L.J. Rittenhouse to Appear at Book Signing at the Berkshire
Hathaway Annual Meeting May 3, 2008
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
CEO Candor Scores in the 2007 Rittenhouse Rankings Survey
(www.RittenhouseRankings.com) sank to a new low with the measure of
unclear statements or "fog" increasing by 21 percent over 2006 and up
85 percent from five years ago. The survey, which evaluates candor in
annual shareholder letters, shows that confusing and misleading
statements or "dangerous fog," increased 66 percent in the survey up
from 39 percent five years ago. In contrast, statements that require
simple clarification or add useless clutter or "benign fog," declined
to 34 percent, down from 61 percent.
These latest results in the annual CEO Candor benchmark survey of
100 Fortune 500 companies by Rittenhouse Rankings Inc. reveal that
CEOs are increasingly less able or willing to articulate a clear
understanding of their businesses. President, L. J. Rittenhouse said,
"Not only is the overall measure of CEO candor declining, but the
quality of candor is deteriorating. Since clear communication is
essential for effective and ethical behavior, this growth in dangerous
fog is particularly disturbing."
Dangerous fog in the 2007 survey included 1,500 points for
Orwellian language up from only 190 points a year ago. "Orwellian
language," explained Rittenhouse, "is named for author George Orwell,
who championed straight talk and exposed "doublethink" a concept
updated by Stephen Colbert as "truthiness" - using words to describe
'the truth we want to exist,' rather than facts." In the 2007 survey,
70 percent of the companies had examples of Orwellian language up from
only 17 percent in the 2006 survey.
Cigna recorded the biggest year-over-year gain in overall ranking
climbing from 97th in 2006 to 16th in 2007, while Dow Jones registered
the biggest decline ranking 93rd in 2007 down from 10th. The ten top
and bottom-ranked companies in 2007 based on measures of efficiency,
comprehensive content, and fog were:
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*T
2007 Top-Ranked 2007 Bottom-Ranked
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Rank Company Rank Company
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1 Eaton 100 Humana
2 Entergy 99 ServiceMaster
3 Wells Fargo 98 Boeing
4 Novartis 97 Estee Lauder
5 Target 96 News Corp
6 Toyota 95 Student Loan
7 Williams Companies 94 Coca-Cola
8 Sherwin-Williams 93 Dow Jones
9 Charles Schwab 92 ExxonMobil
10 Loews 91 Merrill Lynch
*T
The Rittenhouse Rankings CEO Candor(SM) Survey, is conducted by
Rittenhouse Rankings Inc., a New York-based strategic and
investor-relations company that advises large and mid-cap size
companies on building economic value through candor and capital
stewardship. The benchmark survey of CEO candor includes approximately
20 percent of Fortune 500 companies representing 12 industry groups.
President L.J. Rittenhouse is the author of Do Business with People
You Can Tru$t, and will sign copies of her book on May 3, 2008 at the
Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha.
Rittenhouse Rankings Inc.
Stephen Dandrow, 212-580-9176
Stephen@rittenhouserankings.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
