CEO beneficence.

• Position: EDITOR'S NOTE - Editorial

CAN YOU IDENTIFY the author of the following observation? "The most damage in the recent cases has been to the reputation of the position of CEO. We've been made out to be freewheeling jet setters, playboys reliving our adolescent years.... We are offended most by the perception that we would waste the resources of a company that is a major part of our life and livelihood, and that we would be happy with directors who would permit that waste."

The answer: L. Dennis Kozlowski, writing for DIRECTORS & BOARDS in 1995. As I pen this Editor's Note, the jury is deliberating the fate of the former chairman and CEO of Tyco as well as that of its former CFO, Mark Swartz, following a trial for looting corporate assets. The above words, and many other comments made in the full article, are either justifiably statesmanlike or massively ironic, depending on the decision that is handed down.

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Whatever that verdict, the tales of Tyco's munificence have been staggering in their scale. But the generosity extended by the CEO seems to have been of a selfish kind--reserved for a select few (mostly the two executives on trial). That spirit of generosity is put into stark contrast with that displayed by another chief executive, one who just passed from the scene and who was considered one of the country's great business leaders. I'm referring to Reginald Jones, head of General Electric Co. from 1973-1981, who died in December 2003.

Just this one brief passage published in D & B from a 1984 book, CEO: Corporate Leadership in Action, by Harry Levinson...