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

YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB

Over the course of my career at Baxter, I was promoted several times, becoming the CFO in 1993 and then president of the company in April 1997. I remember clearly a day in 1998 when I was preparing for a board meeting that included a presentation that the CEO, Vernon Loucks Jr., had asked me to make. On the morning of the board meeting, Vern told me he needed to speak privately to the board first, and then he'd call me into the meeting to make my presentation.

I remember wondering what Vern had to tell the board, whether there was some new development or challenge that we were facing. After his private meeting with the board, Vern took a short break and came to get me. He assured me that everything was okay, but said that ...