Afterword

Like the CEOs we profile in this book, we, the coauthors, have a higher ambition. We want to expand the circle of higher-ambition leadership in the world—leaders who are committed to creating superior and lasting economic and social value. We came to this research project with the belief, based on years of research and consulting with some of the world’s best firms, that building a great institution whose purpose includes but reaches beyond quarterly earnings and shareholder return is desirable and possible. During the four years we spent interviewing thirty-six CEOs in diverse industries and parts of the world, analyzing the data, and discussing our findings, our convictions have grown stronger, not only about the desirability of building a higher-ambition company, but also about the possibility.

To further that possibility, we have launched the TruePoint Center, a not-for-profit international education and research institute dedicated to the development and dissemination of knowledge about how leaders can better build organizations that excel at creating both economic and social value. The center’s mission is to expand the practice of higher-ambition leadership. The center brings together like-minded CEOs and companies from around the world as well as other members of their senior teams and their next-generation leaders in a learning community. TruePoint Center does research on how to lead, design, and develop for-profit and nonprofit institutions that sustainably deliver superior value to all key stakeholders. The center also seeks to develop the next generation of higher-ambition leaders who can carry on the work of building their institutions, something the leaders portrayed in this book spoke about with urgency and passion. The work of the center is described further at www.TruePoint.org.