The Vision of Business

phion

I've been following Marissa Mayer, the new CEO of Yahoo!, for quite some time now. I think she's magnificent, brilliant, and sexy. In a recent article she talks about the importance of internalizing a common vision and the acquisition of new ideas. Much of what she talks about can be found in the annals of psychology (William James, for example, in his essays on habit) and resonates very much with what some of the great minds of physics have preached (Einstein's ideology about ideas in general, "If you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough."), when she describes her technique regarding business proposals, she won't waste any time on someone who can't describe what their business or objective is in 140 words or less. I find her incredibly intriguing to say the least, and I think she will continue to do great things for Yahoo! beyond increasing quarterly revenues and share prices.

I couldn't agree more.

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer Artfully Communicates An Inspiring Vision

jim hardy

So are you long or short on the stock?

phion

Well, if I had any investment, I would go long.

BWV

Right so she is able to do the leadership speak (not actual leadership mind you, but the kind of goblygook talk about leadership that gets applause at TED conferences)

The key question to my mind is what does yahoo have to offer that some other tech company (particularly Google) can't do better? I have trouble thinking of anything which leads me to believe that the company is following the well trod path of Hewlett Packard, AOL and any other number of tech hasbeens

phion

Her primary focal points as of now have been mobile application (refining while reducing the bloat), search, advertising, and services (news, travel, real estate, automotive, etc.). It's all about 'getting clicks', and now she's attempting to expand into the social realm (with a failed bid for Facebook, nonetheless) and continuing to pursue start-up aqui-hires for talented teams and new ideas.

The margin between YHOO and companies like GOOG and FB is considerable, Google is a market monster when it comes to search and ads, while FB has the reigns in social. Marissa is trying to close those gaps. What you're not realizing is Marissa is coming from a 20 year tenure as a Google VP, she had been there since the beginning, so she knows what she wants and how to get it, and in my humble opinion doing a good job. She has only been CEO for about seven months, yet still Yahoo's returns have been higher then they ever were. It's hard not to pay attention to her.

enosis_

It's called selling the sizzle ( not the steak).