ON THE MOUNTAINTOP

As I moved into different leadership positions at Baxter, I saw the need to play a broader role, but I never fully appreciated just how significant a response was called for until I became CEO. While attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, for the first time in 1999, I had the opportunity to interact with world leaders at a summit devoted to addressing the most pressing issues on the planet. I was immersed in a who's who of political, business, spiritual, academic, and social leaders who were talking about issues not as problems that someone else had to address but in the context of what could be done by the people at that forum. Here was the invitation to climb the next mountain, to move beyond those projects that are a good thing to do—like a weekend of volunteering—and become involved in making fundamental and lasting changes on a global scale.

From the moment I received the invitation to go to Davos, I was intrigued by this group's mission and vision to improve the state of the world. Past accomplishments were impressive, from diplomatic efforts between Turkey and Greece, North and South Korea, and East and West Germany, to breakthroughs in the fight against tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs. I can still remember attending a general session in which one of the senior leaders of the forum issued a wake-up call: if any of the two thousand people in that room thought that the problems being discussed were someone else's responsibility, they were sorely mistaken. It was time for us to go beyond our own organizations—our companies, our schools, our governments—and look globally.

Then it hit me! It was the circle and the parallel lines (see Chapter Six) all over again, only this time it wasn't the departments (lines) within the organization (the circle). Now Baxter International was one of the lines, and the whole world was the circle. As a values-based leader, I needed to look beyond my parallel line and focus on the total circle.

Each day of the forum, I sent e-mails and voice mails to various teams at Baxter, sharing with them what I had learned and my thoughts regarding social responsibility, which we had begun to discuss as a company and as an industry. We were already committed to being respectful, responsive, and results oriented (see Chapter Five). Our goals were to be the best team, the best partner with our customers and suppliers, and the best investment for our shareholders. Here was a chance to add another “best”: becoming a best citizen in the world.

As a values-based organization, Baxter made a pledge to be a best citizen. Our actions had to be more than window dressing to make us feel good and look good to others. We needed to make a concerted effort to focus beyond generating profits. We had to do our part to make the world a better place for everyone.

Listening to the experts at the forum, I also knew we couldn't just throw money or food against a problem and hope that it would make a difference. Stories abounded about good intentions gone awry, such as bags of rice that sat on a dock someplace and never reached the intended recipients. In order to become socially responsible leaders, we had to be thoughtful and deliberate, just as we were as a values-based organization operating in the business world. We needed to set a clear direction with stated priorities and a plan.