The top 25 companies with the highest ranked leadership teams, according to employees
Marguerite Ward  Â
- Honest and cooperative managers are more likely to have direct reports with similar attributes, suggesting good management has a "trickle down effect," according to researchers at leadership development firm Zenger Folkman.
- To identify some of today's top corporate leaders, career website Comparably asked employees at over 60,000 large, medium, and small companies, to rate their CEOs on a number of factors.
- CEOs who ranked highly on the top 25 best leaders list for large companies include Adobe's Shantanu Narayen, Zoom's Eric Yuan, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella.
A leader's attitude and behaviors are contagious.
Researchers have found evidence of a "trickle down effect," or at the very least a correlation, where a manager and their direct reports cluster around similar levels of effectiveness, cooperation, honesty, integrity, and more. Moreover, if you're an effective boss, you're more likely to work for an effective boss, per the same study conducted by Zenger Folkman, a leadership development firm.
To figure out who are some of the best leaders in today's corporate world, career website Comparably surveyed employees across some 60,000 large companies (over 500 employees) and small-to-mid-sized companies asking them to anonymously rate their CEO and leadership teams on issues like company culture. The survey was open from June 30, 2019 to June 30, 2020.
It should be noted that the list of leaders is largely white and male, pointing to America's lack of diversity in the C-suite. Eleven of the top 50 highest ranking leaders were BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) or women.
Here are the top CEOs at 25 large US companies that employees ranked highly, listed in ascending order of positive reviews. You can review the full list here.
25. Ramon Laguarta is the CEO of PepsiCo, Inc., an American multinational food, snack and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase.
Headquarters: Harrison, NY
Industry: Food & Beverages
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Always there and willing to provide the help or training needed to get the job done."
24. Steve Hare is the CEO of Sage, a management software company that develops and markets accounting software for small and medium businesses.
Headquarters: Atlanta
Industry: Tech
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "I have never seen such clear communication and alignment from leadership on goals and direction."
23. Carmine Di Sibio is the CEO of Ernst & Young, or simply EY, a multinational professional services firm with headquarters in London and New York.
Headquarters: New York City
Industry: Accounting
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Leadership is skilled at creating compelling visions that we can all unite around, and communicating that across the company."
22. Alex Shootman is the CEO of Workfront, which provides cloud-based work management solutions for enterprise teams.
Headquarters: Lehi, UT
Industry: Computer Software
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "An amazing vision for the company, and transparent about where we are going. I have confidence every day I step into work."
21. Chris Hyams is the CEO of Indeed, an American worldwide employment-related search engine for job listings launched in November 2004.
Headquarters: Austin, TX
Industry: Marketing & Advertising
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They are very honest and transparent - we have a quarterly presentation and a completely open Q&A session where anyone can ask anything."
20. Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple, a multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and markets consumer electronics, personal computers, and software.
Headquarters: Cupertino, CA
Industry: Consumer Electronics
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They are always looking for feedback on how to improve and often institute changes based upon feedback. No other company that I have ever worked for has done this same thing with such success."
19. Reed Hastings is the CEO Netflix, an American media services provider and production company headquartered in Los Gatos, California, founded in 1997.
Headquarters: Los Gatos, CA
Industry: Entertainment
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "We're treated like adults. We're given enough information and context that we don't end up making decisions in an information vacuum."
18. Wayne Peacock is the CEO of USAA, a private Fortune 150 financial services company that provides banking, insurance, and investment to the military community.
Headquarters: San Antonio, TX
Industry: Banking
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They understand that happy workers provide the best service to our customers."
17. Ryan Smith is the CEO of Qualtrics, a single system of record for all experience data, managing customer, product, employee, and brand experiences on one platform.
Headquarters: Provo, UT
Industry: Tech
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Really care about our customers, really care about the employees - and both of those way way more than they care about themselves."
16. Mike Walsh is the CEO of LexisNexis, a corporation providing computer-assisted legal research as well as business research and risk management services.
Headquarters: New York City
Industry: Information Technology & Services
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "My leadership team is responsive and supportive. I am given plenty of leeway and encouraged to make my own decisions."
15. Bert Bean is the CEO of Insight Global provides long-term, short-term, temporary-to-permanent, placement staffing, and enhanced staffing services.
Headquarters: Atlanta
Industry: Staffing & Recruiting
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "I like that they care about your career growth and that if you have a goal and make it known they will help you get there."
14. Jeff Weiner is the former CEO of LinkedIn, a professional networking site that allows its members to create business connections, search jobs, and find potential clients.
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA
Industry: Tech
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Our leadership team's process is outstanding. They make the perfect and right decision, whatever the situation is. They're the best we have."
13. Chris Caldwell is the CEO of Concentrix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation, which is a technology-enabled global business services company specializing in customer engagement and improving business performance.
Headquarters: Outsourced Call Center
Industry: Fremont, CA
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "All leaders live the organizational culture. What stands out even more during these trying times is the complete commitment of the leadership team to the health and wellbeing of all staff. I am truly proud."
12. Vlad Shmunis is the CEO of RingCentral, an American publicly traded provider of cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions for businesses.
Headquarters: Belmont, CA
Industry: Computer Software
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They're upbeat and can speak well to the vision of the future of the company."
11. Jeff Bezos is the CEO of Amazon, an international e-commerce website for consumers, sellers, and content creators.
Headquarters: Seattle
Industry: Tech
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Leadership values the individual features of each and every employee."
Daniel Dines is the CEO of UiPath, which designs and develops robotic process automation and artificial intelligence software.
Headquarters: New York City
Industry: AI Software
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Leadership is fully committed to our culture as the most important thing driving our business."
9. Charles Scharf is the CEO Wells Fargo & Company, an American multinational financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California, with central offices throughout the United States.
Headquarters: San Francisco
Industry: Banking
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "I love how supportive the leadership team is with the employees. They really help us succeed in every possible way."
8. Alex Gorsky is the CEO of Johnson & Johnson, an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceutical, and consumer packaged goods.
Headquarters: New Brunswick, NJ
Industry: Consumer Goods
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Leadership is a fun, dynamic team that work together to get the job done fast and with the highest quality possible."
7. Brian Halligan is the CEO of HubSpot, an American developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service.
Headquarters: Cambridge, MA
Industry: Tech
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "I think more than anything, I love that they are thought leaders you can trust."
6. Carlos Rodriguez is the CEO of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), an American provider of human resources management software and services.
Headquarters: Roseland, NJ
Industry: Human Resources Software
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They genuinely care about the associates and clearly demonstrate it. They are very visible and involved."
5. Shantanu Narayen is the CEO of Adobe, which provides digital media and digital marketing solutions.
Headquarters: San Jose, CA
Industry: Computer Software
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "I love the communication and I feel that I understand their vision."
4. Mike Sievert is the CEO of T-Mobile, an American wireless network operator.
Headquarters: Bellevue, WA
Industry: Telecommunications
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They constantly put the employee first, they always are looking to help individuals reach their growth potential and are willing to put in the effort and assistance to develop their employees."
3. Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google, a multinational corporation that specializes in internet related services and products.
Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
Industry: Internet Cloud Computing
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "Super humble, very caring, zero pride involved. Truly lovely and inspiring people in the leadership roles."
2. Eric Yuan is the CEO of Zoom Video Communications, an American communications technology company that provides video conferencing and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social relations.
Headquarters: San Jose, CA
Industry: Information Technology & Services
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They are actually involved. It is so cool to see the CEO hopping in the chat and saying hi or giving us updates on the company. What an incredible experience!"
1. Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft Corporation, an American multinational technology company that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.
Headquarters: Redmond, WA
Industry: Computer Software
Employee quote on the company's leadership: "They care about making decisions that will benefit everyone. Very trustworthy."
Here's the full list:
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