Rim Semiconductor Company (fka RSMI)

[34Simmons]

From Business Week today.

Another Crop of Sleazy CEOs?

Here's a warning for Corporate America: Adelphia's John Rigas, ImClone's Samuel Waksal, and Tyco's (TYC ) Dennis Kozlowski may be just the beginning.

Executive-search firm Russell Reynolds, along with personality-testing firm Hogan Assessment Systems, conducted psychological profiles of more than 1,400 managers at large U.S. companies. Dean Stamoulis, an executive director at Russell Reynolds and an organizational psychologist, gave the execs 28 true-or-false questions on rule compliance and interactions with others to gauge their level of integrity.

The troubling results: One out of eight execs can be termed "high-risk." That makes them far more likely to break rules than the remaining 87%. "These are folks who believe the rules do not apply to them," says Stamoulis. "They're extreme in their lack of concern for others. They rarely possess feelings of guilt."

When he gave the same test to another group, he found more than 60% of them to be at high-risk for rule-breaking. Who were they? Inmates at a maximum-security prison.
By Louis Lavelle