And before anyone starts questioning me on this chart, just know I would agree with you.
I hate this sort of infographic because it’s been designed purely to gain PR headlines and drive dinner party conversation rather than shine a light on hard facts.
Why do I say that?
Well because I don’t believe their methodology would have been robust enough to make a claim like this.
For example, did they really look at the names of every major corporations CEO?
In every country?
And what does a ‘major corporation’ even mean?
By staff? By revenue? By profit?
But even if I ignore that, the fact that proves their data is flawed is the simple reality that there’s no way any shareholder would allow anyone called Robert to be CEO of a big company – let alone 3.4% of all major corporations.
That said, I believe the female statistic.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so utterly disgusting and tragic.
The percentages are even worse in Hollywood as this video so beautifully highlights:
For the record, while I found the way they delivered the horrendous percentages very funny, I do feel the men vs woman message is not going to achieve anything for them. Especially in the ego-filled movie industry.
Personally, I’d suggest that with so many famous and wealthy actresses in the biz – and some in the video – they should think about setting up a female run studio and show the men what they’re missing out on.
Apart from the fact ‘success is the greatest revenge’, the fact is all they need are 2 hits in a row and the rest of the business will shift because Hollywood is a copycat industry, preferring to swallow its pride rather than miss out on making an extra $1.
But that’s just me.
Oh … and while I’m at it, I probably do believe that John is the most popular CEO name.
It’s not because they are naturally gifted individuals … but because the name is safe, solid, conservative that might influence the board of directors at big companies to think they would make a more stable CEO. Someone who won’t rock the boat … someone who will keep the shareholders quiet … someone who won’t get rid of their perks.
Maybe.
Anyway, this has become a very long post for something I think is bollocks, so I’ll leave it there, even though I know most of you stopped reading after the picture.