An interesting article came across my desk this AM entitled, "Those with Daughters Make Better CEOs, Study Finds." Two researchers studied over 400 CEOs with a total of 1000 children. They found that having a daughter, especially if the daughter was first born, directly affects a CEO's social responsibility.
The corporate social responsibility was far better in companies / organizations run by CEOs with a daughter. Male CEOs with daughters were almost a third more likely to make social responsibility decisions similar to female CEOs. CEOs with daughters show a much greater connection to society in general and a greater concern for the well being of those connected to the organization.
So that leads one to ask what about CEOs with sons; not even close with the results according to Erin Marshall, the author of the article. CEOs with sons were not linked to the same results nor corporate social responsibility behaviors.
I am not sure that my commitment to social responsibility has much to do with my first born daughter, Jessica, who strangely enough handles corporate social responsibility for Boeing in Charleston, SC, or even my second born daughter, Lauren. Both are wonderfully successful in their own right and recognize the importance of social responsibility in their personal as well as professional lives.
For me, as I reflect back, I think the strongest influence has been my wife over the many years that I have been a CEO; Pamela is very pointed in her kindness and generosity to ensure that the greatest impact will be felt by as many as possible. She has influenced me accordingly.
I have also been positively impacted by the predominantly female workforce at WMHS (81%); this is a group who are so giving professionally in their service to our patients and to each other as well as in their personal lives to their families, their churches, their communities and the list goes on. Over the last five years or so, I have been especially influenced by those women in executive leadership positions at WMHS: Nancy Adams, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Nurse Executive, is always mission and values focused and has an amazing knack at transforming ideas into action; Kim Repac, Chief Financial Officer, who, when she feels committed to a cause or issue, can be the most generous person that I know; Jo Wilson, VP, Operations, lives and breathes social responsibility and recognizes it's criticality to those whom we serve both inside and outside the organization; Michele Martz, VP, Physician Enterprise, displays a wonderful interest in people and ensuring that we do always the right thing for those whom we serve; Kathy Rogers, Director of Community Relations, serves as the organization's conscience, as well as mine, by always bringing that commitment of responsibility to our many decisions and Karen Johnson, Foundation Executive, is very much attuned to the social needs of our organization and our community and in many cases she knows how to fund them.
I continue to be blessed with the many female influences in my life--from my wife to my daughters to the staff, especially those many wonderful advisors from whom I seek counsel each day. Oh yeah, I am also blessed to have the many male influences in my life who truly get it when it comes to social responsibility. I bet they too are wonderfully influenced by the women in their lives.
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