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HN likes it when overpaid, over-hyped leaders fail in general, especially after doing massively unpopular and short-sighted things like killing work from home p

HN likes it when overpaid, over-hyped leaders fail in general, especially after doing massively unpopular and short-sighted things like killing work from home policies. If Mayer had actually done a good job at Yahoo and turned things around, HN would be propping her up as a hero. Instead, she proved her inexperience, inflexibility, and narrow focus make her a poor CEO for a company like Yahoo, and the board and media should never have propped her up as the harbinger of amazing female CEOs.

cbeach 11y ago
Yes - I think this comment sums it up well. Remember how the media celebrated her appointment, focussing on her gender, as if the silver bullet of "gender diversity" will resolve the many problems we have in tech management. The media did this before she'd demonstrated any leadership or success. For some who hold more interest in identity politics than technology, the mere appointment of a female CEO was success enough. Yet, ironically, it is this politically-fueled attention to her gender that now resonates as we observe her failure. Let's hope it doesn't create damaging prejudices against other female leaders. If it does, I hope the real culprits are as obvious to other readers as they are to me. We need to rein in the social justice warriors and stop tech being used as a vehicle for gender identity politics and virtue-signalling.
- meric 11y ago
  The media has hyped up Mayer and Elizabeth Holmes too much, so much so now that their companies are embroiled in difficulties they're still the first female CEO's I can think of, when there are better examples where the female CEO's track record has already been proven. In my mind, to think of the corresponding female CEO to Steve Jobs, Holmes immediately comes to my mind, who leads a company with smoke and mirrors...
nickbauman 11y ago
The ending work from home policies was a layoff in disguise. Brilliant in a Dilbert sort of way.
dang 11y ago
Statements about HN that could just as easily say "humans in general" should probably not say "HN".

cbeach 11y ago

Yes - I think this comment sums it up well. Remember how the media celebrated her appointment, focussing on her gender, as if the silver bullet of "gender diversity" will resolve the many problems we have in tech management. The media did this before she'd demonstrated any leadership or success. For some who hold more interest in identity politics than technology, the mere appointment of a female CEO was success enough. Yet, ironically, it is this politically-fueled attention to her gender that now resonates as we observe her failure. Let's hope it doesn't create damaging prejudices against other female leaders. If it does, I hope the real culprits are as obvious to other readers as they are to me. We need to rein in the social justice warriors and stop tech being used as a vehicle for gender identity politics and virtue-signalling.

meric 11y ago
The media has hyped up Mayer and Elizabeth Holmes too much, so much so now that their companies are embroiled in difficulties they're still the first female CEO's I can think of, when there are better examples where the female CEO's track record has already been proven. In my mind, to think of the corresponding female CEO to Steve Jobs, Holmes immediately comes to my mind, who leads a company with smoke and mirrors...

nickbauman 11y ago

The ending work from home policies was a layoff in disguise. Brilliant in a Dilbert sort of way.

dang 11y ago

Statements about HN that could just as easily say "humans in general" should probably not say "HN".