Being a CEO ‘in the Tradition of Abraham’

The lesson of the day pertained to the modern marketplace, but it was steeped in Old World values.

At the first meeting of the Jewish Federation’s CEO Leadership Forum, Jonathan Swartz, chief executive of the clothing company Timberland, stood at a lectern and wondered aloud: “How do you maintain your values, even in the midst of day-to-day business dealings?”

Swartz, who had flown to Los Angeles from Boston to answer his own question, began by alluding to the story of Abraham, whose faith was tested by adversity.

“This is a daily trial of the Jew who is a CEO,” he said: “to integrate into daily life the value system” that the Jewish tradition teaches.

More than a few heads nodded in understanding as he spoke. His was a receptive audience. The Jewish Federation had invited 75 Jewish leaders of such companies as City National Bank, Cherokee and Westfield to “share the view from the top,” as the event’s invitation promised.

After kosher-style canapes and a short video about the federation’s long history of supporting its Los Angeles-area community, Steven Nichols, president of K-Swiss and a co-chairman of the event, introduced Swartz as a “model of corporate and social responsibility.”

It was clear, as Nichols recited Swartz’s resume, that this was a worthy cleric for preaching the message that doing good works should be an integral part of corporate life. He serves on President Bush’s task force on national service and has instituted a program called the Path of Service at his own company. Among other things, Timberland employees are given 40 hours of paid leave each year to perform community service -- paint a house, tutor a student, comfort the elderly.

Swartz told the audience that his legacy of service, as well as his company’s, could be traced back to his grandfather Nathan, who in 1952 started the firm that would become Timberland.

Nathan was a shoemaker. But he was always committed to serving others and doing good works.

“My grandfather taught me how to cut leather,” Swartz said. “He also taught me to be courageous and stand up for what you believed in.”

“My grandfather lived his values.... And we are the inheritors of his passion for product.”

“In order to equip people to make their difference in the world,” Swartz said, “we must insist that doing well and doing good not be different.”

It is not enough for the people in the room, he said, simply to pay employees fairly and not abuse workers. As Jewish CEOs, they must hold themselves to a “higher standard of commerce and justice,” he said. “We are supposed to be CEOs in the tradition of Abraham. Much is expected of us.”

Swartz admitted he has it easy, in that his family controls the majority of his company’s stock, and he represents its third generation to helm the firm.

“My job is all about nepotism,” he admitted as the audience joined him in a laugh. “So I don’t have strategic thoughts. But I do have universal truths.”

The audience may have been Jewish, but the message transcended religion. Other firms, he pointed out, give employees time off to serve in the National Guard or volunteer for the local fire department. Why, he asked, should mentoring children or reading to the elderly be any less important?

Swartz told the audience that the Path of Service program sprang from personal experience. In 1989 a group called City Year, a sort of urban Peace Corps based in Boston, had asked Timberland to provide 50 pairs of boots for the young people in the organization’s program. As a thank you, the group invited Swartz to a day of community service -- and he was hooked.

Today, Timberland estimates that its 5,200 employees have invested more than 170,000 hours in community service in 13 countries. In addition, it works with business partners and vendors to arrange regional service events.

“Others can simply build shoes and boots and clothes,” Swartz said. “We can make a difference in our daily lives, and will.”

Encouraging employees to do good work is good for corporate morale as well, he said. Fortune magazine consistently rates Timberland as one of the best companies in the country to work for.

Responding to an audience member’s question about how much time he personally spends doing good works, Swartz said he is committed to the concept of tithing, under which 10% of his income goes to charity each year.

But he said he realized that “the money part wasn’t entirely satisfying.” Now, he said, he, his wife and their two sons tithe hours as well. “We try to invest a day a week,” he said. Overall, “10% of our family’s time is in service to others.”

Swartz admitted that there is still much work to be done, both for his company and for the companies run by the other people in the room. But give people a chance to serve others, he said, and they often respond to the challenge.

“I haven’t found a corporate environment where there aren’t people who want to serve a truth greater than them,” he said.