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Annual "Worst CEO" List Released

Posted by samzenpus on from the top-of-the-heap dept.

angry tapir writes "Zynga's Mark Pincus made the annual 'Worst CEOs' list compiled by Dartmouth College professor Sydney Finkelstein. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Andrew Mason of Groupon received dishonorable mentions. Zuckerberg earned his dishonorable mention on the list partly due to his 'hoodie mentality.'"

33 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Methodology by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here's the methodology used:

    The methodology behind the list combines three factors: the firms' financial performance including stock returns and cash flow; the extent to which the CEO has behaved responsibly; and strategic leadership and corporate governance.

    Also, the CEO of Best Buy got the #1 worst ranking.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:Methodology by nucrash · · Score: 2

      His Methodology is complete and utter crap. Company growth should be included, but also look at the long term strategy, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction or employee turnover rate. I think Brian Driscoll of Hostess needs to be on that list as well as Leo Apotheker, not because he was a CEO this year, but because he failed so bad at it last year.

      --
      Place something witty here
    2. Re:Methodology by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 2

      Seriously. People skimming may think he included Zuckerberg because of, well, Zuckerberg is an ass himself... but actually it is because he didn't wear professional attire? Right guy, completely wrong reasons.

    3. Re:Methodology by RabidReindeer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      His Methodology is complete and utter crap. Company growth should be included, but also look at the long term strategy, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction or employee turnover rate.

      I think Brian Driscoll of Hostess needs to be on that list as well as Leo Apotheker, not because he was a CEO this year, but because he failed so bad at it last year.

      Nobody gives a rat's rear about the long term. Get the most money you can as fast as possible, pass it out in fat raises and bonuses to the upper tiers, then watch them all flee for greener pastures.

      No point in measuring for anyone's satisfaction or the company's long-term prosperity. That kind of stuff went out with the 20th Century. Not enough holdouts to be worth considering.

    4. Re:Methodology by bws111 · · Score: 5, Informative

      He is not complaining about attire. A 'hoody mentality' is when you act like someone who is wearing a hoody - insulated from what is going on around you. That is a bad quality in a CEO - you need to know what is going on around you, and others need to know what you are thinking.

    5. Re:Methodology by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      You are actually wrong. You are wrong twice.

      You are wrong first because you think no one cares about the long term. You are wrong the second time because you think in the 20th century (70 years ago? 100 years ago?) things were different. They weren't, you have observer's bias: the only companies that have lasted are the ones that cared about lasting.

      I suspect if you reply to this, you will also reveal your lack of knowledge in other ways.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  2. Obvious pick by Misanthrope · · Score: 4, Funny

    Meg Whitman...

    1. Re:Obvious pick by LurkerXXX · · Score: 2

      Sorry, Leo Apotheker made her look like an amature at being a bad CEO.

  3. And actual article link: by isopropanol · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.businessworld.in/en/storypage/-/bw/who-are-the-worst-ceos-of-2012/679612.37489/page/-1

  4. Missing names by zooblethorpe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where the hell is Elop? I would have thought that cratering the company you're running would count something towards being a bad CEO.

    And shouldn't Ballmer at least rate a dishonorable mention?

    :-P

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."
    1. Re:Missing names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's Elop

      From The Seven Biggest Collapses in Mobile Handset or Smartphone History - this is part 3 in the Nokia Disaster analysis series

      NOKIA - 2010-2012 - FELL FROM 35% to 5% in TWO YEARS - AVERAGE FALL 62% PER YEAR - IS CURRENTLY ENDANGERED SPECIES AS FALL CONTINUES
      (Was ranked number 1 in market of smartphones)
      Cause of death - Elop Effect ie Osborne Effect combined with Ratner Effect - resulted in instant carrier boycott and retail boycott against Nokia, these furher damaged by another Osborne Effect by Elop and yet another by Ballmer, and the purchase of Skype by Microsoft causing a Microsoft-targeted sales boycott

      He's #1 in the mobile industry. #1 of losing.

    2. Re:Missing names by niftydude · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seems to be a worst CEO of US-based companies list. Nokia is Finnish. Also, Nokia is Finished :drumroll:.

      I would have thought Rupert Murdoch would rate a mention after the recent UK debacle though.

      --
      You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
    3. Re:Missing names by Patch86 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The two "dishonourable mentions" called out in TFA were both for the reason "I don't like their attitude". For Zuckerberg it was his "hoodie mentality" and acting like a "hacker", and for Mason it was his "frat boy" attitude.

      Seeing as Ballmer wears a suit, and could never be described as having a "hacker" demeanour, I imagine he's A-OK by the author.

    4. Re:Missing names by SalsaDoom · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't know. Ballmer is one of my favorite CEO's in IT today, possibly in all of IT's history. Speaking as a Linux user, I hope he stays with Microsoft for as long as its operating ;) BALLMER RULES!

      --
      "Computers will never truly be free until the last windows user is strangled with the entrails of the last mac user."
    5. Re:Missing names by fatphil · · Score: 4, Informative

      As someone who lost his job because of Elop, and I think he's definitely vying for a top-5 slot, you have to remember that Tomi Ahonen (behind that blog) is a total loon who is completely obsessed with Nokia, and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
    6. Re:Missing names by gtirloni · · Score: 2

      The same planet that Google, Apple, etc are from.

      --
      none
    7. Re:Missing names by theonesandtwos · · Score: 2

      Rodrigo Rato, President, Bankia (Spain) is fifth on the list. US-Based indeed.

    8. Re:Missing names by Doctor_Jest · · Score: 2

      Does anyone actually know what country they are based in now?

      Fantasyland?

      --
      It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
    9. Re:Missing names by 1s44c · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Elop really did destroy a great company with great products. I agree he should be on that list.

      Ballmer really hasn't done anything, good or bad. Plus Microsoft stagnating is good for everyone except Microsoft and their shareholders.

    10. Re:Missing names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seems to be a worst CEO of US-based companies list. Nokia is Finnish. Also, Nokia is Finished :drumroll:.

      I think you mean :rimshot:

  5. Worst Tech Calls of 2012 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My top three are all social media related. Imagine that.

    1. Microsoft buys Yammer for $1.2 Billion
    "Enterprise social network" -- a solution looking for a problem. This is almost as bad an idea as Ballmer's Skype acquisition in 2011.

    2. Facebook buys Instagram for $715 Million
    Zuckerman didn't even ask the board. Meanwhile users are leaving Instagram like someone set the company on fire. And they're still not profitable.

    3. Zynga buys OMGPOP for $180 Million
    Pincus thinks he's the next EA, while the entire company rots away under him.

    There are a lot more (thinking rather pointedly of AMD, Apple, Samsung, Nokia), perhaps we can compile them all here.

    1. Re:Worst Tech Calls of 2012 by pecosdave · · Score: 2

      1. Skype doesn't make its money directly from the user base, their income has to do with the fact that it's no longer peer to peer and encrypted to the point of being impervious to eavesdropping by those Microsoft allows. Yammer was probably just a bad move.

      Yeah, the rest just don't affect me in the slightest so whatever.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  6. Management mentality by mwvdlee · · Score: 2, Informative

    This quote pretty much sums up management mentality for me: In criticising M.Pincus, Zynga's CEO, this was one of the criticisms; "Unclear why it was necessary to buy this company (makes “Draw Something”) instead of copying it". A professor of management is criticising a manager for doing something morally right...

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  7. In the next category of 'Fiscal Buggery in Taxes': by TiggertheMad · · Score: 5, Funny

    And shouldn't Ballmer at least rate a dishonorable mention?

    You won't see Balmer in the main annual lists, he is up for the Lifetime Achievement award...

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
  8. Fun idea, not sure I agree with the criteria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I feel there have to be worse things than what is mentioned in the story. Things like demotivating your entire company by firing people the day before their promised stock vests, actually killing the company you're running, stealing a significant chunk of money or other assets, keeping the company alive only because of a massive bail-out, those are things I would expect to make the list.

    What's actually on the list seems comparatively tame. Hoodie mentality, seriously? Do we really still value complying with dress codes that were set in a different era higher than actually creating a multi-billion dollar company?

    Disclaimer: I work for Facebook, however, I imagine my opinion would be much the same if I didn't. Also, this is my personal opinion; not necessarily that of my employer.

    1. Re:Fun idea, not sure I agree with the criteria by N1AK · · Score: 2

      Exactly. Two of their criteria are entirely judgemental which makes your trust of their 'judgement' vital to your perception of the lists credibility. I actually think that formal dress codes can/are a nominal advantage in some ways but the idea that it would have any noticable affect on CEO ratings is laughable.

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. Follow the money by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Or in this case, follow the ideology of the "Professor" in question. We like to think people who think themselves smart are above having agenda's. But are they?

    I wonder how this guy DOES views Elop. Or indeed Nobuyuki Idei, the man who killed Sony. A managers manager, a man who had the shareholder firmly in mind. Who followed the tree factors that determined this list... AND ruined the company with it.

    This "professor" dislikes the "hoodie" mentality, dislikes companies thinking their engineers are important when they should be worried about this quarters stock performance. So... it isn't that much of a leap to conclude this professor is of the Wallstreet business school, you know, the guys who gave us this wonderful robuust economy.

    Are the mentioned CEO's bad leaders for their company OR did they just upset Wallstreet to much? ALWAYS question the source of a message, it tells you a lot about the message and how you should treat it. This list? Make up your own mind.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  11. Re:In the next category of 'Fiscal Buggery in Taxe by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Informative

    You won't see Balmer in the main annual lists,

    because he's in a league of his own.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  12. Actual actual article link: by Meneth · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-five-worst-ceos-of-2012/2012/12/18/0f353f14-4940-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story.html

  13. Ballmer/Elop is *next* year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    *We* can see he's lost the Wintel control to ArmAnd, but the people who compile these lists always do so in hindsight. Ballmer is still plausibly denying the failure with huge write-off, ramping up the price to the remaining captive customers and misdirections.

    Likewise Elop, he's "the sun will come out tomorrow" man. Still able to do leasebacks, got $2 billion from MS etc. still able to make the failure deniable.

    On the other hand Aubrey McClendon, well I read about him nearly 5 years ago, investing peronally alongside the company in obvious conflicts of interests, I got the impression he was borderline criminal. An Enron waiting to happen, but that was like 5 years ago!

    So I think Tomi's arguments make sense and Nokia's demise is inevitable. When I heard they'd be making RT tablets, I just wonder why the Nokia board haven't acted yet. It must be screaming them in the face, even Cheasapeake acted, albeit late and only partial.

  14. Zuckerberg didn't make the list [Re:Methodology' by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 3, Informative

    Seriously. People skimming may think he included Zuckerberg because of, well, Zuckerberg is an ass himself... but actually it is because he didn't wear professional attire? Right guy, completely wrong reasons.

    Sorry, but your should have put a period after " People skimming may think he included Zuckerberg."

    He didn't. Zuckerberg did not make the list.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-five-worst-ceos-of-2012/2012/12/18/0f353f14-4940-11e2-ad54-580638ede391_story_1.html

    Zuckerberg is apparently like Hitler-- any mention of him hijacks the thread, and all discussion of the actual content ceases.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  15. Re:Nice! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I could crash two Bugatti Veyrons a week and be as successful as Groupon at their peak.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel