Glassdoor, a career website, recently offered up its list of the top 50 chief executive officers of 2014, and this year saw some change yet again. While back in 2013, Tim Cook of Apple (News - Alert) lost out the top slot to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg found himself subsequently unseated by a new challenger in 2014. So who took the top slot on this year's Glassdoor rankings?
LinkedIn (News - Alert) CEO Jeff Weiner stepped in to take the top slot for 2014, with a full 100 percent approval rating. This is a huge jump for LinkedIn overall, which back in 2013, didn't even make the list. By way of comparison, Zuckerberg lost a full six points on his approval ratings, dropping him to 93 percent, sufficient to earn him fourth place in tech, and ninth place overall. Weiner was followed by Ford's Alan Mulally, Edelman's Richard Edelman, Qualcomm (News - Alert)'s Paul Jacobs and Costco's Craig Jelinek to round out the top five.
The Glassdoor rankings are determined based on company reviews, sent into Glassdoor by employees in the space between February 1, 2013, and January 31, 2014. Weiner's reports, meanwhile, reportedly boasted such glowing remarks as “Culture of complete transparency. Bi-weekly company all-hands with the CEO.” Another noted that “Perks are amazing.” as well as “Leadership is excellent.” The highest-rated CEOs, according to Glassdoor's own CEO and founder Robert Hohman, are “...commonly seen as relatable, accessible and transparent.”
Tech companies had a major show in the list, representing five of the top 10 firms, 10 of the top 25, and out of the 50 total companies represented, fully 14 of same were from tech firms. For the most part, employees appear to approve of CEO performance in almost staggering agreement; the top 25 companies all have CEOs with approval ratings of 90 percent or greater, and the lowest-ranked CEO on the list, GE's Jeffrey Immelt, holds a 78 percent approval rating.
Some question the validity of the list, particularly the 100 percent approval rating garnered by LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner; it's seldom that everyone in a company agrees on a point so absolutely. But it is entirely possible that, for these companies, employees approve of top management to this extent. Cynicism may well be utterly unwarranted here, and indeed, these companies seem to be doing quite well overall. Many of the companies on the list are doing comparatively well, even in a somewhat sluggish economy, and represent several major firms. Getting on this particular list may well offer further dividends for the company, especially as the economy sees some improvement overall. Those looking for work are likely to be inclined to go to these firms first and foremost, believing the leadership to be more concerned with the employee's well-being.
Either way, however, congratulations are quite due to Weiner and the rest of the top 50 CEOs found on Glassdoor's list. It's quite an achievement, particularly these days, and represents a feather in these companies' collective cap to have a CEO on this list.