SurveyMonkey CEO: Leaders need to ask the hard questions

SurveyMonkey was founded in 1999 and has established itself globally, from its base in California. It offers a digital platform that allows businesses to create online feedback surveys. More than 260,000 organisations use the service and 25 million questions are asked on the platform each day.

The secret that its CEO, Eric Johnson, wants to share with Business Leader is that leaders must be prepared to ask hard questions of their own company and act on that feedback, however tough it may be.

A good example of this comes from the name of the company. Johnson realised there was a problem when he joined as CEO in 2023, after a career in banking.

SurveyMonkey had grown steadily over the years and went public on Nasdaq in 2018. It also acquired a suite of other online survey platforms as part of its growth strategy.

In 2021, it decided to change its name to Momentive in a rebranding exercise.

“The name change came about because the company felt like it had outgrown the name SurveyMonkey,” says Johnson. “That it was fun and playful as a brand and wouldn't scale up to big customers.”

In 2023, Momentive was bought by Symphony Technology Group in a deal that valued the company at more than $1.5bn. This is when Johnson came on board with a mandate to make change.

When he surveyed both customers and employees, Johnson realised the rebrand had been a mistake.

“The reality was that the new brand had just lost its position in the market to a really well-known and well-liked brand,” says Johnson.

Changing the name back to SurveyMonkey meant “customers would understand and know what we were selling, and for employees, it was a big win”.

“I really believe that the most important thing that you can do as a leader is ask hard questions and listen for real feedback,” says Johnson, “understanding that it may sometimes not be what you want to hear, but it's the most important thing that can really make a big difference in the business.”