Rittenhouse CEO Candor Rankings Sinks to Five-Year Low: Truthiness Gains

NEW YORK, May 1, 2008 — NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CEO Candor Scores in the 2007 Rittenhouse Rankings CEO Candor(SM) 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 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:

2007 Top-Ranked
1 Eaton
2 Entergy
3 Wells Fargo
4 Novartis
5 Target
6 Toyota
7 Williams Companies
8 Sherwin-Williams
9 Charles Schwab
10 Loews

2007 Bottom-Ranked
100 Humana
99 ServiceMaster
98 Boeing
97 Estée Lauder
96 News Corp
95 Student Loan
94 Coca-Cola
93 Dow Jones
92 ExxonMobil
91 Merrill Lynch

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.

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