They serve as great examples — of how not to lead.
The past year or so has produced an avalanche of bungles, failures, and questionable decisions among CEOs and politicians—many so distinctive or outsize that they merit special acknowledgement.
Don’t Blame Me, I’m Just The Governor Award
Rick Snyder, Governor of Michigan
Michigan Gov. Rick SnyderPhotograph by Al Goldis — AP Images
Snyder and his team sparked national outrage after an attempt at cost-savings left the impoverished city of Flint, Mich. with a lead-tainted water supply that is being blamed for illness and brain damage, especially among its youngest residents. Called to testify before Congress, Snyder, who touted his competence in his gubernatorial campaign, labeled the experience the “most humbling” of his life—then attempted to shift blame. He described it as a “failure of government” and blasted the Environmental Protection Agency for its “dumb and dangerous” rules on allowable amounts of lead in water systems.
The Burned Rubber Prize
Martin Winterkorn, former chairman of Volkswagen
Winterkorn led VW during most of the behavior that led to a disastrous scandal (which is far from over), as company engineers installed software that manipulated emissions on about 11 million diesel vehicles. Winterkorn has asserted ignorance of any wrongdoing. Critics have been skeptical, given that he is known as a micro-manager. Then there’s the fact that the company has acknowledged that, at least in the latter stages, a warning of potential wrongdoing was sent to him. VW was known for a ruthless culture and, under Winterkorn, an ambition to become the world’s largest automaker. The combination proved toxic in the case of its emissions cheating.
The Black Box Award
Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos
Once a Silicon Valley wunderkind, Holmes leads a startup that seeks to disrupt health care by offering cheaper and less invasive blood tests. But Theranos’s reputation has wilted under heavy scrutiny. After an investigative report by the Wall Street Journal cast doubt on some of the company’s key claims, Holmes continued to defend Theranos’ testing and methods—all while refusing to allow outside scientific scrutiny or peer review. Meanwhile she was unable to keep one of her company’s two labs in minimally acceptable order, according to findings by federal regulators. They concluded that the lab suffered from five “serious deficiencies,” one of which “posed immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety.”
I Lost My Strategy Under the Sofa, Special Citation
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo
Yahoo CEO Marissa MayerPhotograph by Mario Tama—Getty Images
Nobody thought Marissa Mayer faced an easy challenge when she signed on to try to revive the fading Web 1.0 icon. But nearly four years into her tenure, the profits continue to sag and the fiascos continue to mount as, to take just one of many examples, she shutters expensive “magazines” that she previously launched and described as central to her strategy. Paying hefty ransoms to keep key employees has made Mayer look desperate. She has alternated between resisting and embracing shareholder activists and zigzagged on whether she should spin off Yahoo’s YHOO 0.66% valuable stake in Alibaba or spin off the bulk of the company’s businesses and leave Yahoo as largely a holding company for the Alibaba stake.
The Leon Trotsky Prize for Reorganization
Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos
Tony HsiehPhotograph by Brad Swonetz
Hsieh is both a quirky mogul who lives in a trailer with two pet alpacas outside and a leadership guru who previously won plaudits for the zany, free-flowing culture at the online shoe-seller. He has made bold moves, such as a $350 million gamble to transform downtown Las Vegas into a bustling entrepreneurial hub. But Hsieh topped that by radically overturning the order at Zappos. He eliminated all bosses in favor of a self-management model known as holacracy, now aimed at reaching a state of organizational enlightenment known as “teal.” The result: A wave of exits, as 29% of the staff turned over in a single year. The company has yet to fully regain its footing.
The George Costanza Medal for In-Office Frolics
Parker Conrad, former CEO of Zenefits
Parker ConradPhotograph by Jim Wilson — The New York Times/Redux
In its first two years, the employee benefits software company grew at an astonishing pace, reaching more than 1,000 employees and a $4.5 billion valuation. Then things turned: Last year, Zenefits reportedly missed its revenue targets, causing Fidelity Investments to mark down the value of its shares in the company by 48%. Later, a Buzzfeed report found that, under Conrad, as many as 80% of Zenefits’ sales of health insurance in Washington state were made by unlicensed brokers. The final blow came in February, when employees were found to be systematically cheating on mandatory insurance-broker training. Conrad was pushed out. His replacement banned drinking at the office, calling Zenefits’ culture “inappropriate for a highly regulated company.” A subsequent Wall Street Journalreport found that under Conrad, Zenefits employees held frequent office parties, wrestled with each other in public, and had sex in the office stairwell.
The “Welcome Back, Now Please Leave” Certificate
Michael Pearson, outgoing CEO of Valeant
Michael PearsonPhotograph by Bloomberg — Getty Images
Valeant VRX -6.14% announced plans to find a new CEO only days after Pearson returned from two months of convalescence for pneumonia as the Canadian pharmaceutical company grappled with what it has conceded was “improper conduct” in misstating its financial results. The departure capped a stunning turnaround as the company went from being a stock market darling for its ability to jack up drug prices… to being vilified for much the same conduct. The “improper conduct” related to recognizing revenue from a mail-order pharmacy called Philidor, which was accused of using shady tactics to get insurers to pay for Valeant medications. (Valeant’s former CFO has denied any wrongdoing.)
Source: fortune
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