It was just a few short months ago when the title “CEO” commanded a sense of awe and respect. Today, a few bad seeds have made the title fodder for late-night jokes about greed and excess.
As we hear stories about exorbitant salaries paying for $2,000 trash cans and luxury vacations, it’s easy to forget about those leaders who, over the years, have balanced their success with a strong sense of right and wrong.
While we certainly can’t vouch for the ethics by which anyone runs his or her company, we can present examples of successful CEOs who recognize and appreciate what it took to get to where they are today.
This month, you’ll find many examples of a new term the media has pegged — good CEOs– among the winners of this year’s Business Growth Award.
Every year, Cascade Capital Corp., an Akron-based development corporation, recognizes businesses in a six-county area that have maintained strong sales records over the last five years. This year, the criteria for the award were more difficult than ever to meet, given the state of the national economy and the overall climate for doing business.
Nevertheless, 41 local companies are being honored later this month for achieving those goals. (Last year, 34 companies were recognized.)
As the media sponsor of the awards, we have devoted a special section in this issue to celebrate this year’s winners. While all of the winners had worthy stories to share, we chose five companies to profile, and will share the other stories in upcoming months.
The companies we profile represent a diverse group of industries, from law to construction. While the CEOs you read about come from different industries and backgrounds, they all share a common devotion to hard work and respect for the American Dream.
We hope their stories help remind us of what a good leader truly is.
