Do you know what your CEO looks like?

[Shalmanese]

The new show Undercover Boss has me wondering, for those of you who work in companies of 100+, do you know what your CEO looks like? Have you met him in person? Do you know him only by his official photo? If you walked by him on the street, would there be a flash of recognition? Or do you have absolutely no clue how he looks?

[ShibbOleth]

No, I've never met him or seen a picture. That includes my company which is fairly small, or the company which owns our company, which is quite large. I can't even spell his last name.

[don't ask]

I think we have about 1600 employees. I knew the CEO long before he was CEO, so whenever I see him he says hello and we have a chat. I also have direct dealings with him about work matters every so often.

[Crotalus]

My company has about 30,000 employees. I have seen our CEO in person once, and on video conferences several times. He could probably sneak by me on the street, but I would easily recognize him if we were in the same room for a minute or two. There's no way the Undercover Boss scenario would work for me and him. If I saw the guy in any work-related context, I would recognize him immediately.

[Serenata67]

My company has about 30,000 employees. I have seen our CEO in person once, and on video conferences several times. He could probably sneak by me on the street, but I would easily recognize him if we were in the same room for a minute or two. There's no way the Undercover Boss scenario would work for me and him. If I saw the guy in any work-related context, I would recognize him immediately.

This. His picture is up on our company intranet homepage at least once a week. If I saw him walk into my branch (which I doubt would happen), I would know it was him. But passing me on the sidewalk or in the mall? Probably not.

[don't ask]

Just as an aside, I note that the OP assumes a male CEO and they all are so far. When do you think we will see a response where he is a she?

[Noone Special]

100+? I think you're aiming low. My company now has over 100 employees, and I certainly know my CEO well enough to chat with him by the coffee machine.

I really think your cutoff should be closer to the "500+" or "1000+ employees" mark, at the very least.

[Future Londonite]

I would......I work for a huge worldwide hotelcompany with the 'founding' family still in charge. I worked at corporate HQ for 7yrs and he takes his lunches in the cafeteria so I used to see him quite often, his picture is on our company intranet quite often and there's a portrait of him and his father in every single lobby of your 3500 hotels....

[dalej42]

Interesting question. The former CEO, yes. I'd assume at least 75% of this board would recognize him instantly.

The current CEO, I wouldn't recognize if I ran into him at the grocery store.

[China Guy]

Yep, both current and former CEO's are world famous and recognized pretty much anywhere. Around 100k employees globally.

When I worked at a smaller company, I didn't know what the CEO looked like.

Hell, when I worked at Swiss Bank, lehman Brothers and Nikko Securities I didn't know what the CEO looked like. I might have had a chance with Dick Fuld but that's about it. Shit, how many people would recognize Richard Fuld, CEO Lehman Brothers and one architect of the current fiscal crisis?

[Khadaji]

My CEO is a good looking fellow, with a great grin and silver hair. You can see him by clicking on my profile. :)

But at my last job, no I would not have recognized him. OTOH, at my job previous to that I had had drinks with the CEO more than once. Both of these companies were quite large, but the difference was at the company where I knew the CEO, I worked out of their central office.

[Antigen]

Just as an aside, I note that the OP assumes a male CEO and they all are so far. When do you think we will see a response where he is a she?

Allow me.

Our CEO makes fairly regular rounds of the hospital to say hi and see how everyone's doing. She stayed through the night shift during the snowstorm here last week, and manned the 4WD hotline for a while. We have quarterly "state of the hospital" addresses with question periods, and since attendance is high at those events, and they span all shifts, I'd say a very good number of employees would recognize her.

I can't say I'd necessarily stop for a coffee with her if I saw her at a Starbucks, but I'd recognize her and at least say hi on my way out.

[Markxxx]

I worked for a huge hotel company and when I was in NYC, a guy walked into the elevator and I thought "Man I know him from somewhere." Then I figured it out that he was the CEO. So I introduced myself to him. Nice pleasant guy to spend a minute in an elevator with.

[interface2x]

I work at a corporate headquarters so I might not be the target for this one but yeah, I see the guy all the time. We're a company of tens of thousands of employees, though, and I doubt most of the people in our stores and out in the field could pick him out of a line-up. If he didn't host regular meetings and show up in internal videos, I probably wouldn't recognize him.

[Really Not All That Bright]

We're right at 100. I know the managing partner quite well, since his office is about 10 yards away.

[Gyrate]

We're at a little under 3000 people, but we have a very flat organisational structure and our upper management are quite visible. I've ridden in the lift with him on a few occasions.

[wmfellows]

Sure, I report directly to him.

[joebuck20]

I work at a company that has offices all along the East Coast. I've seen a picture of our CEO, and I might recognize him if he were to walk into our office, but if I were to walk by him on the street I seriously doubt I would know who he was. To be honest I couldn't even tell you what his full name is. I know his last name because he's a scion of our company's founder.
Then again our corporate parent, for the most part, takes a pretty hands off approach to managing its individual properties. So unless there's a layoff or some sort of restructuring in the pipeline, most low to mid-level employees (of which I am one) don't pay much attention to what's going at corporate.

[Winston Smith]

I work at my company's coprorate HQ, and the CEO's office is upstairs. I bump into him in the hall occassionally (maybe 3-4 times per year). We have a small gym on the first floor of our office, and I've seen him there a couple times (he gave me shit once for resting too long between sets). He hosts quarterly luncheons to which he invites about 30 employees from different business units. The luncheon lasts 90 minutes. He comes in, everybody eats (catered sandwiches, wraps, chips, soda/water & cookies), then he talks for 15 minutes or so and the rest is Q&A. The time I went, he yelled at me for asking a stupid question. :)

He's a pretty cool guy. No nonsense, right to the point, a great leader and he does a lot of charity work. He's a former professional athlete, Olympian and won his sport's most prestigious award in college. All-round, a pretty interesting guy and I'm glad I work for him.

[Livardo]

My company has around 10k employees. I've never seen the CEO in person but we all know his name. His picture is in some brochures, but it's not on the Intranet portal (unless you search for him).

We do get to see the CTO often (I work in IT), but it's always for a town hall.

[BKReporter]

I work for a media company that employs close to 10,000 people. The CEO is featured in the orientation materials all employees get when they start, so I have some idea what he looks like. I would probably recognize him if he dropped in, but I think that would mainly be because the corporate higher-ups wear expensive suits and have a couple of hangers-on when they visit. I've never actually seen him in person though, and if he were to come by himself dressed like any other schlub, I probably wouldn't be able to tell who he was.

[Giles]

My company has about 1,200 employees: I know the CEO, and he knows me. We even chat a bit when we meet, e.g., in the cafeteria.

At my last employer, I knew the what the CEO (the vice-chancellor) looked like, but he didn't know me. However, I did know the person above him in the hierarchy (the chancellor), because she'd been one of my professors when I was an undergraduate.

[Who_me?]

We've got 5 or 6 thousand people in my company and I've met the CEO on a number of occasions and had drinks with him once.

[Glory]

I work for a very large consumer electronics company and I would instantly recognize the CEO. He's super tall, has an accent and I've seen him on many occasions.

Previously, I worked at Microsoft. I would have had no difficulties recognizing Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer.

At both places, CEOs were frequently highlighted on the company intranet home page.

[Sir T-Cups]

I work retail.

I don't even know the CEO's name, but I'm not in Minnesota so I don't rightly care either since I'm never gonna see him (her? I don't even know)

[Oredigger77]

I currently work for a small corp. and while I recognize the CEO I would probably miss him on the street of course the last time I ran into him, after a meeting he stopped me, knew my name and asked some questions about a project I was working on so he knows me.

When I was working for Oxy I didn't even know the CEO's name except when I'd run across it as the highest paid CEO in the country. I didn't even know what the GM of my branch looked like. I like working for a small company much better.

[RealityChuck]

Sure. When you work in IT and fix computer problems, you get to know everyone.

Of course, this is a college, so the president has a very high profile both on campus and in the media (and since it's one location, you run into him all the time).

I wouldn't know the chairman of the Board of Trustees, though.

For nearly all of my jobs, the business was small enough to know the CEO. The only exception was when I worked for Spencer Gifts and as a temp.

[Skammer]

My company has about 78,000 employees, with about 2,000 here at our corporate headquarters. I know our CEO on sight - he regularly hosts HQ-wide meetings to give us company updates, and I've been in the elevator with him.

However, 90% of our employees work in our stores, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of them do not have any idea what he looks like, or if they even know his name.

[tdn]

Yes and no. The company I work for has over 8,000 employees, but is owned by a larger company of something like 60,000. The CEO of the smaller company recently accepted a promotion to CEO of the larger company. Not only do I recognize him, we said hi to each other just the other day. And it's not like I run in executive circles here, it's just that he's out among us commoners really often. He seems like a very social guy.

I was at the press conference when he ushered in the new CEO of the smaller company. Not only would I not recognize her, I can't even remember her name.

[TruCelt]

120,000 employees, and yes, I know the CEO.

[muldoonthief]

Another large company drone here. We get weekly update emails from the CEO, including a picture of him. Which fills up the stupidly small Inbox awful quick.

[Tom Tildrum]

My CEO is a Jewish carpenter!

Oh, not really. Sorry; shouldn't post while stuck in traffic staring at other people's bumpers.

I work for a gigantic federal agency, and I know what my agency head looks like That's a bit of a cheat, though, since such a person is naturally a more public figure than most private CEOs. We're even supposed to have a picture hanging in the lobby, but we're in a satellite building and somehow they never bother with that.

[palindromemordnilap]

We have 32,000 employees and I would know the global CEO and/or the Americas CEO and the global CFO/COO on the street. But I work in PR and interact with them all quite a bit. Still, all three of them send out all-employee messages on a pretty regular basis which include their photos, and we hold a quarterly town hall meeting which everyone is encouraged to attend and ask questions (even anonymously via email) and the webinar version of those sessions also includes photos of all participants.

[Zsofia]

I know the library director on sight, and she knows my name. That's partly because I work at the main branch and have done a lot of research for her. There are, I dunno, maybe 600 employees in the system.

[Anaamika]

I've seen pictures. I met her once, several years ago. And she has a blog. Regardless, it probably would take me a few seconds to recognize her.

[Ferret Herder]

Yup. I work in a hospital/medical center with several thousand employees. I've seen him in the hallways (and have exchanged hellos with him), he regularly holds Q&A sessions with anyone who wants to show up (not to mention random other meetings with 'average' employees), and his photo has been in newsletters and on signs advertising the meetings.

[RTFirefly]

100+? I think you're aiming low. My company now has over 100 employees, and I certainly know my CEO well enough to chat with him by the coffee machine.

I really think your cutoff should be closer to the "500+" or "1000+ employees" mark, at the very least.I agree. I'm a government employee, so I don't have a particular CEO, but I've been in two different divisions at my agency, each with over 100 people, and my division chiefs have all known who I was.

Next guy above my division chief is one of the assistant directors of my agency. The divisions that report to him have about 500 people, all told. He and I know each other from back when he was my division chief in my old division, and we have a longstanding cribbage rivalry going, at least when he's got a spare moment for it.

I'd recognize the director of my agency if he stopped by (I've been to talks he's given on statistical subjects that relate to my own work), though he wouldn't know me from Adam. I wouldn't recognize the Cabinet secretary that he reports to. OTOH, I'd definitely recognize the guy that the Cabinet secretary reports to. :D

[tumbleddown]

The new show Undercover Boss has me wondering, for those of you who work in companies of 100+, do you know what your CEO looks like? Have you met him in person? Do you know him only by his official photo? If you walked by him on the street, would there be a flash of recognition? Or do you have absolutely no clue how he looks?
My company is 90,000+ on four continents, and I'd recognize our Chair and our CEO. Our Chair has only been with the company for 2 months or so, so he was recently brought to my attention. Of course I'd also recognize both by their accents which are decidedly not American.

I'd also recognize the CEO of my mother's company of some 60,000 employees. I've met him in person twice, I imagine if I met him a third time I'd recognize him from the fumes of pricey booze before I ever saw his face. Sad, but true.

[gotpasswords]

I work retail.

I don't even know the CEO's name, but I'm not in Minnesota so I don't rightly care either since I'm never gonna see him (her? I don't even know)He's the one without the pointy ears. (http://kellogg.northwestern.edu/centennial/images/spiffs/alumni/Gregg-Steinhafel.jpg)

Just guessing, since you mentioned Minnesota and retail. :p

As for my CEO, he appears to be Mr. Interchangeable Corporate Honcho. The only way I'd ever recognize him in the real world would be if he was introduced or announced. We're approximately the 12th largest non-government employer in the US, so any one person can easily get lost in the mob.

[Valgard]

Sure thing. Our firm is ~1800 people. I have worked personally with the Managing Partner as well as the COO and I'm on a first-name basis with them. I know our CIO by sight; he might recognize me as someone in his organization but he probably doesn't know my name.

[JSexton]

It's a lot harder than you think to recognize people out of context. Sure, you see a picture of your CEO on your website every day. Would you recognize him without a suit on, wearing a baseball cap, no perfectly coiffed hair, in bad lighting?

Just consider how often you see someone you know from work at the grocery store, and it takes a minute for it to click who it is when they're out of context.

[The Real Regency Elf]

If he were walking around my building unannounced I might not recognize him as he looks an awful lot like many of the men working here. As we have about 400K people worldwide and I'm at one site out of many (albeit a large one), the chances of him walking around here unannounced are about as likely as me getting my pay cut rescinded.

[Maiira]

Yup, I know what he looks like. He comes out on the floor every so often to chat. My supervisor will always be like "[name of CEO] is in the building, so be on your best behavior!!" but he's pretty chill with us. I mean, I wouldn't be horsing around or anything in front of him, but I don't have to be robotic, either. This also means I'd recognize him if he was on the floor. Most of the floor staff here are dressed somewhat casually, but still dressy enough to be professional. He'd be dressing down, but not by much.

[Zsofia]

Our old director once went to a branch and they thought he was a carpet sales rep, so after that they put his picture up on the website. :)

[Kingfisher]

Yes, I see him and meet with him often (company size = 550 employees).

My first job out of college was with a Fortune 500 company. One day I was leaving work early and as I was driving through the parking lot, the CEO pulled out in front of me. There was a glare on his window so I couldn't see who he was and flipped him off. As the car moved the glare subsided and I saw who he was. Apparently he just thought I was waving, because he waved back.

[silenus]

Our school district has 1000+ employees, and I know not only every member of the school board by sight, but one or two are friends of mine. I also know the Superintendent fairly well, as she was my VP once upon a time.

[HazelNutCoffee]

I've been working at HQ for a year, and I only recently started recognizing who he was. Even now I recognize him through the reactions of the people around me, rather than him per se. If I met him on the street I wouldn't know him from Adam.

[Rack-a-Bones]

We only have about 20 employees where I work now, but when I worked at Amazon I would most definitely recognize the CEO. I think pretty much anyone in Seattle would.

[Dr. Woo]

The company I work for has about 70K employees worldwide, and I definitely know the CEO. I've worked here long enough, and so has he, that I'd recognize him pretty much anywhere.

[Snnipe 70E]

Haven't a clue.

[Cunctator]

I'm sure that everyone who works here knows what he looks like. I caught the lift up with him this morning - we were both coming back from Ash Wednesday mass.Would you recognize him without a suit on, wearing a baseball cap, no perfectly coiffed hair, in bad lighting?Definitely yes.

[Chessic Sense]

120 employees. Absolutely.

Previous company: 100-200 employees. Absolutely, again.

[Infovore]

Yeah, I would recognize my CEO. He just won the America's Cup. :)

[drachillix]

Do I know my CEO?

If I care to I could sleep in his bed, fuck his girlfriend, drink his booze, put my feet up on his desk, and he wouldn't say shit!

[Sir T-Cups]

He's the one without the pointy ears. (http://kellogg.northwestern.edu/centennial/images/spiffs/alumni/Gregg-Steinhafel.jpg)

Just guessing, since you mentioned Minnesota and retail. :p

As for my CEO, he appears to be Mr. Interchangeable Corporate Honcho. The only way I'd ever recognize him in the real world would be if he was introduced or announced. We're approximately the 12th largest non-government employer in the US, so any one person can easily get lost in the mob.

Oh man, you cracked my code!!!


Also, according the posters in the break room, I wouldn't doubt that Spot (yes that is his name) was our CEO....

[Sir T-Cups]

Missed the edit window....

Stupid me...his name is Bullseye....

[Sir T-Cups]

Multi post.

[lindsaybluth]

Allow me.

Our CEO makes fairly regular rounds of the hospital to say hi and see how everyone's doing. She stayed through the night shift during the snowstorm here last week, and manned the 4WD hotline for a while. We have quarterly "state of the hospital" addresses with question periods, and since attendance is high at those events, and they span all shifts, I'd say a very good number of employees would recognize her.

I can't say I'd necessarily stop for a coffee with her if I saw her at a Starbucks, but I'd recognize her and at least say hi on my way out.

My former CEO (Director, actually, since it's a non-profit) is a slim, attractive, immaculately dressed woman - three things you don't see too often in my neck of the woods, so it caught my eye the first time I saw her. I recognize her, but never spoken personally to her. I do believe she knew me, however. A superb fundraiser, she is. Keeps the place afloat much better than her predecessor. Total employees, maybe 400ish?

[Taomist]

The new show Undercover Boss has me wondering, for those of you who work in companies of 100+, do you know what your CEO looks like? Have you met him in person? Do you know him only by his official photo? If you walked by him on the street, would there be a flash of recognition? Or do you have absolutely no clue how he looks?


Hrm. I work for the state, so...I think I'd recognize the Terminator if he came walking through, yep. :p

[Geek Mecha]

Yup. He made it a point to wander around the office and introduce himself to everyone on his first day. He's got an office with a big window near the reception desk, so when he's in town, you see him working. There's also a picture of him in our company newsletters.

The head of HR dressed up as him for Halloween.