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Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#51

Post by voidlogic »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #33
stackcollision wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've heard, this is because many Asian countries have a culture of information flashbang. The Yahoo homepage is extremely cluttered and busy, which fits in with what they expect. The Google homepage, in contrast, is just an empty abyss they can't get anything from. Here in the States we seem to value minimalism, which might be one of the reasons people go to Google (aside from it being a great search engine…

Here in the States we seem to value minimalism What part of America do you live in?

Aesthetic and lifestyle minimalism are not the same thing.

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#52

Post by erichurkman »

mathattack wrote: post #38
malanj wrote: post #21

That has to be one of Marissa's most public mistakes yet. She was the one who pushed very hard for Yahoo to hire him. It's interesting that a few articles I read mention that he's really smart but not good with people. I've read that Marissa has the same characteristics, I wonder if that gave her a blind spot on this one?

This is old news, right? The money and mistake was already baked into the stock price. To your point, we tend to like hiring people similar to ourselves because it's comfortable and validating. In reality what we need is people who cover our blind spots rather than share them. The great partnerships have this.

To quote Carnegie's self-written epitaph: Here Lies A Man Who Knew How to Enlist in His Service Better Men Than Himself.

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#53

Post by Zigurd »

wpietri wrote: post #49
kolbe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note: asset bubbles pop. Executive pay is not an asset. I don't know where you work or what you do for a living, but I've heard a similar rant about executive pay from hundreds of people, whereas I've only ever seen a handfull of people trying to do something about it. So, I propose to you, if this hurts your sensibilities so much, what are you doing about it? Are you continuing to feed the machine by working as…

I think the underlying problem here is managerialism [1], which is mainly a cultural problem [2]. The way that one solves cultural problems is mainly by talking about them. If enough people are saying, "Hey, this prohibition thing doesn't work," and do it for long enough, then eventually the unquestioned cultural assumptions dissolve. So my question for you is: why are you standing in the way of people doing somethin…

Culture? Surely the legal framework and tax environment of corporations could be adjusted to fix at least part of that problem.

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#54

Post by refurb »

miloszf wrote: post #44
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just that Jobs turned a company from the brink of failure to the most successful tech company pretty quickly. But since Apple is an outlier, I was interested in hearing about any other examples of CEOs who have caused big improvements in short amounts of time.

Have a look at Good to Great[0]. It's basically breaking down the qualities that make for the best CEO's, and the results are as research based as they could get, and also deliver some interesting conclusions. [0] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-To-Great-Jim-Collins/dp/0712676...

If you're going to read that book, I'd suggest you read "The Halo Effect" as well. It talks about how questionable the "retrospective" research from these books is.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions/dp/...

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#56

Post by frandroid »

thenewbtg wrote: post #48
kolbe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note: asset bubbles pop. Executive pay is not an asset. I don't know where you work or what you do for a living, but I've heard a similar rant about executive pay from hundreds of people, whereas I've only ever seen a handfull of people trying to do something about it. So, I propose to you, if this hurts your sensibilities so much, what are you doing about it? Are you continuing to feed the machine by working as…

There is nothing we can do, really. Money is very close to power, and obviously the relatively poor (those who rely on a salary) have far less say and control than the extravagantly paid (those who do not require a salary). It is a fundamental trait of our free and capitalist society. We're merely mourning obvious inefficiencies, "bugs" in the convoluted system of laws and philosophies and culture that govern our soc…

Sure, we can do something. It's called popular political action.

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#57

Post by kolbe »

thenewbtg wrote: post #48
kolbe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note: asset bubbles pop. Executive pay is not an asset. I don't know where you work or what you do for a living, but I've heard a similar rant about executive pay from hundreds of people, whereas I've only ever seen a handfull of people trying to do something about it. So, I propose to you, if this hurts your sensibilities so much, what are you doing about it? Are you continuing to feed the machine by working as…

There is nothing we can do, really. Money is very close to power, and obviously the relatively poor (those who rely on a salary) have far less say and control than the extravagantly paid (those who do not require a salary). It is a fundamental trait of our free and capitalist society. We're merely mourning obvious inefficiencies, "bugs" in the convoluted system of laws and philosophies and culture that govern our soc…

I don't think engineers earning six figures are relatively poor. You should learn what poor is before you say something like that. They are solidly middle class in one of the most prosperous times to be middle class. And the middle class is designed to sit between the upper (capital owners) and the lower. You're paid to augment their capital. So if they get filthy rich off of your work, despite their bad decisions, it shouldn't matter to you. You're every bit a part of the problem, and you choose to be a part of it. You don't need to live in the Bay Area. You don't need the best schools. You don't need fancy new tech toys. You don't even need US. You choose to be a part of the middle class in order to receive those luxuries.

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#58

Post by pachydermic »

That video is painful to watch... I know there's clearly a bit of a language barrier, but this guy sounds like a complete dingus. Then again, he's the guy making a cool ~$60 mil a year so what does that suggest?

I wonder what a guy like that actually does on a day-to-day basis. I could see there being a huge amount of pressure and work to do, but maybe they just hand it off to their underlings secure in the thought that they have a fat severance package waiting for them if anything goes wrong.

How can you expect someone to give a damn when they have no skin in the game? So this guy did an apparently horrible job and made millions. How does that make sense? Wouldn't you only want him to make an obscene amount of money if he did a good job? It really is fascinating how massive companies like that work - I guess you can draw some similar conclusions as in politics.

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#59

Post by grmarcil »

zaidf wrote: post #32

I really feel for Jerry Yang. It seems like every Yahoo CEO and Board has been riding the coattails of his Alibaba investment while his name is left for the footnotes.

Fair point, but don't feel too bad for him: http://www.forbes.com/profile/jerry-yang/

Re: Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer

#60

Post by kolbe »

wpietri wrote: post #49
kolbe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note: asset bubbles pop. Executive pay is not an asset. I don't know where you work or what you do for a living, but I've heard a similar rant about executive pay from hundreds of people, whereas I've only ever seen a handfull of people trying to do something about it. So, I propose to you, if this hurts your sensibilities so much, what are you doing about it? Are you continuing to feed the machine by working as…

I think the underlying problem here is managerialism [1], which is mainly a cultural problem [2]. The way that one solves cultural problems is mainly by talking about them. If enough people are saying, "Hey, this prohibition thing doesn't work," and do it for long enough, then eventually the unquestioned cultural assumptions dissolve. So my question for you is: why are you standing in the way of people doing somethin…

Let me know how that works. The have-nots complaining about the haves being unworthy is probably the most discussed topic in the history of humanity.
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