Hot off the presses, Carol Bartz has accepted the tremendous task of turning Yahoo! around; her first official day was Tuesday January 13. President Sue Decker has also announced she will be leaving the company after a transitional period; she has been with Yahoo! for 8 years.
Word on the street is that Bartz is a tough, straight-shooter with tremendous ties in Silicon Valley on the technology side, but with limited online experience. Thus, while it's certain she's a quick study and can relate to engineers and technologists, will she able to quickly grasp the dynamic trends and shifts that can happen subtly but also suddenly in the online space? One of Yahoo!'s biggest challenges has been the diversity of verticals that they have to compete in: portal, content-provider, search engine, e-commerce. All of these channels are distinct with unique competitors so grasping the nuances of all of them then making quick and decisive moves to optimize the future strategy will be key to Bartz' success. The reality is that she won't make the decision on her own and will rely on the input of key senior management. Some worry however that therein lies the problem and that the senior management, too far removed from the average user or advertiser, have driven the company's strategies into foul territory in the past, and may do the same thing with Bartz. Hopefully, she will clean up house at all levels so that Yahoo! can make a quick and speedy return to glory. Happy day for Yahoo!
In the below video, Carol Bartz gives a talk to a group at Stanford in 2006 with some good advice to consider your career path not as a ladder but a pyramid, arguing that those at the top need to have experience in multiple disciplines; let's hope she has such experience and will use it to Yahoo!'s advantage.
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Yeah Sales Experience!!!!
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