From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership

INTRODUCTION: DOING THE RIGHT THING

Leadership is a journey with many twists and turns, providing many interesting learning opportunities. For me, one of the unexpected developments occurred in 2004 when, at age forty-nine, I left Baxter International, the multibillion-dollar global health care corporation where I had worked for more than twenty years, the last six serving as chairman and CEO. Closing that chapter in my life opened another one that led to a deeper exploration of leadership and, ultimately, this book.

Shortly after leaving Baxter and contemplating what to do next in my life, I was asked by Don Jacobs, the dean emeritus of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and Dipak Jain, then the dean at Kellogg, to consider ...