Executives that Lied to Become CEOs

If you are concerned about a gap in your resume, and how it will affect an upcoming interview – learn about your options to conceal it.

In the below research, we have listed three senior executives that were caught lying:

Scott Thompson, CEO of Yahoo
David Edmondson, CEO of RadioShack
Ronald Zarrella, CEO of Bausch & Lomb

But first, we need to establish why CEOs feel the need to lie in the first place, and how prevalent it is.

Why do Senior Executives Lie?

Successful executives see lying as “playing the game”. This has nothing to do with morals, because they do not consider telling the truth in business, the same as telling the truth in personal relationships. Most CEOs get to their positions by understanding the difference between business and personal, and they use storytelling and lying in ways that are productive in their career.

This also applies to the hiring process. In August 2023, a large national study surveyed business leaders from various industries about their honesty during the hiring process. The findings were concerning—36% of hiring managers admitted to regularly deceiving job candidates. Among them, 75% confessed to lying during the interview, 52% to presenting misleading job descriptions, and 24% to including false information in the offer letter.

We are going to dissect three high-profile cases of senior executives who lied during their interviews. It’s important to understand that these are the CEOs that got caught… Most of the time lying goes unnoticed and unpunished. 

Recommended Read: Bill Belichick learned the hard way what the rest of us job seekers know – executives focus on their own self-interest.

Scott Thompson, a former CEO of Yahoo, found himself at the center of a major corporate scandal in 2012 when it was revealed that he had falsified his academic credentials. Thompson, who had previously served as president of PayPal, was hired by Yahoo to lead the struggling tech giant during a crucial period of transition. However, his tenure was short-lived when an investor’s investigation uncovered that Thompson had falsely claimed to have a computer science degree on his resume—a degree he never earned.

The discrepancy in Thompson’s resume came to light when Dan Loeb, the head of Third Point LLC, a major Yahoo shareholder, raised concerns about Thompson’s background. Upon further scrutiny, it was discovered that Thompson had only earned an accounting degree from Stonehill College and had never completed the computer science degree listed in his biography. This revelation not only embarrassed Thompson but also led to intense public criticism of Yahoo’s vetting process.

Thompson initially downplayed the situation, claiming it was an error, but the damage was done. The incident caused a manufactured uproar within Yahoo (allegedly because of personal differences with Dan Loeb), leading to his resignation just a few months after taking the CEO position. The scandal also highlighted the fact that corporate leadership were being hired at Yahoo without even basic background checks. Thompson’s successors were a CEO who lasted a few months (Ross Levinsohn) and Marissa Mayer, who guided the company into irrelevance and eventually being sold off for parts. 

in 2012, shortly after leaving Yahoo, Thompson was hired as CEO of ShopRunner, an e-commerce platform that provides a membership service similar to Amazon Prime. ShopRunner’s board of directors appeared willing to overlook the scandal at Yahoo, focusing instead on Thompson’s strong track record as a leader at PayPal and his expertise in the tech industry. Thompson stayed with ShopRunner for several years and helped the company grow during his tenure.

Recommended Read: Your story is yours to tell, and despite what recruiters tell you, it is ethical to lie on an interview.

David Edmondson, former CEO of RadioShack, became embroiled in a high-profile scandal in 2006 when it was revealed that he had lied about his academic background. Specifically, Edmondson falsely claimed to have earned degrees in theology and psychology from Pacific Coast Baptist College, a small religious institution that had since closed. However, an investigation by the *Fort Worth Star-Telegram* uncovered that not only had Edmondson not completed those degrees, but the college itself did not even offer a psychology program. 

This discovery prompted a major controversy within RadioShack, as Edmondson had climbed the corporate ladder over more than a decade based on those fraudulent credentials – and without ever getting caught. This goes to show how often, and for how long, lying on your credentials can help during one’s career, and why executives feel that “maybe getting caught in 15 years” is often an acceptable risk to take. 

Edmondson ultimately resigned from his role as CEO just one year after taking the position. After resigning as CEO of RadioShack in 2006, David Edmondson shifted his focus to entrepreneurial ventures, successfully moving into new industries. 

In 2009, Edmondson co-founded E-Recycling Corps (now known as HYLA Mobile), a company dedicated to mobile device recycling. HYLA Mobile partners with wireless carriers and retailers to collect and recycle used mobile phones, helping reduce electronic waste and promoting sustainability. The company has since become a key player in the mobile device trade-in and recycling market, and its success reflects Edmondson’s ability to transition into a leadership role in the green tech sector.

Read here our take on falsifying educational credentials

Ronald Zarrella, former CEO of Bausch & Lomb, became embroiled in a controversy in 2002 when it was revealed that he had falsified his academic credentials. Zarrella had claimed to have earned an MBA from New York University (NYU) on his resume, but an internal investigation uncovered that he had never completed the degree.

The scandal came to light after Zarrella had already spent several years as CEO of Bausch & Lomb, a global leader in eye care products. He had also previously held high-level positions at General Motors. 

Despite the revelation, Bausch & Lomb’s board of directors chose not to fire him, citing his strong performance as CEO. Instead, Zarrella was forced to forfeit a $1 million bonus that had been tied to his contract.

The company, facing questions about its internal oversight and due diligence processes, stood by its decision to retain Zarrella, stating that his contributions to the company outweighed the damage caused by the scandal. While the incident damaged his credibility, Zarrella continued to lead Bausch & Lomb for several more years before stepping down in 2008.

Zarrella’s continued tenure as CEO underscored how smart companies weigh performance more heavily than minor personal infractures such as lying, and how the consequences are often swept under the rug.

Why you should Lie… and How

While the “moral police” will all ascertain that these three cases are evidence of how good triumphs evil, the real takeaway is that these executives built a long and successful career around those lies, and then even afterwards, found other roles that were just as lucrative. The real problem is that they lied about something that is easy to disprove – their education – which is never recommended. 

If you want to lie, and not get caught, you have to take precautions to make sure that you are covered. For example, you can fabricate your job history – employer, title, and dates of employment – if you tell the verification company that you worked through a staffing company. For more details on that, see our article.

For more information on how this works, read our blog, which details setting this up for yourself.