C. PAUL JOHNSON put together a $2 billion banking group in Chicago in the 80´s and sold it in 1995 to what is now U.S.Bancorp. It was a 17-bank, 36-location organization. All were community banks, each with a president and local board. It was what he calls “real community banking.”

His book, GOOD GUYS FINISH FIRST: REFLECTIONS OF A CEO AND HOW TO START A DE NOVO COMMUNITY BANK, aims to dispel the common belief, strengthened by recent indictments, that a CEO succeeds by being devious and ruthless. In fact, Johnson was urged to write the book by the dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, since retired, Donald Jacobs, who envisioned such a book as a worthy addition to a business school library.

The book records Johnson’s work as founding CEO of the hugely successful First Colonial Bankshares organization and tells how to start a de novo community bank. It is bound to strike a chord in the banking and investment worlds. For it Johnson interviewed 15 community bank CEO´s in five states, seven investment bankers, three banking commissioners, and several Chicago FDIC staff members. He also discusses outsourcing of services, compensation, and ways to measure a bank’s worth.

In a foreword former FDIC Chairman William M. Isaac is “glad [Johnson] has decided to share his recipe for success.” Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt says the book “will be a rich resource for today’s students.” California Congressman Mike Thompson calls this “a good book by a good man” and says it “should be required reading for business students, bankers or anyone who may be losing faith in our institutions.” Joseph P. “Joe” Allen, an astronaut friend of Johnson turned highly successful business executive, calls the book “a must” for people thinking about starting a business. There is nothing like this book on the market.