On July 16, 2012, Mayer was appointed President and CEO of Yahoo!, effective the following day. She is also a member of the company’s board of directors. To simplify the bureaucratic process and “make the culture the best version of itself”, Mayer launched a new online program called PB&J. It collects employee complaints, as well as their votes on problems in the office; if a problem generates at least 50 votes, online management automatically investigates the matter. In February 2013, Mayer oversaw a major personnel policy change at Yahoo! that required all remote-working employees to convert to in-office roles. Having worked from home toward the end of her pregnancy, Mayer returned to work after giving birth to a boy, and had a nursery built next to her office suite—Mayer was consequently criticized for the telecommuting ban.
Pushing Through The Difficult Times | I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.
Its All About The People | Really in technology, it’s about the people, getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment and helping to find a way to innovate.
Being Passionate | If you can find something that you’re really passionate about, whether you’re a man or a woman comes a lot less into play. Passion is a gender-neutralizing force.
The Things That Matter The Most | You can’t have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you.
The Difference Between Good And Great | Beyond basic mathematical aptitude, the difference between good programmers and great programmers is verbal ability.
Women Are Equal | I don’t think that I would consider myself a feminist. I think that I certainly believe in equal rights, I believe that women are just as capable, if not more so in a lot of different dimensions, but I don’t, I think have, sort of, the militant drive and the sort of, the chip on the shoulder that sometimes comes with that.
Technology Is For Anyone | You can be good at technology and like fashion and art. You can be good at technology and be a jock. You can be good at technology and be a mom. You can do it your way, on your terms.
I definitely think what drives technology companies is the people; because in a technology company it’s always about what are you going to do next.
Google Should Be A Tool | I think Google should be like a Swiss Army knife: clean, simple, the tool you want to take everywhere.
Having Different Views Of The Internet | I think that there is a generational change, where new generations that have grown up always having access to the internet have a somewhat different view in terms of personal information and what needs to be kept private.
I think what’s really amazing is that given the scale of the web and getting the compute power we have today, we’re starting to see things that appear intelligent but actually aren’t semantically intelligent.
