The Best-Performing CEOs in the World 2015

What's the true test of a leader's worth? At HBR, we believe it's the results he or she produces over the long run. To see who measured up, we analyzed the performance of the CEOs in the S&P Global 1200 over their entire tenures and ranked them from best to worst. In this issue, we reveal who made the top 100. In our analysis, we tracked the shareholder returns each CEO generated, starting from day one on the job, along with the change in each company's market capitalization. We adjusted the returns for each industry and country, to offset any increase that was attributable merely to being in a hot market. Then, to account for the many aspects of leadership beyond financial success, we incorporated a measure of environmental, social, and governance performance. For this we relied on the ratings of the investment research firm Sustainalytics. Our view is that, in an era of big data and greater transparency, consumers and investors want to understand a company's culture and values, not just its share price. And as the number one CEO on this year's list, Novo Nordisk's Lars Sorensen, points out, the two are inextricably linked. "In the long term, social and environmental issues become financial issues," he says. In an interview with HBR's editors, the low-key Sorensen shares his thoughts on counterintuitive strategy, connecting with employees, and managing for a triple bottom line.

• Executives
• International business
• Corporate social responsibility
• Employee performance management
• Accounting