It seems hard to accept but at this level there are actually only few people even being considered by virtue of a) name recognition in the industry b) past ex

It seems hard to accept but at this level there are actually only few people even being considered by virtue of a) name recognition in the industry b) past experience managing large companies Whether they failed or not is almost irrelevant. Boards would vote for an arguable incapable Marissa Mayer over some super successful but unknown higher middle manager from Google because she is perceived as less of a risk.