Last month, while reading about The 10 Greatest CEO's of All Time in a recent issue of Fortune; I was reminded of my former boss, Ralph Lauren. In the article, Jim Collins based his selection on four criteria: legacy, impact, resilience, and financial performance...as he narrowed his list down to the final ten. Each of them seemed to be on a mission, one that included a much bigger picture than the short term focus that seems to dominate the thinking of many CEO's. I concluded that each of his ten leaders probably had a healthy combination of passion, vision and a refusal to compromise...the qualities I observed in Ralph Lauren back in 1987. A few examples from the Fortune list:

George Merck (Merck & Co) - Austere and patrician, he simply believed that the purpose of a corporation is to do something useful, and to do it very well. "And if we have remembered that, the profits have never failed to appear; the better we have remembered, the larger they have been."

Bill Allen (Boeing) - An understated lawyer who said he wasn't qualified for the job, Bill Allen never saw Boeing as the "bomber company", rather it was the company whose engineers built amazing flying machines. A long-term thinker, he endured the swarming gnats who think small: short time frames, pennies per share, a narrow purpose. Allen thought bigger---and left a legacy to match...as Boeing, under his leadership, built the 707, 727, 737 and 747.

Charles Coffin (General Electric) - More than any other leader, Coffin made GE into a great company by creating the machine that created a succession of giants. For that reason, he stands above the other General Electric CEO's whose names eclipsed his...for he built the stage upon which they all played.

As a former EVP of Polo, I had the opportunity to observe up close the passion that drives the exceptional CEO's of this world. After only a short time at Polo back in the late-eighties, I realized that Ralph was passionate about his vision and that he refused to compromise that vision as he set about creating the wonderful world that we all know today as POLO. From the very beginning, Ralph was not trying to figure out how much money we were going to make or how many people we were going to employ...he was concentrating on a much bigger picture, one that included an entire lifestyle and not just a few apparel lines that shared the same name...for example:

The Mansion Store at 72nd and Madison. Ralph considers this store one of his greatest achievements despite the many obstacles he faced in the beginning:

So why did Ralph consider it one of his greatest achievements? From the very beginning, the store became a showcase of what he is all about; it clearly presented his vision to the entire world, it generated a steady stream of favorable PR that continues to this day, it helped retailers learn to do a better job of presenting the merchandise which led to greater sales and profits for them...in short, it has contributed greatly to the growth of the Polo brand throughout the world. And it would never have been approved by a CEO who was worried about earnings per share in the short term.

But what about the costs of a venture like the store above? How did Ralph figure out how to make money while building his dream? Fortunately for Ralph, he chose Peter Strom as his partner...and entrusted him to make the decisions necessary to deliver a consistent profit and keep them out of trouble with the banks. Peter had a tough job but was successful because of his own sincere respect and admiration for the man he was serving.

Peter once shared with me how he managed to deliver profits during those critical early years. He said that whenever he felt very strongly about a particular issue that he could usually convince Ralph to go along with whatever he wanted to do. Sounds easy enough except for one major problem: Peter could only use this little technique one, maybe two times per year. All of the other times, Peter just had to figure out a way to make it happen.

So the team of Ralph Lauren and Peter Strom worked very well...Peter respected Ralph's vision and Ralph respected Peter's ability to run a company and deliver profits. Together they changed the entire industry that produces apparel, home furnishings and a host of other consumer products and services that comprise the World of Ralph Lauren. And it all started with Ralph's vision, his passion and a steadfast refusal to compromise...the kinds of qualities that one finds amongst The Best CEO's of All Time.

Jim Hicks specializes in delivering value well beyond executive search. Following a 27-year career equally split between line management and consulting, he founded The Ansley Consulting Group in June of 1999. Jim's former roles include COO of Nautica, EVP of Polo, Principal at Kurt Salmon Associates, and implementer of The Deming Method while working with Bill Conway of Conway Management. A former officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, he holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Auburn University and an MBA from The University of Hawaii.