Herbert J. Taylor (18 April 1893 – 1 May 1978) was an American business executive, civic leader and sponsor of Christian organizations.
He served on the boards of several such institutions including Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (U.S.A.), Youth for Christ, Young Life, Fuller Seminary, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Christian Service Brigade, Pioneer Girls, and the Chicago Billy Graham Crusades.
He was vice-chairman of the Price Adjustment Board of the War Department during World War II; the other positions he held were the presidency of Rotary International, 1954–55; directorship positions for the First National Bank of Barrington (Illinois) and the Chicago Federal Savings and Loan Association; and membership on the Board of Governors of the Illinois Crippled Children Society, 1941–42.
In the early 1930s Taylor set out to save the Club Aluminum Products distribution company from bankruptcy.
He explained The first job was to set policies for the company that would reflect the high ethics and morals God would want in any business.
What we needed was a simple, easily remembered guide to right conduct - a sort of ethical yardstick- which all of us in the company could memorize and apply to what we thought, said and did.
Never changed, the twenty four word Four Way Test remains today a central part of the permanent Rotary structure throughout the world, and is held as the standard by which all behaviour should be measured.