Since I was too busy working from home, I was unable to comment on the recent shenanigans at Yahoo. Whatever Marissa Meyers is smoking, I want some, perhaps a few crates. Where does one get the idea that forcing people to get out of their creative home environment into a hellish brick and mortar they call Yahoo’s office will fix any of hoo’s problems?
Yahoo wants to be a global technology company; they even wrote it (a big step for a company that can barely develop anything). Now I do not know how much research they did on their competition, obviously none. That space is not only crowded but cut throat. The gimmicks and schemes Yahoo has used in years past will not suffice.
To understand where Marissa Meyer is coming from you have to understand the environment. Marissa has workers producing about $350,000 in revenue. Compare this to their new choose of competition (since they are moving to be a technology company), Google, with almost $1,000,000 per worker in revenue.
What is my dear Marissa trying to accomplish here? Well obviously she thinks that her workers lack productivity. She also believes that drawing all the employees under one roof will boast creativity. Ever heard of Google Campus? Neither of these are bad ideas. The issues stem from what this move implies about the overall culture at Yahoo.
Yahoo can try all they want to emulate Google, they will fail miserably at it. Companies, particularly in the tech space have to make their own lane. In other words, they have to be individuals. Technology moves so fast that copying a competitors approach, products, atmosphere correlates to being years behind.
More importantly, Yahoo employees lack productivity and creativity. That is essentially what Marissa is telling us. She is suggesting that her employees do not make her enough money and need to be under a watchful eye. This says everything you ever wanted to know about Yahoo. These facts blatantly state that the wrong people work at Yahoo. When the wrong people work for you, fissures in the company run deep.
Have you ever heard of employees of Yahoos newfound rival Google needing a slap on the wrist for not being productive or creative enough? No you have not. Have you ever watched a fight between a trained combatant with the latest technological weaponry and an elderly woman? It is quite entertaining, so grab the popcorn and join me for this entertaining programming.
Essentially Yahoo and Marissa Meyer have put a band aid on a wound that needs immediate medical attention. By attempting to solve the problem without having a deep understanding of the actual issues at hand Marissa has just prolonged the unavoidable, Yahoos death (or Marissa’s termination).
