5 things to know about former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner
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October 4, 2021
You may already know a bit about Jeff Weiner, the former CEO of LinkedIn who played a key role in seeing the company bought by Microsoft for $26bn in 2016. We’ve looked at 5 more things worth knowing about the New York City native.
He has a 97% approval rating on Glassdoor
Many of us have used Glassdoor when searching for a new job role, and if you used the platform to search for the Top CEOs in the US in 2019, you would have discovered that Jeff Weiner has a very impressive 97% approval rating.
This put him at number 8 on the list that year, behind Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella (98% approval), T-Mobile’s John Legere (99% approval) and VMware’s Pat Gelsinger (99% approval).
He recommended that Warner Bros should go online
In 1994, Weiner held a minor position at Warner Bros, but this didn’t stop him from writing a report recommending the company start an online segment.
Despite this being a new and untested concept at the time, and Weiner’s modest position at the company, the report was met positively. Weiner went on to become Vice President at Warner Bros., in charge of its online segment.
“What’s your ultimate dream job” is Weiner’s favourite interview question
In an interview with CNBC, Weiner said that the question “What’s your ultimate dream job?” reveals more about a person than they think, including whether or not they’re a good fit for LinkedIn.
“I find it so valuable because it helps me evaluate fit,” Jeff explained to CNBC. “It also helps me get a sense of who you are by virtue of the specificity of your answer. Once you know what it is you ultimately want, you are that much more capable of manifesting it.”
His first position at LinkedIn wasn’t CEO
Weiner oversaw Yahoo’s content and search businesses after joining the company as an executive in 2001 but left the company after being overlooked for the CEO position in 2008.
He then worked as executive-in-residence for VC firms Accel and Greylock, which led to him becoming interim president of LinkedIn in 2009, where he oversaw the company’s growth from 338 employees to more than 15,800 in his 11 years at the company.
Sees the value of a sense of humour
In the past, Weiner has stated that a teammates sense of humour can be more important than their expertise and experience in certain circumstances.
Whilst this statement is likely to divide opinion, there’s no denying the success that Weiner and the companies that he’s worked for have had. So, perhaps he’s onto something there?
