7 ms·

Is it strange that people defend Mayer so much ? I find it a little strange. I'm having a hard time figuring what the baseline of criticism is for a tech ceo, a

by MollyR 12y ago

Is it strange that people defend Mayer so much ? I find it a little strange. I'm having a hard time figuring what the baseline of criticism is for a tech ceo, and how much they get defended from it. I know Jobs, Gates, Ballmer, and Zuckerberg, have a crazy amount of criticism, and usually the (if it ever comes) defense comes later after the company/project gets huge or financially successful.

acangiano 12y ago
> Is it strange that people defend Mayer so much? I find it a little strange. One possible reason is that she is a woman. This, seemingly irrelevant fact, has a couple of potential implications. First, criticism towards one of the few female tech CEOs could be viewed as misogynistic. Most people would shy away from such controversy. Second, as a woman in tech she is the underdog, and people love to root for the underdog. Just a theory, I could be way off of course.
- Crito 12y ago
  Another possible explanation is the state of Yahoo in years preceding her. Basically a company that everyone was kind of surprised was still around. For as much as people dislike Microsoft or Facebook, I don't think many people think "why does this company still exist?" (There was definitely a time when people thought that of Apple though...) (In particular, I remember a lot of this sort of anti-Yahoo sentiment in the months prior to Marissa Mayer, particularly around the time that the Yammer CEO made some announcement that he would not be hiring ex-Yahoo employees because of Yahoo's patent stance. People decried that CEO as being ridiculous, but there were also a lot of people expressing anti-Yahoo sentiments.) Probably some combination of both, as well as a few other factors.
  - zem 12y ago
    she also represents the seductive (at least for techies) narrative of an efficient, engineering-focused ceo coming in and cleaning up/revitalising a moribund "suit-driven" company, and hopefully returning it to its glory days when technology was king.
- area51org 12y ago
  Another possible reason is that she has not actually done anything significant. Her time at Google was not spent working on any projects that produced notable success or revenue. Many think she was hired at Yahoo simply because of voodoo logic: she'll somehow bring Google Magick with her because she happened to get hired at Google early on.
  - k3n 12y ago
    > Her time at Google was not spent working on any projects that produced notable success or revenue. Her CV begs to differ: she was VP of Search Products and User Experience, and then held key roles in Google Search, Google Images, Google News, Google Maps, Google Books, Google Product Search, Google Toolbar, iGoogle, and Gmail.
  - freyr 12y ago
    Mayer is no doubt smart and talented, but she was also at perfect place at the perfect time and rode the Google rocket ship straight to the top. So it's hard for outsiders to really separate talent from circumstance. That said, you're very wrong. She had a defining impact on Google Search from the start, a project that did in fact produce notable success and revenue for the company.
deleted 12y ago
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deleted 12y ago
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Shenglong 12y ago
There's a good amount of criticism as well as praise for her, and I'm not entirely sure your question is entirely fair. The reality of it all is that transformations take time, especially when things at Yahoo had been so Scott Thompson'd. Marissa has been rebuilding a sinking ship from the inside out - where most people would've just tried to patch it up as it slowly sank, or sold it off for parts; I think that's what's admirable. I think that's why people defend her. She dared to defy the status quo. She dared to employ the same dedication as founders do day in and day out, and she demonstrated over and over again, the audacity to take risks. I find it stranger that more people don't defend her. All of us should know that technology companies thrive or die from the inside; it's why startup founders spend such a disproportionate amount of time hiring great people. To anyone who actually bothered to pause and compare Yahoo's culture today to yesterday's, it would be obvious that Marissa's conviction and aptitude is heralding a new era of prosperity; the transformation is apparent - and even if not yet absolute, it is still miraculous. Remember: people -> product -> profit
- MollyR 12y ago
  I think that makes sense. It would also explain the articles I see about Microsoft's new ceo Nadella. Thanks
- refurb 12y ago
  To anyone who actually bothered to pause and compare Yahoo's culture today to yesterday's, it would be obvious that Marissa's conviction and aptitude is heralding a new era of prosperity; That is the complete opposite of what I've heard from those still at Yahoo.
  - pjwal 12y ago
    Yes her mandated Quarterly Performance Review system in which managers were forced to put a % of employees in under performing buckets single handedly damaged the moral more than anything in the companies history.
    - ccvannorman 12y ago
IndianAstronaut 12y ago
I definitely think she deserves criticism for stopping the work from home policy. This industry had a huge chance to move away from traditional office work to a much more flexible type of work environment. Her move put a significant dent in that.
- freyr 12y ago
  No! Her job as CEO was to fix Yahoo. If the work-from-home program was a problem at Yahoo, it was her responsibility to address that. You speak as if it's a foregone conclusion that working from home is a good idea, but not everybody agrees with that. So you're suggesting that she should have made a decision she felt was bad for her company to advance your personal agenda, and that's a little bit crazy.
  - Natsu 12y ago
    I'm honestly not sure if Yahoo is "fixable." I don't use any of their products and I can't see any reason to change that. Everybody else does everything they can do better or is utterly irrelevant to me. But even nobodies can get people on board with a compelling product--I still remember abandoning Infoseek for the then-unknown Google--so it's up to them to create a reason to use it.
- frio 12y ago
  Having worked in a couple of teams with prevalent work-from-home policies, it can mask (or even encourage) some really unhealthy behaviour in depressed teams. While we might want the industry to move that way (eventually), it was probably the right move for Yahoo.
- gtaylor 12y ago
  I've worked from home for over three years now, 100% of the time. Having done it and seen how big a difference it makes in feeling connected and involved, I can understand her rationale. It makes tons of sense for Yahoo specifically. That's not to say a highly or fully remote team can't work. Clearly it can. It's probably not ideal for a sinking ship like Yahoo, though. You really do need all hands on deck, top to bottom. Don't like it? Don't work for Yahoo. It really is as simple as that. I like the move, though, given their specific situation.
freyr 12y ago
> Is it strange that people defend Mayer so much ? I've found just that opposite, that people generally seem critical of her time spent at Yahoo so far. Common targets are her seemingly haphazard app acquisition strategy, or how she frequently is late to meetings or misses them entirely, or how she has hired the wrong people high-profile positions. And often the conversation steers more towards her personality quirks. Here was a particularly damning article published in the New York Times in December: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-when-marissa-mayer-tried-to-be-steve-jobs.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-whe... It's very critical and I didn't see many people rushing to her defense after it was published. Here's another one: http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/yahoos-dynamic-ceo-boring-plan http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/yahoos-dynamic-ce... Where do you see all this defense of her?
discardorama 12y ago
Sure, every CEO faces some criticism. But the criticism directed at her is often petty and "gossipy". People pick on her fashion sense; but no one criticises (or praises) Zuck for his sweatshirts.
- trentmb 12y ago
  > but no one criticises (or praises) Zuck for his sweatshirts. https://www.google.com/search?q=zuckerberg+hoodie https://www.google.com/search?q=zuckerberg+hoodie
  - jazzyk 12y ago
    Because he did not waste time on Vogue fashion spreads?
mc32 12y ago
Well, I think if you compare her to the previous string of unsuccessful CEOs, it's hard to see her in a bad light. So in the context of Yahoo I think she's done well.
spenrose 12y ago
This is a Steven Levy interview. He gets access in exchange for allowing the VIP to tell her story her way. (I happen to be anti-anti-Mayer, but that's a different issue.)
killface 12y ago
because people are desperately wanting her to be successful, not because they love yahoo, but to prove that women can run companies. also, any criticism of a woman in tech is automatically labelled "misogynist" by the internet hate machine known as Tumblr (which Yahoo owns), so where she might get more criticism, people are giving her a free pass.
- foobarqux 12y ago
  There are other companies that have already proven that (GM, HP, eBay)
- foobarqux 12y ago
  There are other companies that have already proven that (GM, HP, eBay)
- idbentley 12y ago
  I have trouble believeing that you can back any of this up. It seems extremely unlikely to me that the number of people who want to "prove that women can run companies" outnumbers the number who want to prove that women can't. Anyone who has any background in the subject knows of the many women who do successfully run companies - they know that there is no need to prove anything of this sort.
Shorel 12y ago
She was hired to save an already doomed company. I don't think it is fair to judge her without seeing all the harm the previous CEOs did. Gates, Ballmer and Zuckerberg have never been in such dire straits. Jobs did, and he succeeded, but he was truly exceptional.

by MollyR 12y ago

acangiano 12y ago

> Is it strange that people defend Mayer so much? I find it a little strange. One possible reason is that she is a woman. This, seemingly irrelevant fact, has a couple of potential implications. First, criticism towards one of the few female tech CEOs could be viewed as misogynistic. Most people would shy away from such controversy. Second, as a woman in tech she is the underdog, and people love to root for the underdog. Just a theory, I could be way off of course.

Crito 12y ago
Another possible explanation is the state of Yahoo in years preceding her. Basically a company that everyone was kind of surprised was still around. For as much as people dislike Microsoft or Facebook, I don't think many people think "why does this company still exist?" (There was definitely a time when people thought that of Apple though...) (In particular, I remember a lot of this sort of anti-Yahoo sentiment in the months prior to Marissa Mayer, particularly around the time that the Yammer CEO made some announcement that he would not be hiring ex-Yahoo employees because of Yahoo's patent stance. People decried that CEO as being ridiculous, but there were also a lot of people expressing anti-Yahoo sentiments.) Probably some combination of both, as well as a few other factors.
- zem 12y ago
  she also represents the seductive (at least for techies) narrative of an efficient, engineering-focused ceo coming in and cleaning up/revitalising a moribund "suit-driven" company, and hopefully returning it to its glory days when technology was king.
area51org 12y ago
Another possible reason is that she has not actually done anything significant. Her time at Google was not spent working on any projects that produced notable success or revenue. Many think she was hired at Yahoo simply because of voodoo logic: she'll somehow bring Google Magick with her because she happened to get hired at Google early on.
- k3n 12y ago
  > Her time at Google was not spent working on any projects that produced notable success or revenue. Her CV begs to differ: she was VP of Search Products and User Experience, and then held key roles in Google Search, Google Images, Google News, Google Maps, Google Books, Google Product Search, Google Toolbar, iGoogle, and Gmail.
- freyr 12y ago
  Mayer is no doubt smart and talented, but she was also at perfect place at the perfect time and rode the Google rocket ship straight to the top. So it's hard for outsiders to really separate talent from circumstance. That said, you're very wrong. She had a defining impact on Google Search from the start, a project that did in fact produce notable success and revenue for the company.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Shenglong 12y ago

There's a good amount of criticism as well as praise for her, and I'm not entirely sure your question is entirely fair. The reality of it all is that transformations take time, especially when things at Yahoo had been so Scott Thompson'd. Marissa has been rebuilding a sinking ship from the inside out - where most people would've just tried to patch it up as it slowly sank, or sold it off for parts; I think that's what's admirable. I think that's why people defend her. She dared to defy the status quo. She dared to employ the same dedication as founders do day in and day out, and she demonstrated over and over again, the audacity to take risks. I find it stranger that more people don't defend her. All of us should know that technology companies thrive or die from the inside; it's why startup founders spend such a disproportionate amount of time hiring great people. To anyone who actually bothered to pause and compare Yahoo's culture today to yesterday's, it would be obvious that Marissa's conviction and aptitude is heralding a new era of prosperity; the transformation is apparent - and even if not yet absolute, it is still miraculous. Remember: people -> product -> profit

MollyR 12y ago
I think that makes sense. It would also explain the articles I see about Microsoft's new ceo Nadella. Thanks
refurb 12y ago
To anyone who actually bothered to pause and compare Yahoo's culture today to yesterday's, it would be obvious that Marissa's conviction and aptitude is heralding a new era of prosperity; That is the complete opposite of what I've heard from those still at Yahoo.
- pjwal 12y ago
  Yes her mandated Quarterly Performance Review system in which managers were forced to put a % of employees in under performing buckets single handedly damaged the moral more than anything in the companies history.
  - ccvannorman 12y ago

IndianAstronaut 12y ago

I definitely think she deserves criticism for stopping the work from home policy. This industry had a huge chance to move away from traditional office work to a much more flexible type of work environment. Her move put a significant dent in that.

freyr 12y ago
No! Her job as CEO was to fix Yahoo. If the work-from-home program was a problem at Yahoo, it was her responsibility to address that. You speak as if it's a foregone conclusion that working from home is a good idea, but not everybody agrees with that. So you're suggesting that she should have made a decision she felt was bad for her company to advance your personal agenda, and that's a little bit crazy.
- Natsu 12y ago
  I'm honestly not sure if Yahoo is "fixable." I don't use any of their products and I can't see any reason to change that. Everybody else does everything they can do better or is utterly irrelevant to me. But even nobodies can get people on board with a compelling product--I still remember abandoning Infoseek for the then-unknown Google--so it's up to them to create a reason to use it.
frio 12y ago
Having worked in a couple of teams with prevalent work-from-home policies, it can mask (or even encourage) some really unhealthy behaviour in depressed teams. While we might want the industry to move that way (eventually), it was probably the right move for Yahoo.
gtaylor 12y ago
I've worked from home for over three years now, 100% of the time. Having done it and seen how big a difference it makes in feeling connected and involved, I can understand her rationale. It makes tons of sense for Yahoo specifically. That's not to say a highly or fully remote team can't work. Clearly it can. It's probably not ideal for a sinking ship like Yahoo, though. You really do need all hands on deck, top to bottom. Don't like it? Don't work for Yahoo. It really is as simple as that. I like the move, though, given their specific situation.

freyr 12y ago

> Is it strange that people defend Mayer so much ? I've found just that opposite, that people generally seem critical of her time spent at Yahoo so far. Common targets are her seemingly haphazard app acquisition strategy, or how she frequently is late to meetings or misses them entirely, or how she has hired the wrong people high-profile positions. And often the conversation steers more towards her personality quirks. Here was a particularly damning article published in the New York Times in December: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-when-marissa-mayer-tried-to-be-steve-jobs.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-whe... It's very critical and I didn't see many people rushing to her defense after it was published. Here's another one: http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/yahoos-dynamic-ceo-boring-plan http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/yahoos-dynamic-ce... Where do you see all this defense of her?

discardorama 12y ago

Sure, every CEO faces some criticism. But the criticism directed at her is often petty and "gossipy". People pick on her fashion sense; but no one criticises (or praises) Zuck for his sweatshirts.

trentmb 12y ago
> but no one criticises (or praises) Zuck for his sweatshirts. https://www.google.com/search?q=zuckerberg+hoodie https://www.google.com/search?q=zuckerberg+hoodie
- jazzyk 12y ago
  Because he did not waste time on Vogue fashion spreads?

mc32 12y ago

Well, I think if you compare her to the previous string of unsuccessful CEOs, it's hard to see her in a bad light. So in the context of Yahoo I think she's done well.

spenrose 12y ago

This is a Steven Levy interview. He gets access in exchange for allowing the VIP to tell her story her way. (I happen to be anti-anti-Mayer, but that's a different issue.)

killface 12y ago

because people are desperately wanting her to be successful, not because they love yahoo, but to prove that women can run companies. also, any criticism of a woman in tech is automatically labelled "misogynist" by the internet hate machine known as Tumblr (which Yahoo owns), so where she might get more criticism, people are giving her a free pass.

foobarqux 12y ago
There are other companies that have already proven that (GM, HP, eBay)
foobarqux 12y ago
There are other companies that have already proven that (GM, HP, eBay)
idbentley 12y ago
I have trouble believeing that you can back any of this up. It seems extremely unlikely to me that the number of people who want to "prove that women can run companies" outnumbers the number who want to prove that women can't. Anyone who has any background in the subject knows of the many women who do successfully run companies - they know that there is no need to prove anything of this sort.

Shorel 12y ago

She was hired to save an already doomed company. I don't think it is fair to judge her without seeing all the harm the previous CEOs did. Gates, Ballmer and Zuckerberg have never been in such dire straits. Jobs did, and he succeeded, but he was truly exceptional.