As Eric Schmidt ends his days as Google's chief executive, at least one pollster has him rated the best CEO in tech. Sure Schmidt has made boneheaded comments and mistakes, but apparently that didn't bother his workers who gave him a 96 percent approval rating, up 3 points from last year.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs (albeit on medical leave) scored slightly less with a 95 percent approval rating, but a drop of 3 percent since last year, according to a report by Business Insider. The numbers are so close together, it's hard to say either Schmidt or Jobs are doing much better or worse than one another -- however, I think Jobs' drop has more to do with his medical leave of absence. His strong personality and sense of showmanship are a staple of Apple's marketing and business model.
The biggest gainer in the survey by Glassdoor.com was eBay's John Donahoe, whose 46 percent approval rating was only high enough to gain the No. 11 spot, but was a 22 percent improvement from 2010.
The biggest loser in employee confidence was Yahoo's Carol Bartz, who at 50 percent, still ranked ninth, but dropped 27 points from last year. (In case you were wondering, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer ranked No. 12 and garnered 40 percent approval, a drop of 6 percent.)
To see how your CEO did, here' s a Top Ten list:
1. Eric Schmidt, Google, 96 percent.
2. Steve Jobs, Apple, 95 percent.
3. Paul Otellini, Intel, 90 percent.
4. Brad Smith, Intuit, 87 percent.
5. Jeff Bezos, Amazon, 83 percent.
6. Larry Ellison, Oracle, 73 percent.
7. (tie) Shantanu Narayen, Adobe, 57 percent.
7. (tie) Sam Palmisano, IBM, 57 percent.
9. Carol Bartz, Yahoo, 50 percent.
10. Michael Dell, Dell, 48 percent.
