A CEO with false credentials is only the latest blunder the company has made. Check out the others–and how to avoid them.
The famed tech giant Yahoo is in trouble again. (You might say the company is living up to its name.) The most recent snafu involving new CEO Scott Thompson over his academic credentials is just one in a long list of odd decisions, broken promises, and unusual faux pas. The good news: Any small business owner can learn from the mistakes of big companies. (If you do make these mistakes, at least you can recover faster.)
1. Be honest about your skills:
One of the problems with the academic history of Scott Thompson—that he reportedly does not have a computer science degree, but does have an accounting degree—is that the current board and every one of the millions of Yahoo users will now question his authority. Yet, his qualifications (including a stint at PayPal) surely make him ready for the post. Be honest about your past record and achievements or you’ll lose credibility.
2. Keep it clean:
Yahoo has a poor record of checking executive credentials. They should have known that Carol Bartz was already known as “the swearing CEO” when they hired her back in 2009. (In fact, they probably could have done a quick Web search using their own service to find out—today, when you search for the phrase her name appears in the first page of results.) Bartz went on to swear during multiple interviews, sometimes dropping the F-bomb. Don’t forget: Interviews and video clips live on forever in the internet age. At least keep it down in public.
…to read this article in full, visit leading US small business resource, Inc.
