Your CEO lied on his résumé. What now?
Yahoo has admitted that its CEO lied about having a degree in computer science, but it is publicly sticking by him. Experts weigh in on whether that’s the right move.
There’s no doubt about it: Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson doesn’t have a computer science degree, though on his résumé he stated that he did.
In a statement to USA Today, the company backed its beleaguered chief executive in the face of shareholders’ calls for his resignation: “This in no way alters that fact that Mr. Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies. Under Mr. Thompson’s leadership, Yahoo is moving forward to grow the company and drive shareholder value.”
On one hand, that’s a reasonable response, says Drew Mendelson of Mendelson Communications.
“Computer science isn’t medicine, and I don’t know that a degree in it proves anything,” he says. “Bill Gates famously dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to found Microsoft.”
On the other hand, the problem may not be with Thompson’s credentials.
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