Credit Randen Pederson
I had the opportunity to attend the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s annual luncheon for John Johnson, retired CEO of CHS Inc. and the Journal’s pick for 2011 CEO of the year. He joins the ranks of 34 other business leaders such as Richard Davis, Mary Brainerd and Bill George who have received the award since it was first presented in 1977.
He deflected praise and accolades to his friends, family and the 9,000 employees of CHS for all of their work. He said that the CEO receives too much credit for when things are going right and too much blame when things are not. Below are some nuggets from his speech.
On running a business, he offers this advice and insight:
- Values are the core of your business. Know them and live them.
- Business is not one big thing. It’s a lot of little things going right all of the time. (Think Build to Last by Jim Collins.)
- Have success in the right way. If you achieve success in a wrong way, it is still failure. (Think Enron and Tyco.)
On leadership, he offered these top ten themes to lead by:
- Take positive control of your thoughts.
- Set achievable goals about living a balanced life.
- Look for the good in others.
- Show appreciation.
- Develop a high set of values and live up to them.
- Smile.
- Take time to listen.
- Believe in your country.
- Take care of your health.
- Believe in your faith.
I have had the pleasure of working with Mr. Johnson on a volunteer committee, and he is one of the most effective leaders I’ve seen. It’s obvious that he is not one who simply recites the creed listed in this article, but truly lives by it. Kudos to the Business Journal for selecting such a driven and respected CEO