There is a great article posted today on Law.com by Lynn Lieber, the CEO and founder of Workplace Answers, Inc.  While I concur with the conclusion she makes that corporate counsel can influence the culture and ethics in a company, in my experience I have found that it is always the CEO that has the most influence (both positive and negative) over the company culture, the practiced ethics and in setting the right example for the rest of the company.  If the company sees the CEO “walk the talk” then it is much more likely that employees at all levels of the company will act in a similar manner.  If the company sees that the CEO acts in any way that is inconsistent with the expressed company culture then the employees will follow suit.  The ethics of the CEO should be one of the most important factors in the recruiting of the CEO in addition to the background and experience of each candidate.