“It is a rare tech company that can make a comeback,” Therese Poletti writes for MarketWatch. “And it’s nearly impossible for an Internet company. It may take awhile, but when it looks like the innovation is gone and the geeks in Silicon Valley declare you are done, they’re usually right.”
“The two most impressive tech turnarounds in the last two decades have been at International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Inc.,” Poletti writes. “But among Internet companies, there are more dead than survivors. Take note, Yahoo.”
Poletti writes, “So Marissa Mayer, formerly a well-regarded Google Inc. executive, is facing an imposing challenge as Yahoo’s chief executive. She lacks CEO experience and will be working under a microscope as she tries to save Yahoo and its tattered brand… Because Mayer can’t consult with the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, who orchestrated one of the greatest turnarounds in the Valley, we have compiled a few tips that might help.”
(photo by Brigitte Lacombe)
1) Review all of Yahoo’s product lines with a brutal and unsentimental eye.
2) After getting Yahoo focused on its core strengths, unleash a marketing campaign to tell consumers and partners about them
3) Stop the leaks from inside Yahoo
4) Go with your gut instincts, as Jobs always did
5) Find some stars within Yahoo, and get them to stay
Read more in the full article here.
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Marissa Mayer to get close to $60 million (and maybe more) as Yahoo CEO – July 19, 2012
New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was secret iPhone user at Google – July 18, 2012
Marissa Mayer leaves Google to become Yahoo CEO – July 16, 2012
Mayer may have serious problems with points #1, 4, 5, since there are quite a lot of CEOs that can do all that, but their eyesight is misplaced, so they ruin good ideas (#1), their gut instincts stink like guts (#4), and they find totally wrong “stars” (#5).
You have to be outstanding person to try those bold practices. No one can learn anything from Steven Jobs because no one else is Steven Jobs.
This is why most of CEOs are moderate in their actions. Not because they can not be bold, but because they are not genius to clearly see that their actions really bring the bright future, and not bring a catastrophe quicker that it is already approaching.
Marissa Mayer =/= Steve Jobs.
Did you mean to type Opt+= to make a ≠?
Yeah, I did, but the iPad keyboard doesn’t have that option.
≠
Use the Glyphboard web app at http://mrgan.com/gb
Jobs had charisma and vision. Mayer is pretty.
I still can’t believe such a beautiful woman is CEO. Usually they suffer from BAS (Battle Axe Syndrome) or look like the usual elder female Senator or Governor where “the older they got they cuter they weren’t.” And where time had ravaged their faces. Mmmm, sounds sexist doesn’t it? Jes sayin’.
IMHO, Marissa Mayer should turn Yahoo into a great porn site with herself as the 1st model. There always some $$ to be made in porn industry.
my 2 cents…
Well Tim Cook himself is no Ravishing Rollo come to think of it…
Good to see she is on the ball..
“Like a rubber ball I come bouncing back to you..”
Bobby Vee
Rule 1- Be yourself. There is only one Apple and one Steve Jobs. Each situation is unique.
Rule 2- See rule 1.
1
Do search like Google and charge 1/2 the ad prices.
6) Just say no.
* Carly Fiorina
* Meg Whitman
* Carol Bartz
* And now presenting: Marissa Mayer
Enough said.
If Yahoo wanted your advice on how to run Yahoo, you would have been hired, not Marissa.
BTW I don’t recall Marissa asking for advice.
She sells sex appeal, flaunts her legs, boobs and figure in a hopeless dress code double-standard where men r confined to penguin suits and choke ties! So of all the qualified candidates in the world, she’s the smartest, most qualified leader? My ass! She’s there to be attractive to men! If she wasn’t, she would dress and pose like that! Put her in a suit and tie, and let’s see how it goes! Women dressing appropriately for work covering male triggers is long overdue! We all know it’s intentional flaunting right up to the sexual harassment it invites! Bad choice!
Clearly a really tough road ahead of her. In her situation I’d assess the resources available and then deeply think about what their business is. There was a great article in The Economist about this. Dell is struggling because for years they thought they were in the business of assembling cheap PCs. When that got hard they had no where to go. Apple’s organizing principle is to design great technology products for consumers. This means they are not tied to any particular technology. If she decides that Yahoo is its technology then they will fail as technology changes. She needs to decide on something like:
Partnering with consumers to make sense of the online world.
This gives them a goal and a way to use their considerable tech but as tech changes they won’t be married to any particular technology and can easily adapt.
You read the Economist for the articles. Sure.
Get Yahoo to focus on designing complete finished software and Yahoo won’t have worry about Google or Microsoft, but great software takes time to develop and she probably won’t have the time to make a difference.
Mrs. Trojan Horse should know the rule No. 6 which is:
“Don’t uckf with Apple”
The real reason she took that job is to sink Yahoo once and for all. She is a Trojan horse, Google’s.
6. Sell autographed copies of that ball!
She’s sitting on what looks like a red Apple.
Coded message? Soon to be sitting on Apple’s BOD?
Don’t forget the #1 Goal: Create terrific products that consumers/customers love.
#1 Yahoo has product lines?
#3 There’s a demand for Yahoo leaks?
#4 Okay, she has me with this one. I’d love to know what her gut instincts are. 😉
— all in fun, I wish her luck. She pulls this one off she WILL be famous!
“I’d love to know what her gut instincts are.”
She’s pregnant and due in October. That’s the only gut instinct she probably has at this point.