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Culture is set by the execs, and their senior managers, not the developers. Buying up new companies won't change the culture unless they are integrated into a n
by Swannie 13y ago
Culture is set by the execs, and their senior managers, not the developers. Buying up new companies won't change the culture unless they are integrated into a new management structure. Sure, a good junior or mid-level manager can maintain a strong culture in their team/organization. BUT only with senior exec support - otherwise they will fall under corporate oversight for everything - from facilities policies (free snacks, beer, soft drinks, breakfasts? huge desks? breakout rooms?), HR processes (hiring, performance, salary increases, role changes), IT processes (hardware/software freedom), etc. There are talented managers who can present a view of full cooperation, but still do their own things - though again, to pull that off, they usually have some senior exec support. The more contact with the rest of the org. the more its culture seeps in.
Just think about it in terms of code - you write some code as a standalone demo - to bring it into your main application, you end up having to integrate into most of the existing framework, and that influences the original demo code - often for the better, but that depends on the quality of the existing code base - and how well it was architected (by the code equivalent of the execs).
Very few companies do acquisitions where they carefully protect the acquired company. The assumption is that the buying companies culture is better! One company that does do this quite well is Conde Naste. (Wired, Reddit, etc. all have quite separate identities, and from the outside appear to have autonomy.)
When you start to see an exodus of long term Yahoo! execs, then she's probably doing something right. Whether Wall Street would reward her for that, is a totally different question!!!
- Tyrannosaurs 13y agoThis. Culture is pushed from the top. If you're changing the culture at the top then bringing new people in lower down might speed up the change and solidify it but in of itself it won't change anything if nothing is changing at the top.
- Swannie 13y agoRight, but if you bring them in without changing the top, they either get changed to the existing culture are and somewhat unhappy. Dislike the new culture and leave. Or kick up a fuss, and get asked to leave. But if they see execs who really get it, they may endure a line or middle manager who doesn't get it, knowing that it's just a matter of time.
- pavs 13y agoMayer brought in couple of high level Google execs/managers in the last 12 months for exactly what you are talking about; Here are three I can remember (there might be others I don't know): Andrew Schulte as chief of Staff: http://hothardware.com/News/Yahoo-Chief-Marissa-Mayer-Poaches-Another-Google-Employee/ http://hothardware.com/News/Yahoo-Chief-Marissa-Mayer-Poache... Dylan Casey senior director in the platform organization: http://searchengineland.com/former-google-product-manager-goes-to-yahoo-as-senior-director-in-the-platform-organization-159228 http://searchengineland.com/former-google-product-manager-go... de Castro as chief operating officer: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444354004578059053762907948.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044435400457805... Also I replied else where how the Yahoo working environment changed since Mayer joined: http://www.quora.com/Yahoo/Is-it-true-that-Yahoo-is-better-to-work-for-now-June-2013 http://www.quora.com/Yahoo/Is-it-true-that-Yahoo-is-better-t... --------- At the end of day we will just have to wait and see how Mayer's strategy pans out. At least from what I can see she is taking things to the right direction.