Hurd On The Street: We Rarely Trust CEOs
It turns out that the CEO of the largest technology company in the world was just like the rest of them.
And we are hardly surprised.
A whopping 18% believe this statement – “CEOs can generally be trusted to tell the truth,” according to a study by Ipsos.
HP CEO Mark Hurd fit the mold of the untrustworthy company leader. In the same Ipsos poll, CEOs from North America received the lowest scores when it came to credibility.
With Hurd at the helm, HP was ranked 32nd on Fortune’s list of the world’s most admired companies.
On Friday, its share price fell nearly 10 percent. That came after HP stock doubled in the five years that Hurd was in charge.
HP dismissed Hurd after its investigation of a sexual harassment complaint found he had falsified expense reports and other documents to conceal a relationship with a contractor. Hurd also allegedly helped the woman get paid for assignments she never completed.
According to the Associated Press, Hurd was in negotiations for a new three-year contract worth about $100 million.
Instead, he reportedly walks away with a package for about $28 million. If we hadn’t seen this a thousand times before, we would be outraged.
As to the bigger picture of whether Hurd’s transgressions will make a difference in consumer minds, that answer will come in future surveys. Trust in business has actually been up this year, according to studies by Edelman and others.
But that was before we heard about Hurd.
Follow Technorati