CEO’s, Business Ethics, and Suicide…
In my second year MBA strategy class, we were conversing (and arguing like VP’s around the boardroom table) about the first and most important decision when building a strategic plan for a business.
Before a manager commits to a major strategic direction, he/she must first determine:
A) how many strategic options are available
B) whether the decision is practical
C) whether the decision is ethical
D) how best to measure the strategic outcomes
E) how it will affect his/her incentive compensation
I have always been trained that strategy is only productive if it’s measurable. A strategy that can not be quantified is no good because there’s no way to measure progress. However, I stand corrected… again!
I put up my hand and said just that. My professor, who has years of experience as a strategy consultant, asked me to google the number of CEO’s that have committed suicide. So I did just that. I found that David Kellermann (Freddie Mac) is the most recent high profile CEO to (potentially) commit suicide. When I googled “CEO commit suicide,” the second hit was a Chinese CEO that committed suicide because of a toy recall followed by an Israeli CEO from capital markets. Side note, Bernie Madoff’s son (not a CEO) committing suicide as well…
Looks like my professor may have a valid argument: Many CEO’s commit suicide. About 90% of their job is strategic in nature and they are constantly faced with decisions that may challenge their ethics. CEO’s choose to take their own lives because they can not live with the damage they have caused from unethical strategic decisions.
Very few people get attacked by sharks. However, when such a rare event happens it’s on the front page of every newspaper/website/blog. Although this seems similar to someone getting bit by a shark, I can see the importance of first considering ethics when determining the strategic direction of your company.
Professor – 1 Geoff – 0
