Yahoo Case Assignment - Critical Thinking Analysis

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Leadership for CEO Mayer

In my opinion of this case, I see former CEO Mayer as being a pseudo-transformational leader. This is due to the fact, that she came into the company preaching change and detailing objectives to effectively turn the company around, but at the end of the day I believe that it was about HER leadership and not the company. Mike Myatt from Forbes talks about how Mayer was brilliant executive but just could not cut it as a CEO because she did not have the ability to unlearn what she already knew (Matt, 2015). This meant she was unwilling to go in and listen to the workers of the company as how to address problems, but instead she just jumped in and started fixing problems she didn’t quite grasp (Matt, 2015). That is a recipe for failure every time. I believe that this attitude caused further dissention in the culture of Yahoo and only deepened the already dismal situation.

HR CEO Mayer

As CEO, she joined the company with an extremely impressive resume. She worked on the flagship search engine for Google and was now ready to take on the next challenge: fixing the debacle that was Yahoo (Larn, 2013). Employees were excited for her to bring the Google spirit and success to this company. However, her failure to realize how culture affects the workplace and output hindered her ability to lead. She instituted several practices such as more rigorous hiring. This was something that worked at Google because of who they were, but Yahoo did not have the ‘Brand Name’ to lure in top-candidates. Instead they created vacancies in the company and missed out on many great candidates (Larn, 2013). This caused further dissention in the already tense Yahoo work environment as the same workload was being spread and amongst fewer and fewer employees. She did things her own way and it seems as if she did not instill trust into her employees. A company without trust and strong understanding leads to an employee population that gets angry and lacks motivation. Her leadership was new and quite ineffective so she could use her success as a motivational tool. Her leadership was not compassionate in nature, as she took away employee freedoms, such as banning work-from-home practices (Larn, 2013). She not only denied prospects because of academic practices, but she discouraged once loyal employees by forcing them to change in a manner that did not prove to be successful. Mayer was effectively crippling her company because employees did not want to work for her.

Conclusion

Yahoo was once a leader in technology and media field, but due to the external and internal factors, they could not maintain that success. Many factors contributed to this whether it be failed leadership or fighting a losing battle for market share, the company could not adapt well enough to thrive. This led to a road of failure as they lost the vision of who they were at their core; they lost the definition of their purpose.

References

Lee, T. B. (2016, July 25). Verizon's Purchase of Yahoo, explained. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12267540/verizon-yahoo-purchase-explained

Mack, S. (n.d.). What Is the Meaning of Competitive Environment? Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-competitive-environment-24981.html

Spacey, K. (Producer). (2014, March 9). House of cards [Video file]. In House of Cards. Retrieved November 17, 2016.

Larn, S. (2013). Yahoo's Mayer gets internal flak for more rigorous hiring. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-hiring-idUSBRE92B06R20130312

Myatt, M. (2015, November 20). Marissa Mayer: A Case Study in Poor Leadership. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2015/11/20/marissa-mayer-case-study-in-poor-leadership/#24c6c44b3795

Kessler, S. (2016). Industry Surveys Internet Software and Services. 1-68. Retrieved

November 1, 2016, from https://bblearn.astate.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-4687693-dt-

Content-rid-16434279_1/courses/201660.cfcc2312/Yahoo%20Industry%20

Survey.pdf.

Mayer, M., Goldman, K., Webb, M., Filo, D., James, S., McInerney, T., . . . Shaw, J.

(2016, February 29). Form 10-K. Retrieved November 1, 2016, from https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1011006/000119312516483790/d12894d10k.htm