CEO OF THE DRUG WAR

Every student at Harvard Business School over the past decade has come
across the name Jim Burke in the curriculum. As CEO of Johnson & Johnson in
the 1980s, Mr. Burke won acclaim for his deft handling of the Tylenol
tamperings. His management of that crisis is held up today as a model of
corporate responsibility.

But Mr. Burke has also led another, far more difficult management task:
keeping American kids off drugs. As chairman since 1989 of a non-profit
called Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Mr. Burke has overseen the
creation of the largest public service campaign in the history
advertising-some $3 billion in donated media space for antidrug ads. The
ads, more than 600 since 1989, are the best in the business, created pro
bono, thanks to Mr. Burke's efforts, by the most creative talents on
Madison Avenue. They've won all the top awards in the industry. Among our
favorites is the "fried egg" ad: A picture of a egg sizzling in a skillet
with the tag line, "This is your brain on drugs."

The result? After a decade of increases, drug use among teenagers appears
finally to be leveling off. Even more promising, attitudinal studies show
that more and more teens understand the danger of drugs. This, more than
any tax money spent on searching fishing boats off the coast of South
America or patrolling the Mexican border, is the reason drug use is down.

Mr. Burke has probably done more than any single businessman to demonstrate
how the private sector can take the lead in solving public problems. The
Partnership is now working on a marketing plan to combat the "love drug,"
Ecstasy, which is catching on among kids.

Today Mr. Burke will be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
nation's highest civilian honor. Now there's a case study for next year's
crop of MBAs.