

"Keep Moving": Marissa Mayer's First Memo to Yahoos - dave1619
http://allthingsd.com/20120719/yes-keep-moving-marissa-mayers-first-memo-to-yahoos-natch/

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btilly
It is fun to see this memo, but it does not tell me anything useful. I will be
looking for three key things that will determine a lot about how Marissa's
tenure will go.

1\. When she starts actually changing things, what changes will she make? The
importance of this is obvious?

2\. Who is going to follow her from Google? Sure, she's not allowed to
solicit, but people are allowed to solicit her. Good execs usually have a core
follow them to a new position, and this core is essential to any possibility
of success. (For an extreme and unlikely example, if Jeff Dean were to follow
her, I'd buy Yahoo stock immediately, even if I had to borrow money to do it.)

3\. What will motherhood take out of her? Like a lot of high-powered women,
she appears to think of motherhood as being something she can limit and
compartmentalize. Judging from the experience of other new parents that I have
known, and my memories of my own children, she's in for a shock. What will the
impact be? (She may or may not succeed in hiding it.)

~~~
amirmc
> "Please come by my office in building D on the third floor and say hello."

I'd add another (possibly minor) item to your list, which is 'What actually
happens if an employee goes to her office in building D on the third floor to
say hello?'

Might sound trite but if someone makes this offer and those who take it up get
rebuffed then I'd say it's not a good signal. Sure, she's crazy busy but she
didn't have to make the offer and anyone who turns up obviously cares to some
extent.

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fs111
Is nobody here working at a public company? These memos all look the same.
They mean exactly nothing and people really do not care about them. Want a
free template, here you go:

Dear $EMPLOYESS_OF_COMPANY,

$COMPANY is close to my heart because, because, because.

You people are the most important asset. Talent. Innovation. Amazing. Don't
drop the ball. Bla bla bla. Need time to figure out what to do next.

Thank you $FORMER_CEO.

Talk to me.

$NEW_CEO

~~~
mkramlich
> You people are the most important asset. [Except I will become the highest
> paid one by an obscene multiple order of magnitude.] Talent. Innovation.
> Amazing. Don't drop the ball. Bla bla bla. Need time to figure out what to
> do next.

added something to the template

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citricsquid
An idea for companies sending out "do not forward" memos:

Have specific words in the memo (eg: first adjective in paragraph #1, verb in
paragraph #2 and adjective in sentence #5) and use combinations of randomly
selected words (or punctuation) to create a "signature" for each recipient.
Would be easy enough to do automatically. For example employee #1 gets "This
move is great for the company..." and employee #2 gets "This move is brilliant
for the company..."

Although I guess if you need to do such a thing you have bigger problems and
if employees know such a thing is done then they'll obfuscate their own memos
when sharing.

~~~
fleitz
I think it's better to make even more subtle changes like replacing some
normal spaces with non-breaking spaces, or using digraphs in some words and
not in others.

~~~
ben0x539
That sounds easier to mechanically revert, though.

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dave1619
Wow, I'm impressed she invited anybody to stop by her office anytime to meet
her and share ideas. Pretty cool.

~~~
pedalpete
Based on Google's culture (or what I have heard about it), I don't think this
is surprising.

It also lets her get introduced to the people at Yahoo! who have ideas, those
that are still passionate about the company, and those that will make a
difference.

~~~
codeonfire
The only reason this isn't surprising is that every new executive in the
history of business has proclaimed an open door policy. Email would be far
more efficient to deliver and review ideas on their merits. Open door is more
about gauging the political climate and finding out who will be a follower
from the get-go, who is star struck, etc.

~~~
msellout
And then they go on to put secretaries in the room in front of the open door
to stop people from going through the doorway.

I once happened to walk past the open door to the office of the Director of
the CIA. I briefly considered walking in to say, "Hi," but then I thought
better of it.

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caublestone
I'd love to see her take that cash and talent and completely throw the company
through a renaissance. Yeah, fire all those people like everyone else is
saying. Now run the company like a start-up. A start-up that has 2.5B and is
profitable on projects on cruise-control.

Google is getting love and attention for the ambitious ideas it has about the
future, yet it's still focusing resources on G+. Yahoo! has an opportunity to
focus entirely on it's own ambitious visions.

------
codeonfire
What will be interesting is to see if yahoo now becomes more google-like and
the two companies try to compete to be the most relevant. Google is very cult
like in it's image of corporatey perfectionism and superiority. What is going
to happen if Yahoo actually turns it around and builds the same image? Would
tech be big enough for two Google sized corporate egos?

~~~
ekianjo
Have you ever seen a CEO who brought significant change in a major company.
Allright, Steve Jobs, maybe, but he was a funder in the first place so it
doesnt really count.

And even if it did, let me break it for you. She is not Steve Jobs.

------
ekianjo
Typical Corporate bullshit. Harly surprising for a first memo, but seeing
Yahoo and 'bold innovation ' in the very same sentence made me laugh. She has
no clue about Yahoo or what?

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mvkel
Reading this memo, she seems more like a manager instead of a leader. Nothing
inspiring, just orders. Also, very awkwardly written.

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mtkd
With the exception of whistleblowing it is wrong to publish internal
communications that were clearly meant to stay internal.

How would Kara feel if her email was compromised and someone decided to choose
which emails should be made public for no other reason than voyeurism and
pageviews?

HN shouldn't even allow the links.

~~~
gojomo
It's a journalist's job to get the internal story, even if that requires
exploiting various forms of petite disloyalty. Also, a rah-rah message this
generic was written with the expectation it would be leaked.

And, Swisher as a journalist would likely expect (and perhaps even respect) if
her own correspondents leaked her own emails, if and when it could advance a
story of industrywide interest. Journalists aren't especially thin-skinned,
naive, or hypocritical about such things.

~~~
anothermachine
Interestingly, Swisher's spouse is a VP at Google.

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tlear
So so much text to say absolutely nothing. But let's see how long before she
starts cleaning out the house that will be the big indicator

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Toshio
Would Kara Swisher please openly admit she has a grudge against Yahoo? And I
thought HN wouldn't promote such blatantly passive-aggressive articles to the
front page. I thought this is a place for intelligent, well-reasoned debate.
Oh well, now I know better.

~~~
pmoehring
She comes across so smug and arrogant, it's uncanny. Definitely no celebration
of the bold move or tough challenges here.

