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 enlarge | Author: Ben W., Jr. Heineman
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $10.72
You Save: $7.28 (40%)
New (24) from $10.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 46560
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 125
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 4.8 x 1
ISBN: 1422122956
Dewey Decimal Number: 174.4
EAN: 9781422122952
ASIN: 1422122956
Publication Date: May 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-6 of 6 | | « PREV | | |
 What is the proper role of business? May 14, 2008
This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none is a "memo" nor were any of them written solely for a CEO. In this volume, Ben W. Heineman Jr. affirms the need to combine high performance with high integrity for a number of reasons. For example, that will "protect the corporation and its stakeholders from catastrophic train wrecks." However, Heineman adds, such a combination "isn't just about avoiding evils. It also has strong, affirmative benefits for the company: internally, in the marketplace, and in the broader society. Ultimately, it creates the fundamental trust of shareholders, creditors, employees, recruits, customers, suppliers, regulators, communities, and the pubic at large." I am curious to know why Heineman did not also include competitors, especially now when so many former competitors are forging strategic alliance. Surely none would be consummated without trust as well as respect.
He urges C-level executives (including but not limited to CEOs) to "drive a robust performance-with-integrity culture deep into the company: through powerful leadership that voices the vision and the values and through effective management that builds the integrity principles and practices [at all levels and in all areas of] business operations." It is no coincidence that on Fortune's annual lists, year after year, many of those ranked among the most valuable are also ranked among the most highly admired.
Some of the most valuable material in this book is provided in Part II as Heineman examines a series of core principles and practices that must serve as the foundation of the culture he envisions. CEOs must be wholly committed to demonstrating as well as advocating integrity in all systems and practices; manage performance with integrity as a business process; adopt global ethical standards; take full advantage of "early-warning systems" to stay ahead of global trends and expectations; view the CFO (or equivalent) and general counsel as full partners as well as fiduciary guardians; encourage and nourish employee awareness, knowledge, and commitment; give them a "voice" for their grievances, concerns, aspirations, observations, and suggestions; and recognize and appropriately reward "performance with integrity." A leader's performance should be measured in terms of the extent to which she or he fulfills these expectations.
In the final chapter, Heineman shares his deep belief that "the governance debate about corporate performance with integrity must shift [from an emphasis on members of a governing board] and focus primarily (although not exclusively) on the `third dimension' of governance: the role of the CEO and top leadership in governing the company and driving the principles and practices necessary to fuse the twin goals of capitalism. Neither the shareholders (the first dimension) nor the board (the second dimension) can do it." In essence, Heineman challenges CEOs and other senior executives to provide leadership and management that combine high performance with high integrity so that the same can said of the organization they are privileged to serve.
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