"It's a rarity—in fact, quite possibly a first," said the founder of the industry monitor. Cato praised the CEO of Atlanta-based Southern Co., A. W. (Bill) Dahlberg, as having "the best sense of humor of any chief executive." He said Dahlberg's selection was "a no-brainer: He has no competition." Cato said most annuals are taken "terribly, terribly seriously" by the companies that produce them. But not by the Southern chief executive, who posed for the cover shot clad, anonymously, in a space-ageish silver suit, "which covered him from head to toe." His identity was revealed on Pg. 1 of the report, the smiling CEO doffing his silver head covering.

Cato in his May issue also hailed letters to shareholders by Dahlberg and IBM's Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., as among the year's best—"far superior than those of the Welch- Buffett-Gates troika." He referred of course to GE's Jack Welch, famed investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft's Bill Gates, whose letters often are praised by such publications as Chief Executive—for which Cato is a contributing editor.

He said Dahlberg's annual report a year prior was one of the world's 10 best, selections that have appeared each year for the last 14 in Chief Executive. He said the 1997 Southern report "appears destined to repeat" among the world's 10 best.