View source for Honest Corporate Executive

{{trope}}
The inverse of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]], who refuses to make money at the cost of business/social ethics, through crime, or by harming the natural environment. Extreme examples may even do so in spite of great detriment to their business operations. 

This can lead to a bit of [[Fridge Logic]] if this Exec's company is doing as well as, or better than, his corrupt rival. After all, even if the corrupt executive is motivated purely by greed, you would think he wouldn't [[Kick the Dog]] unless it was profitable. In the worst case scenario, this can have the effect of either turning the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] into a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] or making the [[Honest Corporate Executive]]'s business savvy an [[Informed Attribute]], especially if the differences in their approaches are a central theme of the work. 

In the best case scenario, the different rates of success are portrayed as a result of the Honest Exec actually being a more talented businessman, whereas the less-talented Corrupt Exec needs to "cheat" to succeed. It's also possible that the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] gets ahead through cheating or otherwise being unethical to achieve more immediate success, but the [[Honest Corporate Executive]] wins in the long run because his customers prefer his dependability and/or his employees are more motivated. 

Often also (but not necessarily) a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], [[Uncle Pennybags]], and/or a [[Benevolent Boss]]. If he's part of the minority in his organization that are trying to resist the rest's [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|rampant corruption]], he would probably be also a [[Internal Reformist]]. 

{{examples}}

==  Anime And Manga ==

* Despite jokes thanks to the Abridged Series, Seto Kaiba from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' is an example of this, in contrast to [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|his adoptive father]]. 
** At least, when you're not mentioning Duel Monster cards (until Yugi beats it out of him).

==  Comic Books ==

* [[Carl Barks|Scrooge]] [[Keno Don Rosa|McDuck]]. Call him a greedy bargainer, call him a slavedriving taskmaster, call him an exploitative manipulator... but he prides himself on earning his fortune "square" without being a dishonest and immoral businessman -- unlike his [[Evil Counterpart]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Flintheart Glomgold]]. Typical [[Depending on the Writer]] and [[Characterization Marches On]] caveats apply.
* [[DC Universe]]: 
** [[Batman|Bruce Wayne]], in his [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]]-slash-[[Millionaire Playboy]]-slash-[[Uncle Pennybags]] persona, especially his [[DCAU]] version. Lucius Fox, Wayne Enterprises' CEO to Bruce's President, is also an equally honest businessman. 
** Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, started as this before he evolved beyond being a Batman expy. 
* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]], CEO of Stark Enterprises, is this once he quit being a weapons dealer. Well, [[Depending on the Writer|in his "better" portrayals]], at least; issues like his involvement in the events of the ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' series cast doubts on the integrity of his corporate practices. 
** It should be noted that, as distasteful as weapons manufacturing is to a lot of people, he was a pretty honest guy with those, too. Making for the US Armed forces, not (knowingly) ever providing for terrorists, etc. For instance, in a famous story, "Doomquest," when Stark learned that an underling sold military tech to [[Doctor Doom]], he instantly fired him, refunded Doom's money, tried to prevent Doom's minion from taking the goods anyway, and then personally confronted Doom in his own castle to get them back.
* Richard Rich from ''[[Richie Rich]]''. 
* [[Batman]].

==  Film -- Animated ==

* Sulley becomes one at the end of ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]''. 
* Yoshino, the head of the Poseidon delegation in ''[[Appleseed Ex Machina]]''.  {{spoiler|When Poseidon becomes aware that their loose [[Applied Phlebotinum|phlebotinum]] is causing all the trouble, she and her corporation are more than willing to help clean up the mess.}}

==  Film -- Live Action ==

* Mr. Clamp from ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch''. He didn't like the idea of the genetic splicing, gives the vampire guy the job he always wanted, etc. ''And'' he helps save the day and builds a nice little suburb. "Clamp Corners, where life slows to a crawl".
* Like his comic book example above, [[Iron Man (film)|the film-version of Tony Stark]] becomes this after returning from being kidnapped.
* ''[[Tron]]'' universe: Walter Gibbs was more interested in science and development than day-to-day operations of his company. Unfortunately, that gave [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Dillinger]] an opening. [[Expose the Villain, Get His Job|Flynn]] takes down Dillinger and gets to be one of these. ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' rolls around and Alan Bradley is crossing this with [[Only Sane Man]] in the Encom boardroom. Fortunately, {{spoiler|Sam did some needed growing up and will be taking his dad's old position after all}}. 
* Jeffrey Wigand, the tobacco company executive in ''[[The Insider]]'' who blows the whistle on his company's suppression of scientific evidence about the harmfulness of smoking.
* The title character in ''[[Jerry Maguire]]'' suffers a crisis of conscience at the beginning and becomes determined to do right by his clients.
* Mr. MacMillan in ''[[Big]]''.
* In ''[[Hotel Rwanda]]'', the French hotel executive played by Jean Reno is horrified by what is going on and does everything he can to aid his employees.

==  Literature ==

* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''Debt of Honor'', Founder/Chairman of the Columbus Group of mutual funds George Winston is practically a saint, as are most of the Wall Street executives in the story.
* The protagonist of ''One Trillion Dollars'' by [[Andreas Eschbach]] tries to be one of these. Mostly, he fails due to not understanding what consequences his actions actually have, but the intention is there.

==  Live Action TV ==

* Michael Bluth from ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' is this for the most part, although he occasionally slips up. It's especially admirable in contrast to how his (now imprisoned) father handled the position. 
* Oliver Queen on ''[[Smallville]]'', in sharp contrast to Lionel Luthor, [[Lex Luthor]], and Tess Mercer. He may be a deeply screwed-up [[Broken Ace]], and he has no problems with throwing his weight around, but his money was all made legitimately and he despises the way that companies like LuthorCorp treat the world as if it were their own personal stripmine.

==  Video Games ==

* At least one of the Silks in ''[[Black Market (video game)|Black Market]]'' seems to think of themselves this way -- though whether or not they're correct is open for debate.
* Reeve Tuesti in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. 
* In the second ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'', the Czerka docking manager became upset over the dirty actions of his boss and became an informant for the Telos Security force. His dirty boss wants him dead. TSF wants him to come out of hiding to testify against his boss. Your character decides his fate, of course. 
* [[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|David Sarif]] is no angel and is certainly not afraid to use his wealth, charisma, and power to further his own goals. However, he is shown to genuinely believe in uplifting humanity, is deeply concerned with his employees, and he does compare ''much'' better to his [[Ancient Conspiracy|adversaries]], especially {{spoiler|[[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Zhao Yun Ru]]}}.
** He is also probably the only CEO in [[Cyberpunk]] history who invoked [[The Men First]] when his personal supersoldier came to rescue him.
*** Even his excesses are due to him being a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]].

==  Web Original ==

* Cassidy's parents in ''[[Grandmaster of Theft]]'' are this. Cassidy herself is one-in-training. 
* Ayla and the rest of the Goodkind family (minus Heather) are both this, [[Benevolent Boss|Benevolent Bosses]], and [[Uncle Pennybags]]. They are the richest and most honest people on the planet, think nothing of giving their employees benefits that rival Google's, and fund many many public works projects. The rest of the Goodkinds, however, have [[Knight Templar|other]] [[Noble Bigot|flaws]].

==  Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'', a well-meaning mining executive wants the Rangers to hunt down [[Space Whale|Space Whales]] that are threatening his miners. It's nothing against the whales, but he wants his people protected. When the Rangers and Space Peace (an [[Affectionate Parody]] of Greenpeace) find an alternate solution where the whales avoid areas with mining in progress and leave behind a hydrocarbon gas that can be used as rocket fuel, the executive is delighted about everyone coming out ahead.
* Hiroshi Sato from [[The Legend of Korra]] became one of the richest men in Republic City from running a legitimate business. He's apparently passing on his ethics to his [[Spoiled Sweet]] daughter. 
**  {{spoiler|Subverted in that he's not only an Equalist, but also because he framed his competitor, Cabbage Corp, making him abhorently immoral.}}

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Authority Tropes]]
[[Category:Rich People]]
[[Category:Honest Corporate Executive]]
[[Category:I Need an Index by Monday]]