The devil used Eve to temp Adam with an apple oh so many years ago changing life as they knew it. We are tempted every day by others and by our own weak nature. I'm thinking about all of the New Year's resolutions made with such fervor and yet abandoned easily in a few short weeks.

But what about in management. What tempts us and keeps us from ultimate success?

I found a cute little fable at the library $1 sale this week that addresses the Five Temptations of a CEOs. The author, Patrick Lencioni has written several fable books that address specific leadership issues in today's business.

In this book the five temptations reviewed are:

Choosing status over results

Choosing popularity over accountability

Choosing certainty over clarity

Choosing harmony over productive conflict

Choosing invulnerability over trust

The fable follows Andrew, a CEO celebrating his first anniversary in the position and facing the Board's annual review and his company's less than stellar results under his direction.

When I look at the temptations I can point to times in my professional career when I have taken the easy road - the road of less conflict, the easy way out, so to speak. Although I wasn't a CEO, there are times in all our careers where we duck our heads rather than speak up for the betterment of the company. Our attitude is "if they don't see me, then perhaps I'll have job security."

As you look at the options above, which do you choose with regularity? Which should you choose?

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Writer