A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the CEO of Yahoo, Scott Thompson. He was in the news because he had only been with Yahoo for a short time and already was making major layoffs. Well, once again he has gotten himself into the spotlight. This time it is for his dishonesty.
Mistakes
Over the last few months since Scott Thompson took over as CEO, Yahoo has continued to struggle. In a recent regulatory filing, it was encountered that Scott’s resume erroneously said he had earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science when in fact he only had a degree in accounting.
Dishonesty – The Cover-up
What was even worse was that he tried to cover it up by first claiming innocence. Scott blamed the erroneous resume on the executive search firm. From there, Wall Street Journal Article Yahoo CEO’s Downfall states, “Ultimately, Mr. Thompson’s comments, some of which were disclosed on tech blogs, angered the search firm, which the CEO didn’t name but which is Heidrick & Struggles International Inc.
The firm placed Mr. Thompson as chief technology officer of eBay Inc.’s PayPal unit in 2005. To clear its name, Heidrick struck back by calling Yahoo and showing documents it had received from Mr. Thompson containing his inaccurate biography, said people familiar with the matter.”
In line with my post yesterday, honesty is extremely important. Ultimately, Scott Thompson’s downfall came because of his dishonesty. When the “mistake” was made, there weren’t many things he could do to fix the situation. Whether or not he actively lied about the resume or just lied after the fact, it is suspected that he lied and was dishonest. His dishonesty will probably haunt him for years to come.
Why Honesty Is Most Important
If you are not honest, you will fail. It may not be right away, but it will eventually happen. Honesty is the best policy. How do you fight the urge to be dishonest? Have you seen a leader fail due to their own dishonesty? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Yahoo………isn’t that what cowboys say???
No surprise this guy lied to land the plumb job…….very often it’s not the best person for the job who gets the job, more often than not it’s the best liar and here’s more proof of it.
Is the onus on him to be truthful or does certain responsibility remain with those who interviewed and hired him? Certainly somewhere the truth has been “stretched” and the point overlooked………..
David,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! With Scott getting caught in a lie, it brings to light the importance of being honest. I don’t know what the statistics are about how much people lie or don’t lie, but I think there are still a lot of good people in the world that try really hard not to lie.
As you pointed out, there is a certain amount of onus on the person hiring someone to be sure they get the right person for the job. If they hire the wrong persone, they may hold some of the blame for not doing a sufficient background check.
Thanks for the great comment!
Hi Brandon,
Great topic. And to answer your Q: yes, I have seen a leader fail due to dishonesty. It does not need to be a downright lie. Dishonest leaders pretend to be someone they’re not, pretend to know things they don’t and “forget” or distort promises, facts & ideas. Of course co-workers notice this, lose both trust and intrinsic motivation – and at that stage you’re back to the caveman-with-club strategy, today disguised by a corporate dress code and known as leadership by fear.
Welcome Brit!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I completely agree with you that leaders don’t necessarily have to outright lie to fail. There are countless ways to be dishonest. Once a leader starts down the path of dishonesty it becomes a big web that will quickly lead to their downfall.