Every CEO wants to produce good returns for their shareholders.  The danger is when good returns focused on growth creates a high performance pressure cooker that drives bad decisions.  

VW, for instance, is a brand that people trusted and captured the zeitgeist of freedom, love, and happiness.  Did the CEO know software engineers were designing a defeat mechanism to deceive EPA standards in the U.S?  We will probably never know the answer to that question.  We do know one answer for sure.  The engineers failed to consider the reputational risks of their thinking.  They failed to consider how their decisions were in direct violation of the companies written policy statements. 

As you move into 2017, ask yourself four questions as a leader and a human being. 

What new this year do I want to learn? Have fun brainstorming - just write down five ideas and pick one or two where you can focus. 

eading a company with a strong sense of mission and purpose is not new. Yet I am always encouraged when I see clear signs that organizations are keeping purpose front and center with the work they do and the way they build their strategic plans. My recent piece on Patagonia highlights just one great example of purpose in action. 

But there are many more. CEOs were busy talking about, and driving, purpose in 2016. As I look back on the year, here are a few moments that stood out to me (I’m including links to the story behind each).