Ideal Traits of a Chief Executive-eBook

7/23/2019 Ideal Traits of a Chief Executive-eBook

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2013 Ron R. Kelleher

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in and form or by any means

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or other

except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the

prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Mission Viejo, California, by Ron R. Kelleher

Cover artwork designed by:

Fabrizio Romano, Canada


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CONTENTS

Welcome! ............................................................................................................. 1

Corporate Reputations ...................................................................................... 3

What is the role of a CEO? ................................................................................ 5

Who is a CEO? .................................................................................................... 6

Why is this important? ...................................................................................... 7

From Shepherd to King ..................................................................................... 9

Personal Standards ..........................................................................................12

1. Commitment to God ...........................................................................12

2. Personal Integrity ................................................................................14

3. Avoid Evil .............................................................................................17

Public Standards ..............................................................................................19

1. Avoid the Gossips ...............................................................................19

2. Avoid the Prideful ...............................................................................22

3. Seek Godly Advisors ..........................................................................244. Avoid the Deceitful .............................................................................26

5. Demand Accountability .....................................................................28

Action Steps ......................................................................................................30

Summary ...........................................................................................................31

Thank-You .........................................................................................................33

About Ron Kelleher .........................................................................................34


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WELCOME!

I am so glad you have chosen to download this eBook, Ideal Traits of a

CEO or anyone else in a position of leadership!

There are lots of things you could be doing with your time right now,

but you have chosen to spend a few moments with me. Clearly you are

exceptional, bright, intuitive, and discerning. Did I leave anything out?

This eBook is based on a speech I gave to a group of business men and

women at a conference in the Philippines. It is a topic that is near and

dear to my heartand I suspect yours as wellor you wouldnt have

bothered to download it.I was employed by Procter & Gamble for 36-years in a variety of sales

and marketing management positions. Early in my career I became a

Christian and my life in business changed. Suddenly I was struggling

with questions of how to integrate my business life with what I was

learning about my faith.

Given my diverse experiences I could write about any number of

business issues. But I am not. As important as these issues may be, what

is most important to me today is leadership!

Failures of leadership have resulted in the collapse of businesses, and

sadly, many ministries. Failures of leadership, especially among

Christians, cause me great pain. Building strong Christian leaders is

extremely important to me, and why I wrote this eBook. Ideal Traits of a

Chief Executive or anyone else in a position of leadership!examines a

Biblical model for CEOs. You certainly dont have to be a CEO to


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benefit from this messageit is for everyone who is in a leadership

position, and for all those who aspire to leadership.

The Ideal Traits of a Chief Executive or anyone else in a position of

leadership!is based on Psalm 101 written by King David. In this Psalm

King David describes nine traits of a Godly leader. Well examine them

one at a time, and along the way I provide some examples from my own

career.

My passion is to equip, enable, and encourageevery Christian in the

marketplace to live out their faith in areas of their greatest influence. I

pray that God will bless you, and all your endeavors, as you keep Him

first in your life!

Now, lets get startedon the journey to be an Ideal CEO.


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CORPORATE REPUTATIONS

Pick up the business section of your local newspaper on any given day

and youre likely to read about a company in trouble because of the

ethical failings of senior management. I did a quick Google search andfound there are over 34 millionentries for corporate or business ethics.

A few years ago in the U.S. we had the Enron scandal. Executives

misstated earnings by hundreds of millions of dollars which caused the

collapse of a multi-billion dollar company. Tens of thousands of

investors lost everything, and thousands of employees lost not only

their jobs, but their entire retirement savings. Every year we have

numerous other similar examples of executives who break their trust

with their investors and consumers. Its not just a U.S. problem. These

things happen all over the world.

Companies have reputations just like people do. Anyone who has been

in business for a few years knows which companies in their industry are

honest and which companies are crooks.What kind of a reputation

does your company have? Do you know where that reputation comesfrom? Your corporate reputation is a reflection of the corporate culture

which is shaped by the leaders of the company, starting with the CEO.

Jesus tells us very clearly that reputation comes from our leaders; a

student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like

his teacher(Luke 6:40).

The student is molded by the teacher, not the other way around. Soemployees are mostoften a reflection of their corporate teachers.


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Whether for good or for evil, employees reflect the training they receive.

Not only do they do what they have been taught, but in a few weeks or

months they become linked to the corporate culture that molds them for

their entire career.

Jesus goes on to say, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear

good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit(Luke 6:43-44).

Again, Jesus is reminding us that the employee is a reflection of the

corporate tree from which they grew. Employees tend to adapt to the

environment they are inif it is ethical they become or remain ethical,

and the reverse is also true.


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WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A CEO?

A CEO is both responsible for and accountable for the company. He or

she is also accountable to the community they serve, their investors, and

the consumers who buy their products or services.

o A CEO is a Leader who

o Sets Direction

o Establishes Goals

o Sets Priorities

o A CEO is Accountable for Bottom Line Results

o Sales

o Profit

o A CEO is Accountable for the Organizations Reputation

o

Good Reputation attracts good people

o Good Reputation retains good people

o A CEO is Accountable for livelihood of the organizations

members


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WHO IS A CEO?

Who is a CEO? Well certainly the person at the top of the organization

chart. But I tell you its more than that. I submit thatWEREAll CEOs!

o

Each of us sets direction.

o Each of us is responsible to deliver results.

o Each of us is responsible for maintaining a good reputation.

o Each of us has others that depend on us.

When I first started working at P&G as a salesman in our

Folgers Coffee division my boss took me aside one day to

give me some advice. He said, Pretend that you have

mortgaged everything you have and have invested it in the

Ron Kelleher Company and you are the CEOyou own

this company. Pretend that your job is to manage this

company selling as much product as you can. Pretend thatyour livelihood depends on it. Pretend that you must do

everything in your power every single day to do the best job

you can or your company will fail and you will lose all your

money. That, he said, is how you should think every day

when you get up to go to work. Even though you work for a

giant corporation you need to act like it is your own

business. Whether you are an entrepreneur, whether youwork for a small company, or even a giant like Procter &

Gambleyou need to think and act like a CEO every single day!


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WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

If you are at all like me, you prefer to think the best of people. But the

truth of the matter is we have all sinned and fallen short. The pressures

to perform and succeed in the business world sometimes cause peoplewho would normally never do anything improper to suddenly crash

and burn amidst tangled webs of lies and deceptions.

In my experience, there are three types of people based on their level of

moral development: the relativist, the conventionalist, and the

principlist.

The relativistbehaves in ways that protect their own interests. Theseare the ends justify the means people. They will break company rules

and even laws if it benefits them. When something goes wrong it is

someone elses fault.

The conventionalistwill reflect the ethical standards of their employer

and peers. They want to conform to high standards but need guidance

because their own moral framework is not highly developed.

Theprinciplisthas a highly developed moral framework that informs

their behavior. They are not swayed by others when making of morality

or ethical decisions. The principled individual will face the

consequences of maintaining their moral code even in the face of

pressure from superiors and peers.

Perhaps as many as 10-20% of people fall into the relativist category,

and a similar number in the principled group, leaving the majority of60-80% of the workforce in the conventionalist group.


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Obviously, you would like to have everyone in your organization be a

principlist, but the fact is the best recruiting efforts in the world cannot

guarantee that result. You might think that ministries come close, and

perhaps they fare better than some secular organizations,but you dont

have to look too far to find ministries that have experienced major moralfailures. If you dont believe me, ask a pastor if they have ever had to

deal with moral failures in their organizations. Ive never found one yet!

As a leader you dont need the relativists in your organization at all. Be

diligent in your recruiting to screen them out. If you find you already

have a relativist in your midst do what you can to limit your legal

exposure, document their improprieties, consult counsel if needed, and

ultimately, remove them from your organization.

Like it or not the vast majority of the remaining workforceyours, your

customers, and your suppliers are conventionalists. It is a fact of

business life, and that is precisely why it is so important that you

establish your own moral framework, and another explicitly stated

moral framework for your organization.

The balance of this eBook is directed at understanding one example of amoral framework, that of King David taken from Psalm 101.


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FROM SHEPHERD TO KING

Some would tell you that the Bible is a nice book of stories, but it is old,

written long ago, and doesnt really relate to our lives today. Others

might tell you that its good for individuals and families, but has little orno relevance to companies and businesses in the 21stcentury. I couldnt

disagree more! I think the Bible and its teaching are as relevant today as

when they were first penned.

I hope after you finish reading this eBook youll agree the Bible has a lot

to say that is relevant to us as business people today.

Before we look at what King David wrote in detail lets review alittlehistory.

David, the son of Jesse, grew up tending his fathers flocks. When he

was 17 years old he visited his brothers who were in Sauls army

preparing to do battle with the Philistines. David demonstrated his faith

in God that day when he faced Goliath and killed him on the battlefield.

From there on David became

A valiant soldier, a great military strategist, an able administrator,

a diplomat, a composer, a musician, and eventually a powerful

king who united the tribes of Israel.

But David had his weaknesses. He took Bathsheba, another mans wife,

slept with her and then conspired to have her husband Uriah killed on

the battlefield. As is so often the case God shows us both the strengths

and the weaknesses of his people, and thank goodness, it makes me

realize that even if I make a mistake, or make poor choices I can still be


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used by God. In Davids case as long as he was faithful to God, and the

work that God had called him to do he prospered. But when he became

complacent, a little lazy, sin crept into his life. He suffered greatly as a

result. There are consequences to our decisions, but as David turned

back to God he turned his life around.

Now that we have some background lets take a look at what the wise

King David wrote regarding the important attributes of a leader:

1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.

2I will be careful to lead a blameless life when will you come to me? I

will walk in my house with blameless heart.

3I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate;

they will not cling to me.

4Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do

with evil.

5Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence;

whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.

6My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me;

he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

7No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks

falsely will stand in my presence.

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Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cutoff every evildoer from the city of the LORD.


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As I thought about these verses and really studied them it occurred to

me that they could be grouped into two categories of standards:

o Personal

o

Public

Personal standardsare those that David expected of himselfstandards

he intended to adhere to in his life.

Public standardsare those that David expected of the people who

served him in his court. For our terms today, these are the standards for

the employees and teammates in our company. David understood that

the king had a responsibility to the kingdom and the people that servedhim. For us leading companies, that would be our investors and the

consumers who buy our products.

Lets begin our examination of the Ideal Traits of a CEOby looking at

Kings Davids personal standards


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PERSONAL STANDARDS

David identified three characteristics that can be grouped into personal

standards:

Commitment to God,

Personal integrity, and

Avoidance of evil.

1.

COMMITMENT TO GOD

David made ten commitments with the phrase I willin this single

psalm. The first two appear in verse one, I will sing of your love and

justice; to you, OLord, I will sing praise.It is important to note that

Davids first and most important Personal Standard is commitment to

God.

David recognized Gods love and justice, and made a commitment topraise God. Love and justice are two sides of the same coin; there has

never been a man so bad that God could not love him, nor a man so

pure that he would not face judgment. Implicit in this relationship is

great compassion. For without love, judgment would surely be swift

and harsh.

As organizational leaders, we need to be committed first to God and

then to our work. This keeps our focus where it should be, and will

hopefully remind us that we should have compassion with our

organizations just as God does with us.


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A man in Tennessee has done some calculating of just how

far the Apostle Paul walked in his efforts to spread the

gospel. According to Acts, he took three missionaryjourneys. The second of these alone amounted to three

thousand miles, two-thousands of which would have been

on foot. The average daily distance of a traveler of that time

was about twenty miles. That doesnt sound like far in

todays world with big paved roads and good cars. Even in

Manila traffic it would take maybe an hour. But in Pauls

day 20 miles was at least a ten-hour day walking witheverything he owned strapped to his back sandals on his

feet, and not a smooth paved road in sight! A Roman Inn

would be located every 20 to 25 miles. And trust me these

were not like the Four Seasons or the Beverly Hills Peninsula

Hotel. These inns were unbelievably filthy, immoral, and

bug-infested. Paul traveled through snowy mountain passes

in the winter and traversed raging rivers during the springfloods. He walked through areas famous for harboring

robbers and criminals. He braved wild animals which

imperiled every traveler. Along the way Paul was

shipwrecked, flogged, beaten, and thrown in prison for

years. And to think he was walking not for his own health,

but for the spiritual wellbeing of others! Thats commitment

to God!


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2. PERSONAL INTEGRITY

The second Personal Standard David wrote about is that ofpersonal

integrity. He said,Iwill be careful to lead a blameless life -- when will you

come to me? I will walk in my house with a blameless heart.David declared

his intention to lead a blameless life; a life of integrity. But even so, herecognized that he needed Gods help.

David also understood that the need for integrity began in the home.

The use of the phrase, I will walkindicates that David understood that

leading a blameless life was not something to be achieved in a moment

of time, but something that was to be the focus of his entire life.

How many people do you know that deal with people one way at work,another at church, another in public, and another at home? Davids

verse does not say, I will be good at home and at church, but anything

goes at the office.It is critical that we lead our lives with integrity, and

that means all aspects of our lives. There is no such thing as business

ethics.There is only ethics.

A few years ago in the midst of a political campaign a politician was

accused of having an extramarital affair. He denied it vehemently. I told

my wife if this turns out to be true this man cannot be trusted. If he is

willing to violate his marital vows he will lie about anything.As the

campaign went on we found out that he had a number of inappropriate

relationships, and a number of questionable business deals relating to

abuse of power in his former office. It seemed like every day something

new was discovered. Amazingly he won the election and the stories

continued throughout his term of office. He had an inappropriate

relationship with a young woman who worked for him in office and


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again denied it for weeks that is until DNA proof was obtained. He

was our 42ndpresident: William Jefferson Clinton.

If a man will lie about a small thing you can bet he will lie about nearly

everything if it will advance his desires.

Leading a life of integrity is an everyday, every minute endeavor. Note

that there are no qualifiers to Davids statement. It does not say.

o I will be blameless only when things are going right,

o I will be blameless only when Im in a good mood, or

o I will be blameless only when my enemies arent attacking me.

Business gets complicated. If you want to simplify your life lead a life of

integrity.


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In my 34-years at P&G Ive had one boss who I felt was

lacking personal integrity. He was a big, robust charismatic

guy and most everyone liked him. But for some reason mywife Barbara was always suspicious of him. Ive come to

realize that women have a sixth sense about these things.

Anyway, one day my boss was coming to visit me and this

was in the days before cell phones. I called his hotel the

night before we were to meet to make arrangements for the

next morning. He hadnt checked in yet, so I called the office,

and his secretary told me he had left earlier in the day.Worried now that something might have happened to him I

called his home, and his wife also told me that he had left

early in the day. Well it turns out he had spent the afternoon

and night with one of his employees, a young woman with

whom he was having an affair.

A few months later we were having a sales contest and one

of my salesmen was winning the contest. I was very proud

of him. But this same boss didnt want my man to win so he

changed the rules of the contest to favor another salesman.

When my man continued to win, my boss changed the rules

again so his man would win. Needless to say I was furious!

We didnt get along well after that. Eventually the company

found out about his indiscretions, and some other things,

and gave him an opportunity to pursue a different career!


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3. AVOID EVIL

The third Personal Standard David set out was to avoid evil. David

understood the ease with which a king could fall into temptation: Iwill

set before my eyes no vile thing.The more you can do to avoid the

temptation of doing wrong, the less you will be tempted.

David continues, saying, The deeds of faithless men Ihate; they will not

cling to me. Men of a perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to

do with evil.He knew that men with impure hearts and false motives

were dangerous for the king who wanted to live a life of integrity, and

he planned to avoid association with them.

Likewise, as corporate leaders, we should avoid placing ourselves inpositions that may lead to temptation as well as avoid working with

people who are not committed to living their lives with integrity.

Our family has attended Saddleback Valley Community Church for

many years. You may have heard of it. Our senior pastor, Rick Warren,

has written some books that have been pretty good sellers, like Purpose

Driven Life. Anyway, Rick realized that for his pastoral staff it is very

important to do everything they can not only to avoid temptation, but

even the appearance of evil. In the office, a man does not have a meeting

with a woman by themselves unless the door is open. A staff member

doesnt travel in a car with a woman who is not his wife by

themselveseven the mile from the church sanctuary down to the

office! Just two examples of several safeguards put in place to reduce

temptation!


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The higher up you are the more people around who would like to see

you fail. Dont give them any ammunition. Do everything you can to

avoid temptation in your own life, and surround yourself with people of

integrity.

Some years ago as my work required more and more travel I

could sense concern on my wifes partafter all well over

half of our employees were women and I was traveling out

of town with them sometimes for several days at a time. We

agreed that I would do everything I could to avoid even the

appearance of evil and situations that might lead to

temptation. I do not spend after-hours time with a woman

unless we are in a group. No exceptions! I always call my

wife at the end of the dayno matter what time it is so she

knows that I am safe and sound in my own room.

People in our organization have come to accept and respect

my rules for conduct on the road. Its a simple thing,but its

an important illustration of the steps one must go to avoid

temptation.


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PUBLIC STANDARDS

David describes four standards of conduct for people serving in his

court:

To avoid the gossips,

To avoid the prideful,

To seek out Godly advisors,

To avoid the deceitful, and

To demand accountability.

Since David had already proclaimed his personal standards, he focused

these public standards on the people who worked for him. In our terms

today, these would be the standards for our peers and employees.

1. AVOID THE GOSSIPS

The first of the Public Standards is to avoid the gossips. David decided

that gossips would not be tolerated in his court; Whoever slanders his

neighbor in secret, him I will put to silence.The King James version reads

even stronger; Whosoever privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off.

The word used for cut offalso means to destroy.So when David

said he planned to silence the gossips he was very serious.


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There is a Spanish proverb that translates, Whoever gossips to you will

gossip about you.How many times have you found people speculating

in the latest office gossip? How many times has someone come into your

office with gossip? How many times have you read a memo that was

part fact and part gossip? Davids plan was to silence the gossipsthrough intolerance. If people realize that the boss is outspokenly

intolerant of gossip most people will keep their tongues.

Another solution is to leave your door open to squelch rumors. If you

invite people to bring rumors to you for direct answers rather than

spread the gossip, you will squelch most of the gossip.

There was a peasant with a troubled conscience who went to a monk foradvice. He said that he had circulated a vile story about a friend, only to

find out the story was not true. If you want to make peace with your

conscience,said the monk, you must fill a bag with chicken feathers,

go to every dooryard in the village, and drop at each of them one fluffy

feather.The peasant did as he was told. Then he returned to the monk

and announced he had done penance for his folly. Not yet,replied the

monk, Take your bag, make the rounds again and gather up everyfeather that you have dropped.But the wind must have blown them

all away,said the peasant. Words are like feathers in the wind, once

uttered no matter how hard you try, you can never get them back.


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At P&G we have gone through several restructurings over

the years as we have purchased other companies and

streamlined some of our businesses. These restructurings arealways difficult stressful times for employees because of the

unknown. Will I be asked to move to a new city? Will I be

asked to take on a new role? Will I even have a job?

When so many questions arise it is inevitable that gossips

will start their tongues wagging and the rumors will start

flying. I am proud of the way our company handles these

situations. We tell people we will tell you what we can as

soon as we can. People are invited to ask their managers any

questions they want even if we dont know all the answers

right away we will be as honest and straightforward as

possible. Importantly we work really hard to stop the

gossips and the rumor mill from even getting started.

Nothing productive comes from gossip. Its a complete

waste of time and energy that is better focused on the

business!


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2. AVOID THE PRIDEFUL

The second of the Public Standards is to avoid the prideful. The

conceited and prideful could not expect much patience in Davids court:

whoever has haughty eyes, and a proud heart, him I will not endure.

Conceited and prideful people are prone to doing what is expedient, not

for doing what is right. They look for ways to be first on everyone elses

priority list. They look for ways to be first in line. They look for ways to

be first at the check-out counter. They look for ways to be first out of the

parking lot. They look for ways to win the game of first come, first

served.

In the corporation, these people take credit for other peoples work,cover up mistakes, and misrepresent situations to skew decisions that

will favor themselves.


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Some years ago I had a co-worker who I got along with well

enough, but I always was a little suspicious of his motives.

The longer I worked around him the more I noticed that hewas quick to assert himself in successful projects that had

high visibility. Often in meetings he would take credit for

other peoples work making it seem like he had done it all

when in fact he had done little or none of the real work.

Once I learned that he had been at a management meeting

across the country and taken complete credit for a project

my team had completedone in which he had noinvolvement whatsoever! If a project was doing poorly he

was the one who would either distance himself from the

project or talk to management about all the failures of the

rest of the team. He reminded me of a peacockeverything

he did was designed to make himself look good and it didnt

matter at all if that came at someone elses expense.


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3. SEEK GODLY ADVISORS

The third Public Standard is to seek Godly advisors. Being king required

David to make decisions every day. The peoples welfare, and their very

lives depended on the decisions he made. David wisely surrounded

himself with Godly advisors he could trust: My eyes will be on thefaithful in the land, that they may dwell with me, he whose walk is blameless

will minister to me.

The decisions you make every day may not impact a whole country. But

to make the best decisions possible you need the most accurate

information available coming from sources you can really trust.

Executives at every level are dependent on the information they receiveto make decisionsfrom small to largeevery day. In every position I

have been in I have engaged Godly men and women whom I can trust

to help me. Even though we are now in different jobs I can still rely on

this group of trusted ex-coworkers to be honest with meeven if it

hurts!


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In my entire career with P&G I have been honored by

several of our senior managers who have taken me in as a

trusted advisor. They have made a point of saying that theytrust me because I have a reputation for telling the

unvarnished truth. They know that where they are in the

executive offices people tend to tell them what they want to

hear. Ill never forget when after some candid discussion one

of our senior managers put his arm around me as we walked

out of a meeting and whispered, Please, I dont know a lot

about this new business yet. So if it looks like we are goingto do something stupid you get on the phone and call me

directly!He had only been in this new role a few weeks, but

already he had a sense that people were telling him what

they thought he wanted to hear to please him. What he

needed was advice from people he could trust!


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4. AVOID THE DECEITFUL

The fourth Public Standard is to avoid the deceitful. Abraham Lincoln,

our 16thpresident, said No man has a good enough memory to be a

successful liar.

David set out a very strict standard for honesty: No one who practices

deceit will dwell in my house, no one who speaks falsely will stand in my

presence.He intended not to allow people who were known liars to

stand before him or work in his court.

Great discernment is needed to tell the honest from the dishonest. When

you know someone is dishonest they should have no place in your

company.

David summarized his thoughts on public standards saying that he

would surround himself with the faithful and the blameless: My eyes

will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me, he whose walk

is blameless will minister to me.

As CEOs, or as leaders, we would be wise to follow Davids example by

surrounding ourselves with faithful employees who subscribe to the

same code of ethics we do.


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Back in 1985 a young sales manager eager to set himself

apart from his peers was determined to succeed. In those

days we regularly had promotion allowances to help launchnew products. He overstated the allowance to a customer to

get the customer to buy the product, but in doing so he

overspent his budget. To dig himself out of the financial hole

he created he used money from the next product launch to

pay bills from the prior launch. Within 18 months his

promotion allowance budget was over a quarter of a million

dollars in the red. About that time we stopped introducingnew products on a regular basis and he had no way to cover

his deceitful practices. To avoid getting caught he left the

company and his mess behind. Sadly, but not too surprising

he did the very same thing at the next company where he

worked.


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5. DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY

The last of Davids Public Standards is to demand accountability. David

clearly understood his responsibility as a ruler to the city and in this

case, to the nation Israel: Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked

in the land, I will cut off every evil doer from the city of the Lord.Davidplanned to get up early every day to ferret out the wicked and cut them

off from the city. He realized maintaining his kingdom relied on a

continuous cleansing action. You cannot clean out the wickedonceit

is an ongoing effort! He also realized that cleansing the wicked from his

kingdom was ultimately his responsibility.

The position of leadership gives us the additional responsibility of using

our positions to enhance the development of society. As Christians we

are commanded to be salt and light(Matthew 5:13-16) so we must live

lives that demonstrates how Christ works in our lives.

Like David, we are responsible for the actions of our employees. But

arent we also responsible to the society at large which makes the

operation of our companies possible? Accountability is both a personal

and public responsibility.

This is what being accountable to the public we serve as business people

is all aboutwe must be responsible, and we must be accountable. We

must not violate the publics trust in us as business men and women.


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Many years ago when we had salesman calling on

individual grocery stores we had one cantankerous old

grocer who was particularly disagreeable and suspicious ofall the salesmen that called on him. At the end of a long day

one of our salesmen was working late and called on this

grocer. The grocer was convinced he wasnt getting the same

deal as someone else down the street and to teach our

salesman a lesson he locked him in the basement of the store

and left for the day. The next morning when our salesman

called in and reported what happened it took only a matterof hours before we rallied all our salespeople in the area

they were sent to the store and we bought up every one of

our products and we stopped calling on him. We could not,

as a company, tolerate dealing with someone who would

treat one of our employees so dishonorably!


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ACTION STEPS

You cannot insulate yourself from the moral relativists, or even the

conventionalists who might put you and your business at risk. You can

however, develop your own personal moral framework, and a code ofethics for your organization.

If you are in a large organization there is probably already a written

code of ethics that is enforced via a policy manual. If you are the CEO or

in senior management make sure that these documents are up to date

and that senior leadership enforces the code rigorously. Most large

companies have an ethics committee that reports to senior management.

It is imperative that this committee have strong and open relationships

not only with senior management but with the entire organization.

As an individual, you need to have a personal ethical framework. It

doesnt matter if you are a part of a multi-national organization or you

are a solo-preneur. Developing your own written ethical framework will

force you to think through what is important to you as an individual

and as a leader, and most important, how you will conduct yourself inthe marketplace.


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SUMMARY

Id like to summarize what weve taken thus far from King David.

Psalm 101 and each of the standards weve discussed is focused on

action. The word willis used sixteen times. In fifteen of the uses,David made a commitment to a standard of behavior that he expected of

himself as leader of the nation Israel. That is why this psalm is

sometimes referred to as the royal code of ethics.

Summarizing this code of ethics:

o We need to keep our focus on God, and remember that God

provides us a unique balance of love and judgment that shouldbe reflected in our relationships with others.

o We need to live lives of integrity and this means at home, at

work, and in public.

o We need to avoid evil and putting ourselves in a position to be

tempted or being around those we know are evil.

o

We need to avoid the gossips, the prideful, and the deceitful.

Employees with these characteristics should be removed from

positions of authority. Over the long haul they do more damage

than they do good.

o We need to remember that we are accountable to society and

we should endeavor to leave this world a better place for our

having been here.


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I want to close with another passage written by King David:

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water. . . . (Psalm 1:1-3)

If you study the Psalms youll find these same ideals repeated over andover. This is Gods way of telling us how important this is.

It is my hope that having read this eBook you now agree with me that

there is much to be gathered from the Bible, which applies to the

business we do every day. Its really the best instruction manual we

could hope to have.

In closing our topic on the Ideal Traits of a CEO or anyone else in a positionof leadershipId like to pose three questions to you:

o Do you want to be blessed by God?

o Do you want your business to be blessed by God?

o Do you want your company to be known in the community as a

blessing to the people you serve?

If you answered yes to these questions, remember you cannot be the

ideal CEO without Gods power in your life!


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THANK-YOU

Thank-you for downloading and reading my eBook! I pray that God

will bless you, and all your endeavors, as you keep Him first in your

life!

If I can answer any questions, or be of help, please reach out to me. We

are all members of the same body!

Now before you go, would you do me a favor?Please visit my

Facebook page, like it, and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Email:[email protected]

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ronrkelleher

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/ronkelleher/

In His Service,
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/ronrkelleherhttps://www.facebook.com/ronrkelleherhttps://www.facebook.com/ronrkelleherhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/ronkelleher/http://www.linkedin.com/in/ronkelleher/http://www.linkedin.com/in/ronkelleher/http://www.linkedin.com/in/ronkelleher/https://www.facebook.com/ronrkellehermailto:[email protected]


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ABOUT RON KELLEHER

I began my professional career working for

Procter & Gamble in June 1973. I started in

our sales department, and transitionedinto marketing in 1987. In my 36-year

career I was privileged to participate in the

launch of dozens of new and innovative

products that impacted the lives of

consumers around the world. I worked on

the launch of products like ThermaCare,

Prilosec, Crest, Pampers, Tide, Pantene, Oilof Olay, and many others. The last four

years of my P&G career I was responsible

for ethnic marketing targeted to our Hispanic and African American

consumers who shop in our grocery stores in the U.S.

Working for P&G was an incredible experience. I was truly blessed to

work with some brilliant, creative minds. In 2009 a corporate restructure

caused me to think about what I was doing, and as much I loved my

work, I couldnt escape the feeling that God was calling me to a new

adventure. I retired in June 2009, and started seminary at Talbot

Theological in the fall. I graduated in May of 2012, and began my

ministry career as Chief Operations Officer of Guidelines International

Ministries.

Ideal Traits of a Chief Executive-eBook

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