At first glance, Built to Last seems to reach an extremely attractive conclu¬sion. The most successful companies all share in common a commitment to core values. This would seem to provide very persuasive reasons for any business to make a strong commitment to ethics. Good ethics seem to be connected to good business. Unfortunately, things are not as they appear. Collins and Porras are explicit in pointing out that while having a set of core values was essential in long-term success, they discovered no right set of core values. Their conclusion was that it was important only that companies have values, not that they have any particular values. In fact executives at one of their "visionary" companies, Philip Morris were described as defiant and self-righteous in their prosmoking ideology. The authors quote a Fortune magazine description of Philip Morris CEO Michael Miles as "ruthless focused ... cold-blooded." Miles is also quoted as saying "I see nothing morally wrong with the [tobacco] business. . . . I see nothing wrong with selling people products they don't need.