High Performance with High Integrity

Description

The Memo to the CEO series offers short, practical books from world-class thinkers on the burning issues at the top of executives' agendas. Authored by the foremost experts in the field and published under the Harvard brand, these books are different from traditional books in the business category because they are written in the form of a "memo"and only 100 pages in length. Highly readable, engaging, and solutions-oriented, these "memos" provide senior level executives and decision makers with provocative insights and top advice on topics of special urgency pertaining to business, organisations, and organisational life. Timely and authoritative, Memo to the CEO books are ideal for time-starved and information-overloaded executives who seek the best advice from the best thinkers. GE's long-time general counsel, Ben Heineman, highlights how General Electric and other top organisations have built cultures that fuse high performance with high integrity through a series of core principles and key practices designed to ensure that employees do the right thing. Changes in laws, regulations, regulators, stakeholder expectations, and media scrutiny over the past decade can make a major integrity miss catastrophic. Fines and penalties, for example, now are counted in hundreds of millions of dollars compared to single or double digit millions a decade ago--or, worse, a company can simply implode. As a top advisor to both Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt, Heineman (now a distinguished fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School) offers a detailed analysis of what GE did right--and not so perfectly--and argues that governance reforms focusing almost exclusively on corporate boards have missed the point. The most important governance question, and the real imperative for companies, is how the CEO and other company leaders build an organic culture that fuses high performance with high integrity at all levels of the company--in a challenging, fast-changing, and, at times, hostile world. The book offers a stark picture of the current environment; provides a framework of core principles and practices; gives wise advice on specific problems and challenges; and articulates a fresh new view of boards and governance for the 21st century. This book will serve as both a wake-up call and blueprint for companies around the world on how to avoid integrity landmines and achieve enduring success in a transparent and volatile world.

CT-based Ben Heineman was GE's Senior Vice President-General Counsel for nearly 18 years. He is currently a senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Law School's Program on the Legal Profession. Heineman is a former Rhodes Scholar, editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and Supreme Court law clerk. He has held senior positions in private law firms and in the federal government. He has written several professional books. Heineman contributes regularly to American Lawyer, HBR, Foreign Affairs, and other high-profile publications; he is well-known to the international financial press. He addresses legal, financial, and corporate groups frequently around the world.