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It's easy to idolize certain CEOs and admire their drive to innovate. But some have gone way off course.
A CEO is constantly under immense pressure to adjust to society’s demands, eliminate competitors and generate massive profits. The best CEOs demonstrate strong values from the start, allowing for consistent leadership, dynamism and long-term growth. However, not all CEOs can manage the countless hours, criticism and ethical issues with grace.
CEOs of some of the world’s most famous companies often have a dark side. Corner-cutting, a toxic work culture and arrogance can lead to a lack of business transparency and a blatant disregard for regulatory procedures, the consequences of which can be costly. Some well-known leaders have managed to survive their scandals while others have found their careers in tatters.
The following 10 once-revered CEOs enjoyed immense popularity and success — until they didn’t. See how they fell off their pedestals and which ones survived the rough landings.
From Google Ads to Google Pay, Google’s services have become indispensable to businesses and consumers. Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are determined to move beyond search engines and find their way into every facet of our lives. There’s no doubt that Larry Page — who co-founded Google, was its CEO for years and served as CEO of Alphabet until 2019 — deserves much of the credit. But at what cost?
Although Google is often praised as one of the most employee-friendly businesses in the industry, it’s hard to fight your own nature. Those who worked closely with Page have described him as very withdrawn, often to the point of rudeness. During important meetings, it’s said he would disengage and refuse to pay attention to those around him. Some describe him as “kind of a jerk” and “an egomaniacal asshole.”
While Page was respected among his subordinates, many felt he’d prefer as little human contact as possible. Today, he remains on Alphabet’s board of directors and is a member of its executive committee, suggesting that he still retains a fair amount of power, even if his personality isn’t as fun as a Google Doodle.
When it comes to being respected and popular with the “troops,” for a long time, it was hard to beat Lloyd Blankfein, who’s been the senior chairman of Goldman Sachs since 2019 and previously served as CEO, COO and president. At one point in his tenure, he had a 97 percent approval rating — which says something about his leadership style.
How can a man so beloved by his underlings have a dark side? Consider the following:
Blankfein has weathered several other scandals during his reign, which raises the question of whether his image can ever be tarnished entirely.
Improving employee engagement is crucial in business because unhappy workers are typically less productive. And where there’s a disgruntled employee, you can bet there’s a lousy boss not far off. Such was the case with Carly Fiorina.
Fiorina was brought on as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1999, becoming the first female head of a Fortune 100 company in the process. For a while, it seemed she would be a good fit. In actuality, her tenure was plagued with problems from day one and they just seemed to stack up as time went on. Consider the following:
Still, her stint as HP’s CEO wasn’t a total failure: When she was forced to resign in 2005, the company’s stock jumped 6.9 percent. It seems that getting fired was the best thing Fiorina could have done for HP. As for her career, well, that’s been considerably damaged due in part to her failed attempts to move into politics.
“You can be unethical and still be legal; that’s the way I live my life.”
This eyebrow-raising statement is allegedly a remark made by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, according to a former Harvard classmate. While its authenticity hasn’t been proven, it might give you a glimpse into how the founder of the world’s most popular social media site views the concept of morality.
Now, it’s no secret that Zuckerberg has a dark side. After all, Aaron Sorkin made a movie, The Social Network, based on the premise that Zuckerberg straight-up stole the idea of Facebook from several of his friends. But business is often a dog-eat-dog world, right? Maybe, but some serious allegations regarding Zuckerberg’s behavior have emerged over the years:
Petitions for Zuckerberg to resign seem to crop up almost every year and his own employees have staged virtual protests against the company. Whistleblower Frances Haugen even said in June 2022 that Facebook can’t repair its reputation until Zuckerberg steps down, which he seems to have no intention of doing. [Related article: Facebook Marketing Strategies for Businesses]
Elon Musk has attained celebrity status with his boasts of science fiction successes and seductive forward-thinking image. Unfortunately, the man that car enthusiasts put on a pedestal often gets in the way of his own achievements, which include varying degrees of success with Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter).
Instead of being best known for his game-changing innovations, Musk is most closely associated with questionable behavior. Consider the following:
Musk’s complicated personal life, arrogant public persona, suspect labor practices and other factors continue to make him a controversial public figure and businessperson. Even though he stepped down at X in 2023, he continues to wreak havoc (see below).
Linda Yaccarino was the chairman of NBCUniversal’s global advertising and partnerships before being tapped to succeed Elon Musk as CEO of X. Over 11 years with NBCUniversal, she unified the company’s disparate global networks, business units and properties through strategic and operational initiatives. Yaccarino is credited with generating over $100 billion in advertising sales. So, it’s no wonder she caught the eye of Musk, who was looking to step down as CEO and find “someone foolish enough to take the job.”
This public comment from Musk perhaps should have been a red flag for Yaccarino. Although Musk ostensibly stepped down as CEO of X and handed the reins to Yaccarino in May 2023, his toxic and chaotic presence has continued to ensnare the company in controversy and internal discontent. Consider the following:
First and foremost, the CEO position is a leadership position and the person who holds it must act as a leader — and here is where Yaccarino has encountered trouble. She’s presented only a muted lack of response to controversies or weak justifications for Musk’s outrageous behavior. In retrospect, it appears she was installed at X to be a figurehead, while the real power remained Elon Musk. Yaccarino’s reputation is at stake as she tries to hang on to her job amid the chaos.
Whatever your career or industry, soft skills can make or break you. Travis Kalanick lacked a significant one: self-awareness. Self-delusion can cause you to make bad business decisions, take relationships for granted and fail to drive growth and profits. Kalanick was driven by ruthless competitiveness, wasted money and fostered a “bro culture” that favored toxic masculinity and bullying. His missteps included the following:
Kalanick’s stature was further diminished by the 2022 Showtime series Super Pumped, which brutally depicted his rise and fall. It’s telling that the show’s second season is expected to center on Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Overconfidence is a trait few people have and it often results in failure. Adam Neumann is a prime example. As CEO of WeWork, he was so confident in his skills that he once declared that his descendants would run the company in 300 years. To his credit, Neumann was a charismatic fundraiser. He scaled quickly with an indulgent mixture of $12 billion in venture capital and debt.
Working nonstop, Neumann added 12,500 employees and half a million users in 111 cities and 29 countries in less than a decade. By 2018, however, the company had lost $2 billion. However, because WeWork’s valuation continued to rise, Neumann didn’t rein in expenses. Instead, he purchased a $60 million private jet, spent $90 million on six homes and employed many nannies, chefs and personal assistants. Investors saw the lavish lifestyle and bought in.
However, it wasn’t long before Neumann’s over-the-top lifestyle caught up with him. With the company bleeding money before going public and accusations of wildly inappropriate workplace behavior, the executive faced growing pressure to give up his post. Amid allegations of questionable business practices, including using the company to unethically benefit himself, Neumann resigned from WeWork in 2019.
Similar to Kalanick and Super Pumped, Neumann was unflatteringly portrayed in the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed in 2022. Together, the programs serve as a warning to CEOs: Never get too big for your britches.
Sam Bankman-Fried was the celebrated CEO and founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and one of the wealthiest people in the cryptocurrency space until his downfall. He launched FTX in 2019 and grew it into one of the biggest platforms for trading crypto derivatives. By early 2022, the company was valued at $40 billion.
However, in November 2022, the company filed for bankruptcy following a report from CoinDesk that pointed out possible leverage and solvency issues. FTX’s failure shook the entire cryptocurrency industry, causing a landslide of losses in the billions. Bankman-Fried was arrested the next month and accused of stealing more than $10 billion from investors, manipulating the price of his exchange’s FTT token and front-running customers (a form of insider trading). About a year later, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud and subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison plus an $11 billion fine.
One of a CEO’s primary responsibilities is conducting business within legal guidelines and an ethical business culture. The bigger the company, the more people who can be hurt potentially by fraudulent, illegal and shifty CEO behavior — and the consequences of this behavior are severe. No situation justifies acting this way. Even if your company fails, you can file bankruptcy, reorganize, learn from your business failure and start again. Be aware of the laws and regulations that apply to your company and industry and stay compliant with them.
Dave Calhoun has been the president and CEO of the global aerospace company Boeing Company since January 2020. However, due to a host of problems at the company, Calhoun recently announced his plans to step down at the end of 2024. Consider the following situations:
Just because the company’s problems began on someone else’s watch doesn’t entitle a CEO to place all the blame on their predecessor. Once a person becomes CEO, 100 percent of the responsibility falls to them and it is incumbent upon that individual to fix the problem.
Being the head of a company isn’t a walk in the park. You’re expected to raise profits, improve manager-employee relations, keep shareholders happy, maintain an excellent reputation and more. The gig requires long hours and forces you to face moral and financial challenges continually. It’s no wonder that some end up facing executive-level employee burnout.
Fortunately, you can glean lessons from the mistakes of those who’ve come before you. We’ve compiled tips for business executives willing to take on this sought-after leadership role.
Jennifer Dublino contributed to this article.