Google CEO Sundar Pichai is the world’s most reputable CEO, according to a new index by the Reputation Institute.
Its CEO RepTrak study placed Pichai at the top of the list, standing out for his responsible leadership and “viewed as excellent” on fiscal, social and environmental responsibility.
Pichai fired employee James Damore following a controversial memo on workplace diversity. “It’s important for the women at Google, and all the people at Google, that we want to make [it] an inclusive environment,” Pichai told Recode earlier this year.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced this week it is investigating Google over its use of consumer location data in relation to privacy.
Denise Morrison of the Campbell Soup Company and Tatsumi Kimishima of Nintendo received honourable mentions in the top-ten list.
The ranking is based on 28,000 individual ratings collected in the first quarter of 2018 across the G15 economies. It investigates the “direct correlation” between corporate reputation and stakeholder support.
“The rubric for what it takes to be a great leader is quickly shifting,” said Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, chief reputation officer at the Reputation Institute.
“There is a new era emerging in which the intangibles of reputation are driving political, social and economic change, and giving CEOs reason to reconsider their role as a leader. To be relevant as a contemporary leader today, you need to be a CEO with conscience.”
The top-ten list, in alphabetical order, is:
- Giorgio Armani of Giorgio Armani
- Keith Barr of InterContinental Hotels Group
- Fabrizio Freda of The Esteé Lauder Company
- Ralph Hamers of ING
- Bernard Hess of The Kraft Heinz Company
- Tatsumi Kimishima of Nintendo
- Denise Morrison of the Campbell Soup Company
- Sundar Pichai of Google
- Dirk Van de Put of Mondelez International
- Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn