28. Jim Hackett

On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered terrorist attacks that cost nearly 3,000 lives and plunged the country into a defining change. The Pentagon, U.S. Department of Defense’s headquarters, was attacked but not destroyed. A value-centered leader named Jim Hackett, formerly of Procter & Gamble (P&G) and now CEO of Steelcase, had made a decision months earlier that proved core values are strategic and may, in fact, save lives.

“At Steelcase,” he says, “we make office furniture, as well as other product solutions for the workplace. One such product is a movable wall that you might see in a cubicle. During observational research, we began playing with the height of these walls. You could buy a wall that was only five feet ...

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