Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge • Hacker News Board

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#101

Post by rdtsc » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:23 AM UTC

anon8418 wrote: post #76

shostack wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having watched way too much "House of Lies" where consultants often seem to be brought in to back-up the viewpoint of a given executive and make the case for whatever that person's agenda is...what would such consultants likely be doing in this case in "the real world?" I admittedly haven't had the experience of working with any consultants, so I'm curious for opinions from those who have what happens when they come…

I spent a few years as a management consultant. Consultants are almost never hired to provide truly objective analysis. In most cases, they're hired to "back-up the viewpoint of a given executive". This is done by the executive to hedge the political risk required to go through with their action. They can point to McK when they defend their strategy to the board and then throw them under the bus if things don't pan o…

Yap pretty much. Remember reading an expose with some examples of how consulting firms would hire fresh grads from Ivy Leagues, and then send them to big companies, for top dollar, (or to other countries like Saudi Arabia) to basically do what you describe -- support the viewpoint of the executive who hired them. Of course all done officially with power point slides, excel spreadsheets and pie charts.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#102

Post by HillaryBriss » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:26 AM UTC

melted wrote: post #79

Bud wrote: post #71

Uh, she faces more than a mere "morale challenge". Her job is impossible. Her company is a gigantic load of bovine excrement with literally no redeeming qualities, products, or domain expertise to build upon. It should have been shut down five years ago and put out of its misery.

You do realize that "gigantic load of bovine excrement" describes, like, 90% of Silicon Valley, right? :-)

It used to be farmland.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#103

Post by TheCowboy » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:28 AM UTC

cft wrote: post #84

chollida1 wrote: post #24

Sometimes, well it actually happens quite often, a company just runs its course and is better off just winding things up and closing shop. IMHO it looks like the likely end game for Yahoo is: - taken private by a Private Equity firm - divest Yahoo Japan and Alibaba - any divisions that aren't making an actual profit, (tumblr, flickr, fantasy sports, etc, will be shopped around and sold if possible, or shuttered if no…

It depends on who is trying to resurrect it: Marissa Meyer or Steve Jobs. Imagine a reality show: Jobs or Musk in 2010 were tasked to turn Yahoo around, and the rules were that they would only have access to Yahoo's internal resources and cash. I would bet with my money buying Yahoo stock that they would reverse the curves.

Steve Jobs and Elon Musk each had/have a different focus and drive to achieve different goals that probably have little overlap with Yahoo. They might see their best course of action as immediately resigning after taking a survey of the company, and going on to start a different company.

I don't believe that if you just throw enough smart managers at the top of a hierarchy, then eventually it will spit out gold. If anything, that can be problematic.

Yahoo, in its current large size, simply may not have the latitude to pivot to the degree required as a publicly traded company, since anything any CEO attempts will draw the ire of activist shareholders. Any major change becomes a large political endeavor.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#104

Post by cstejerean » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:31 AM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #22

jakejake wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd assume that if a CEO were asking you to sign such an agreement, they would offer some sort of incentive in return. Otherwise it seems more like an ultimatum for you to declare your loyalty.

Actually, contractually that gets really interesting. Basically, for a contract to be valid both sides have to give something, this is referred to as "consideration". Now, normally, with work-related contracts the consideration is "continuing to employ you", but with senior mgmt (golden parachutes, stock options, etc) I bet the waters are murky.

From what I recall "continuing to employ you" is not legally acceptable consideration, because you had the job before the contract, and therefore you are not getting anything new. If it involves a pay raise, promotion, a bonus, etc, then it can be acceptable.

IANAL.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#105

Post by foobarqux » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:32 AM UTC

anon8418 wrote: post #76

shostack wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having watched way too much "House of Lies" where consultants often seem to be brought in to back-up the viewpoint of a given executive and make the case for whatever that person's agenda is...what would such consultants likely be doing in this case in "the real world?" I admittedly haven't had the experience of working with any consultants, so I'm curious for opinions from those who have what happens when they come…

I spent a few years as a management consultant. Consultants are almost never hired to provide truly objective analysis. In most cases, they're hired to "back-up the viewpoint of a given executive". This is done by the executive to hedge the political risk required to go through with their action. They can point to McK when they defend their strategy to the board and then throw them under the bus if things don't pan o…

Where did you land after consulting?

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#106

Post by Captain_Usher » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:35 AM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #88

irishcoffee wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is Yahoo's area of expertise that they make money at and can do better that Google, Microsoft, Facebook or Amazon? Fantasy sports. In much the same way Sega pivoted, Yahoo could.

Sega? Edit: is there a story I don't know about? I know a reasonable amount about gaming but I guess I'm drawing a blank on a successful Sega pivot. I remember some cool ads when I was a kid, I suppose.

Sega once participated in the video game industry roughly how Nintendo does today, by producing a home console and making first-party titles for it with their established properties like Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega's consoles definitely have fans, but the company was losing money and Sega did not produce another console after the Dreamcast. Today, they do perfectly fine for themselves by making games as a third-party developer and operating other assorted media ventures like merchandising for anime. They're also a major producer of arcade games.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#107

Post by MrGando » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:37 AM UTC

Is the story available to non-subscribers?

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#108

Post by pbroderi » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:40 AM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #88

irishcoffee wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is Yahoo's area of expertise that they make money at and can do better that Google, Microsoft, Facebook or Amazon? Fantasy sports. In much the same way Sega pivoted, Yahoo could.

Sega? Edit: is there a story I don't know about? I know a reasonable amount about gaming but I guess I'm drawing a blank on a successful Sega pivot. I remember some cool ads when I was a kid, I suppose.

Sega has been around quite a while but probably referring to when it discontinued console development and shifted gears to creating games for third-party platforms.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#109

Post by datashovel » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:40 AM UTC

Don't get me wrong. I love the fact that Yahoo took a chance on Marissa Mayer. The thing that I can't overlook is none of the stories I have read indicate this was a matter of a perfect vision that was just poorly executed.

All of the stories I've read lead me to believe there has been a somewhat muddled vision and less than spectacular execution on top of that.

Then again it was only mid-2012 that she was appointed CEO. Not enough time IMO, though the stories these days make one wonder if allowing a full 5 years (I think a reasonable minimum term for CEO of a large corporation like Yahoo) is going to be more destructive than constructive. Especially when there seem to be many documented failures, and not much to hang one's hat on, in the form of successes, to this point.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#110

Post by School-Cotton » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 5:42 AM UTC

remarkEon wrote: post #88

irishcoffee wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is Yahoo's area of expertise that they make money at and can do better that Google, Microsoft, Facebook or Amazon? Fantasy sports. In much the same way Sega pivoted, Yahoo could.

Sega? Edit: is there a story I don't know about? I know a reasonable amount about gaming but I guess I'm drawing a blank on a successful Sega pivot. I remember some cool ads when I was a kid, I suppose.

Sega used to make consoles; now they exclusively make games.