According to employees of the companies surveyed, these are the top 10 worst CEOs (of CONSUMER companies) to work for.

Rank – Company – CEO – approval rating

10. US Postal Service – Jack Potter – 21%
9. Sun Microsystems – Jonathan I. Schwartz – 21%
8. eBay – John J. Donahoe – 20%
7. Convergys (a horrible call center company) – Dave Dougherty – 19%
6. Pfizer – Jeff Kindler – 19%
5. Sears Holdings – W. Bruce Johnson – 19%
4. RadioShack – Julian C. Day – 16%
3. Sports Authority – Doug Morton – 12%
2. United Airlines – Glenn F. Tilton 8%
1. Office Depot – Steve Odland – 7%

Source for the information

I haven’t had the displeasure of working for any of these companies, but I do come into contact with at least one of these on a daily basis it seems.

In the bigger chart (including companies that don’t come in contact with the consumer on day to day transactions) from Glassdoor, the absolute worst CEO to work for is Krishna Srinivasan, the CEO of Frost & Sullivan.

The best CEO to work for is Ken Powell at General Mills.  Number 3 is Steve Jobs and number four is Eric Schmidt at Google.

Eric Schmidt, the Google CEO, said that the worst of the recession is over, well at least the advertising part anyway. He continued by pointing to signs of recovery in the United States as well as Europe. He said that Google first noticed signs of recovery in May and June.

Advertising has really taken a hit in the recession. I’ve said it before, because marketing professors burned it into our brains, whenever a recession happens, marketing is one of the first departments to feel the heat. Companies often turn to their marketing departments first when it comes time to cut jobs and start the lay off process.

Many companies do not feel as though marketing is a department that is necessary or vital to everyday operations.

I beg to differ. I feel as though marketing is extremely vital to the longevity and prosperity of a company through a recession. There are other places in a company that should be cut first, or at least downsized while the marketing department should grow. Then again, this is my opinion and I graduated with a marketing degree so I’m a bit biased.

If you take away your advertising budget, how do you expect to get any sales to keep your business afloat? I suppose there is word of mouth marketing, but there’s really nothing like a good advertising saturation to imprint your brand in the minds of consumers.

At least someone is saying that advertising is beginning to come out of the recession a bit. That is actually, really good news. When advertising comes out of the recession, other things can start to thaw out a bit as well. The more spending that is happening, the more the economy will grow. It is truly good news for everyone (even if some of those ads do get a bit annoying, teeth whitening anyone?).

Do you agree with the “mutual decision” of Eric Schmidt leaving Apple’s Board of Directors?

Question:

Yesterday Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, announced that he would be stepping down from Apple’s board of directors. Do you agree with the move?

Answer:

I do because Google has too  much interest in the products and innovations coming out of Apple. Even if Schmidt were to excuse himself from every single meeting when a competing product came up, he would be nearly useless when it came to make board decisions. The seat is better suited for someone else at this time.

I don’t think he should have been on the board for as long as he was. I think that he should have left the board once Android went into development.

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, resigned from Apple’s board of directors today due to the two companies having very similar interests. Both companies are gearing up for a rivalry in the mobile phone industry that could get quite heated.

Although it is said that his departure from the board was a mutual decision, the move was made after United States regulators launched an investigation into whether or not Schmidt’s place on the board violated US Antitrust laws.

Schmidt has been on the board since August 2006. His role came under scrutiny once Google started encroaching on Apple’s market with both mobile phones as well as desktop PC software. Once Google announced that it would be coming out with its own operating system, it likely became the last straw. Schmidt has left the board just a month after that announcement was made.

Up until the Chrome OS announcement was made, whenever there was a board meeting at Apple, Schmidt would only excuse himself from the meetings when they would begin talking about the iPhone. However, now that the Chrome OS announcement has been made, he would have to excuse himself whenever Leopard came up also. This would greatly diminish his effectiveness as a board member according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

This is from Apple’s press release:

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

Apple and Google have been at each other for awhile when it comes to mobile phones. Even when Schmidt excuses himself from the meetings once the iPhone comes up, it is easy to see how the two sides are bitter rivals in some sense. The Android mobile operating system is gearing up to be one of the most dominant mobile operating systems on the market. Another problem comes from Apple and the company’s issue with the Google Voice App.

The FTC may be getting involved to avoid any antitrust claims that may come up.

The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 bars someone from serving on the board of two rival companies. Until recently Apple and Google haven’t been rival companies, but now with Google’s Android OS and Apple’s insanely popular iPhone both out, it does seem like they are rival companies.

Schmidt told reporters that he would excuse himself from Apple board meetings when the iPhone would come up, but what is someone’s word when it comes to a main product?

I was wondering if Google is trying to avoid violating antitrust laws by not having multi-touch capabilities on any Android phones that have come out…hmm.