to manage very large projects and work efforts. You first need to start with having a clear set of goals and objectives, aligning resources and people around those goals, and building very detailed timetables. As you go about tracking execution, you can't make any assumptions. You always need to follow up and to ensure that people are communicating when they see issues and land mines. They need to bring up issues and problems so they can get solved. You can argue that these are fairly basic models and approaches. They certainly worked inside of Coca Cola as we developed products, and took companies public.

EL: Besides the former CEO of Coca Cola, are there any management  practitioners who have become your role models?

JS: I like author and management consultant Rom Chiaran, who has written numerous books on leadership topics. He takes a very thoughtful approach to the topics he covers. I talk to him periodically. He's provided good coaching for me. I also like the work of Stephen Covey, who wrote the Seven  Habits of Highly Effective People. His book is terrific.

EL: Have you worked a lot with IT people? What areas of IT needed  improvement?

JS: When I was the COO at Coca Cola, I was responsible for IT. I needed my IT staff to focus on being able to understand the business need and then to help the business partners make resource choices. The days of IT professionals encouraging their business clients to pull off service and IT resources as they wanted don't exist anymore. We're in an era of prioritization and focus. The most effective IT professionals help their business clients and partners prioritize and make those important choices about what areas are critical to the business.

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Elizabeth M. Ferrarini is a free-lance technology and  business writer from Boston, Massachusetts. Reach her at elizabethferrarini@yahoo.com.