Corporations: How are you Effected?: Lying CEO s

Hypothetically speaking, you're sitting at work when your boss comes into the office. Smiling, he tells you you're going to get a 30% raise on your salary. Thrilled, you call your family and friends and want to celebrate. Knowing you'll make a lot more money, you decide to blow some of the money you have now. When your next pay check comes around, it is the same as the last...no 30% raise. Confused, you approach your boss and ask about it. How would you feel if you heard him say "I lied"? Not only did you just spend a lot of money, resulting in you not being able to pay all your bills this month, you've gotten your hopes and the hopes of your family up at his expense. He lied to you and gets away with it and now you're financially in trouble. This is something no one should go through, being lied to by their boss. But in today's world there are plenty of bosses and CEO s of major corporations lying.
At Stanford University, analysts may have discovered how to tell if your CEO is lying to you with seven simple hints. (Par. 4-10)

Your CEO says we, not I. If he is willing to share responsibility, it's definitely something worth thinking about.
Your CEO says "everybody knows", "others would agree", "everyone agrees" etc. it decreases their personal responsibility.
Your CEO indulges their inner cheerleader and uses words like "phenomenal" and "flawless" as opposed to "good" or "promising".
Your CEO makes the bad even worse by using words like "mortifying" and "heartbreaking" as opposed to "tough" or "difficult".
Your CEO curses, even small curses like "hell" or "screw". Dishonest CEO s are more prone to curse than honest CEO s.
Your CEO uses words like "hate", "crush", and "kill" to demonstrate their sincerity as opposed to using facts or figured.
Your CEO asks you if you trust them, or tells you to trust them.

It seems to me that if you're going to be a CEO of a major corporation you would be smart enough to tell the truth and you'd be smart enough to know the major consequences of lying. USAToday can help us take former CEO of Radioshack, David Edmondson, for example. About 5 years ago, Edmondson came clean about "lying about his educational history". (Par. 1) I'm curious as to why no one caught this beforehand. Not only because lying about having a degree is not smart to begin with but mainly because Edmondson claimed to get a degree in psychology from Pacific Coast Baptist College, a school that didn't offer, nor had it ever offered, a psychology degree. So, as stupid as it is to lie about getting a college degree from a school that never offered that degree, who was supposed to check up on that and why hadn't they done their job? Previously to finding out that he lied about his degree, Edmondson had been charged with 2 DWI s. Now, I'm not trying to judge, but on what planet do you want the CEO of your company to be someone who had been convicted of driving intoxicated? All of this may be shocking, but the most shocking has to be that they actually didn't keep him as CEO. Why do you ask? Because who ever was in charge of him before was stupid enough to hire him.

Even more depressing, Edmondson isn't the first, nor the last, nor the only CEO to be called a liar. MSNBC exposed Enron's founder, "Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling went on trial for lying" for more than four years. (Par. 1). Bernard Ebbers, former Worldcom CEO was sentenced to jail for "one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings" said the Seattle Times. (Par. 3).

It's no wonder that major corporations are seen as a bad thing. They're being run by dishonest people who are in it for the money and will take whatever short cuts and tell whatever lies they need to tell to make sure that they are set for life. They don't care about their workers and they don't care about who they crush on their way to the top. Now, I'm not saying that every CEO of every company is horrible. Take Larry Shea for example. He started out at a "sales associate at Barney & Barney in 1968" and later became CEO. He was considered one of San Diego's Outstanding CEO s in 2004. (Par. 6)

The world would be a better place if people would treat their companies more like Shea and not like Lay. The more honest our CEO s are the better known their companies will be. Let's face it, Edmondson lied about a degree, while he lost his job Radioshack remained a company in good standing. However, the biggers liars, like Lay, gave the name Enron an extremely negative connotation. How do we know which companies to support if we don't know which companies are corrupted by lying CEO s? Sadly, we don't know. Even more sadly, average employees of those companies don't know who they're working for either.

Watson, Bruce. "Corporate Charlatans: Seven Signs Your CEO Could Be Lying - DailyFinance." Business News, Stock Quotes, Investment Advice - DailyFinance. Web. 03 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/lying-ceos-seven-signs/19680621/>.

"USATODAY.com - RadioShack CEO Lied on Resume." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. 16 Feb. 2006. Web. 03 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-02-16-lying-exec_x.htm>.

"Lay-Skilling Trial Really Comes down to Lying - Business - Corporate Scandals - The Enron Trial - Msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News - Msnbc.com. Web. 03 Feb. 2011. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10928376/ns/business-corporate_scandals/>.

Hill, Miriam. "Nation & World | WorldCom CEO Guilty in $11 Billion Fraud Case | Seattle Times Newspaper." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. Web. 03 Feb. 2011.
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002208972_ebbers16.html>.

"Profiles of Outstanding CEO's - San Diego Magazine - February 2004 - San Diego, California." San Diego Magazine - San Diego Restaurants, Events, Photos, The Best of San Diego. Web. 03 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/media/San-Diego-Magazine/February-2004/Profiles-of-Outstanding-CEOs/>.

4 comments:

dtate326February 15, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Dear Emily,

I completely agree with you on this. I would absolutely be distraught if someone lied to me, especially someone you are taught to respect.

I think it's great that you pointed out that there still good CEOs out there. It seems like the only ones you ever notice or hear anything about are the corrupt ones.

I love the hints you included. I think every person in the workforce should be aware that their boss doesn't have to tell the truth. At least now, I can be prepared when dealing with similar situations.

Thanks for the interesting read. I look forward to seeing more on your perspective of the corporate world.

Springbok
Negrete92February 15, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Dear EmilyyAnn,
This topic is very interesting, I had never thought about how much CEO's influence a company. I liked the facts about how you know when a CEO is lying to you and how they are being dishonest. Something else that I liked was how you also gave examples of CEO's that where not dishonest and that actually had a company that was working the legal way. One of the sections that caught my attention the most was the way to tell if a CEO is lying to you. It is interesting that many do actually use this ways to get what they want. I never thought that a lot of these hints actually did happen until now that you mentioned it. I agree that many people do get excited when they are told that they are going to get a raise and then go spend as much money as they can. I would get really mad if i was also told that I was actually not getting anything. I would just be disappointed and probably look for another job instead. This was a great topic. It really got me interested in the subject and makes me want to go such for more information. I hope that all of your topic will be as interesting as this one and I hope to come back and find new information that will catch my attention.
MP #1 Aardvark
dnice21February 15, 2011 at 1:26 PM
Dear Emily,
This topic is interesting,you made some good points on how a CEO influence a company.i would feel bad if my ceo would tell me, im going to get a 30% raise and dont even get it. That is wrong in every way. You really caught my attention when you describe the part where your boss was suppose to give you a 30% raise and you didnt get it. this stood out because, this is the boss you're talking about. im working under him, im suppose to be able to trust him, when it comes to things dealing with my job. I agree that people do get excited when, they boss tell them that they're going to get a raise, and knowing that they go spend some of the money that they have. Thank you for sharing this informations it was very helpful. I hope that you continue to blog about topics like this.
MP #1 House Finch
KelveenMay 4, 2011 at 9:20 PM
Dear Emily,

When people think of the head of a company they want someone honest. This blog really brought out the true colors of some bad men (and one good one!) so I’m glad I stopped and read it.

I really enjoyed reading the signs of knowing if your CEO is lying to you. These all make perfect sense but aren’t something I would have thought about on my own. Now I know, when I’m in the working world, what to look for when listening to my boss or CEO. It’s shocking that it’s so common for them to lie that there is actually a list of signs!

I totally agree with the fact you said the more honest our CEOs are the better our companies would be. If we didn’t have to deal with scandals then corporations wouldn’t be so bad in our eyes and we wouldn’t have as many problems as we do. I’m not saying it would solve everything but it would solve a lot.

I really enjoyed this post!

Grackle

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Lying CEO s

4 comments: