Postcards
Yahoo CEO Mayer on "the elephant in the room"
April 19, 2013: 5:34 PM ETHere's the image that Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer put up on the screen yesterday when she talked publicly for the first time about the HR policy that brought her worldwide controversy.
![purple[2]](http://fortunepostcards.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/purple2.png?w=576&h=343)
"I need to talk about the elephant in the room," Mayer said at the Great Place to Work conference in Los Angeles. In case you don't get her joke, the "WFH" on the pachyderm's back is the CEO's code for "Work From Home." This is the work-style that Mayer believes must end if she's going to turn Yahoo around.
"People are more productive when they're alone," Mayer explained. "But they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together."
Here is my Fortune colleague Chris Tkaczyk's account of Mayer's talk about working at Yahoo. And my interview with Mayer last November -- her first after taking the job as Yahoo CEO -- is this week's featured Fortune Brainstorm Podcast. You can find the conversation here.
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While Sheryl Sandberg Leans in, Marissa Mayer lies low
A look at Silicon Valley's two most powerful women from a journalist who has known both for nearly a decade--and offers news about Mayer's controversial HR policy and nursery at Yahoo
Never in the history of book marketing has there been a crusade quite like Sheryl Sandberg's. Last Thursday in New York, the Facebook (FB) COO hobnobbed with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, film director George Lucas and Barbara Walters MORE
Patricia Sellers - Mar 11, 2013 3:37 PM ET -
Yahoo's new work policy: bold move, bad delivery
FORTUNE -- Marissa Mayer made a global splash last summer for landing the Yahoo (YHOO) CEO job while six months pregnant.
Then she grabbed the spotlight for starting a cultural revolution at the dozing tech giant—using perks like free smartphones and her so-called PB&J initiative to un-stick innovation.
Today, with Mayer making the front page of the New York Times (above the fold, no less) for her decision to require employees to MORE
Patricia Sellers - Feb 26, 2013 3:23 PM ETPosted in: Marissa Mayer, Yahoo -
Yahoo CEO Mayer's "God" and "baby is easy" quotes go viral
"Marissa Mayer on God, Family & Yahoo" turned out to be Fortune.com's No. 1 story on Facebook (FB) and LinkedIn (LNKD) last week--and one of the most-read Fortune.com stories of 2012.
When I sat on stage with Mayer last Tuesday at Fortune's Most Powerful Women dinner in Palo Alto--for the first interview that the Yahoo (YHOO) CEO has done since taking the job in July--I had no clue that her comments MORE
Patricia Sellers - Dec 3, 2012 2:34 PM ET -
Watch: Full interview with Yahoo's Marissa Mayer
Here is Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer talking with me Tuesday evening in her first interview since she joined the troubled web giant from Google (GOOG) in July.
At the Fortune Most Powerful Women dinner in Palo Alto, California, she covered the gamut: turnaround plans, mobile strategy, acquisition outlook...and baby Macallister.
More Most Powerful Women coverage
Patricia Sellers - Nov 28, 2012 1:22 PM ETPosted in: Marissa Mayer, Yahoo -
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer talks...and sticks around
FORTUNE -- Marissa Mayer did her first interview since becoming CEO of Yahoo (YHOO) last night. She sat down with me at the Fortune Most Powerful Women dinner in Palo Alto, California.
Here's my colleague Michal Lev-Ram's story about the interview.
And here are two clips of my interview with Mayer:
By the way, even though Mayer was heading home to her two-month-old baby, Macallister, and bound for Washington early this morning to meet MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 28, 2012 11:42 AM ET -
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer talks at last
The Yahoo chief will sit for her first interview since taking the helm.
FORTUNE -- Where will Marissa Mayer take Yahoo? I'll be asking Yahoo's new CEO tonight, on stage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women dinner in Palo Alto.
This will be Mayer's first interview since she moved to Yahoo (YHOO) from Google (GOOG) last July. You can watch it tomorrow right here on Postcards.
There are lots of topics we could MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 27, 2012 7:00 AM ETPosted in: Marissa Mayer, Yahoo -
Yahoo CEO Mayer reveals her baby's name
Marissa Mayer's baby boy has a name...Macallister.
The 37-year-old boss left Google (GOOG) in July to lead a high-profile turnaround at Yahoo (YHOO)--the first person ever to take charge at a Fortune 500 company while pregnant.
Ever since Mayer delivered her baby on September 30, the public has known him only as BBBB—Big Baby Boy Bogue, the moniker given to him by mom and dad, Zachary Bogue.
Turns out, Mayer and husband Zack, MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 22, 2012 2:55 PM ET -
Yahoo CEO Mayer's hot hires from Google
Meet her impressive new hires.
FORTUNE -- More than just importing Google (GOOG) culture -- free food! free smartphones! -- to Yahoo (YHOO), CEO Marissa Mayer is bringing in Google talent too. On Monday, which was Mayer's first day back since delivering a baby boy September 30, Yahoo announced the appointment of Henrique de Castro as COO. De Castro is one of several recruits whom Mayer used to work with at MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 16, 2012 12:28 PM ET -
Yahoo CEO Mayer's career advice
She is No. 3 on Fortune's 40 Under 40, No. 14 on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list, and at 37, the youngest CEO--male or female--on the Fortune 500.
How did Marissa Mayer climb so far so fast?
This picture of Mayer--who is on the right, with her best friend from childhood, Abigail Garvey Wilson--offers a glimpse of where she came from. I talked with Abby, as well as dozens of other MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 12, 2012 9:44 AM ET
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Sheryl Sandberg:
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In her first public interview since taking on the CEO gig at Yahoo, Marissa Mayer outlines her priorities both in and out of the company. Watch
Brenda Barnes famously quit a big job to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor. Watch
Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.
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The Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership brings rising-star women from countries around the world to the U.S. for three-week mentorships with participants of the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit - among them Ursula Burns of Xerox, Laura Lang of Time Inc., Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, and Tory Burch.
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