“I’d like to take you on a journey.” A group of 2,500 eBay employees is assembled at the San Jose Civic, a concert venue a few miles from company headquarters. Their boss, CEO John Donahoe, is onstage, asking them to reflect on their work. “Close your eyes,” he urges in a deep baritone. “What is the thing you are most proud of that your team has accomplished this year?”
Donahoe then begins to ruminate on his eight years at eBay (EBAY), five of them as CEO. He’s delivered a variation of this speech to employees in Ireland, Germany, and other eBay locations in the U.S., yet on this December morning Donahoe still sounds raw, almost confessional, as he recounts his moments of self-doubt — such as the night in June 2008, before he was due to appear at a sellers event in Chicago. It was months after he had announced sweeping changes to eBay’s fee structure, and sellers were irate. One went so far as to create a YouTube video comparing Donahoe to a Nazi guard in Schindler’s List. (Seriously.) Donahoe recalls, “I remember sitting in a hotel room that night and thinking, Is this worth it?”
Read More