Saturday, September 10, 2011

Given the Chance, Would You?

A great many articles and blogs have been written about the removal of Carol Bartz as CEO of Yahoo!  While half of them have been written about why she was and what it means for Yahoo!, the remainder have focused on how the termination was handled.  Both by the Yahoo! Board, and Carol herself.

Carol Bartz ran the worldwide sales organization at Sun Microsystems when I first worked there.  As several articles have alluded, I can personally confirm that her manner could be abrasive and, yes, that if you liked salty language you certainly enjoyed a warm comfort in Carol’s presence.

On one occasion, following a day of meetings with her, two dozen of us dined privately at MacArthur Park in Palo Alto.  At its conclusion, Carol shook everyone’s hand as they exited, smiling and saying to each, “Make your number.”  That was Carol.  Business first and last.  Fun in between.

Carol was not out to make friends.  If you made your number, you were good in her books.  If you didn’t, you were still in her books.  But listed on a different page.

I’ll confess to being surprised to read that she was terminated via a phone call.  Barring extreme grounds for cause, or imminent notification by the Board as is required in some CEO’s employment contracts, notice by phone is not a class act.  (I’ve had to do it a few times in my career due to unique circumstances - though once because a boss refused to grant travel approval.  Terminating anyone is unpleasant business.  Having to do it by telephone has always lingered with me as an indignity to the person whose position is being terminated.)

Though, I wasn’t at all surprised to read Carol’s response in the Forbes interview, referring to the Board as having “f___ed me over.”  Sour grapes?  Perhaps.

But who among us did not smile just a bit when reading it?  It is seldom, if ever, that voice is given to our most visceral and personal thoughts. On that score, Carol Bartz is no shrinking violet.

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