They say that there's no such thing as bad publicity, but on the other hand, they say that "no news is good news." When it comes to choosing your next CEO, the latter saying might be more applicable. It can be helpful to have an executive with a high profile and a name everyone knows running your business, but the opposite could also be a virtue, as Aimee Pichee points out in an article for CBS.
Pichee's piece examines the case of Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, who apparently maintains a 100 percent approval rating from his employees despite being relatively nondescript, especially compared to the cocky image of some internet-company bosses.
The impetus for this article was a recently published survey by Glassdoor, a website that allows workers to anonymously comment on their experiences at different companies. Weiner is the only CEO on this list with a full 100 percent approval rating: the next-highest are Alan Mullaly of Ford and Richard Edelman of the Edelman PR company, who are tied with 97 percent approval.
Some of the more "famous" names, like Mark Zuckerberg, Disney's Bob Iger and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, appear further down the list. It does raise the question of how exactly one can measure employee satisfaction with a CEO, and how that individual's CEO tenure may be affected at an early stage by this.
A few of the "pros" of Weiner's reign outlined in the reviews include satisfaction with the corporate culture of the company and a feeling that the business really cares about its employees. Your company can utilize an executive search firm to find someone who has these kinds of qualities.
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