What's the takeaway from Yahoo's recent CEO fiasco? Don't lie on your corporate bio, for one, and make sure no one else has lied on your behalf. But the real lesson has nothing to do with falsified credentials.
Sure, the world will remember Scott Thompson as the Yahoo CEO who got fired over a fake computer science degree, but the context is crucial: A battle with Yahoo shareholder Dan Loeb for control of the company. If not for Loeb, we may never have found out about Thompson's juiced resume, and he might still be CEO. The real lesson is: Beware the activist investor.
Four months had passed since Thompson's appointment as Yahoo CEO, and no one had questioned his education. His relevant experience at PayPal? Sure, at first. But not his computer science degree. In fact, many of us actually thought that especially qualified him for the Yahoo job.
In hindsight, Yahoo obviously should have investigated Thompson's background more thoroughly. (And shame on us in the press for missing this one!) But even if Yahoo had found the discrepancy after Thompson was named CEO, it might have quietly corrected the mistake and hoped no one noticed.
No comments:
Post a Comment