The World Economic Forum in Davos just completed their winter conference.  One hundred leading businesses signed a compact as a framework for the role of their business in society.  The Forum’s International Business Council will now work on a way to measure long term progress.

I’m greatly encouraged about the positive vision these companies are embracing for the future.  CEOs are investing in meaningful ways to not have government be the answer to some of our greatest challenges.  Instead, business must take the lead in partnership with many stakeholders, including government. I believe it’s the only way we can adapt to the dramatic changes ahead.

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.