Fired Yahoo! CEO fired back with an awesome interview with Fortune’s Patricia Sellers.
Here are some of the key quotes:
- “The Yahoo! board] fucked me over.”
- “I said, ‘Roy, I think that’s a script. Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?’”
- “The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country. Now they’re trying to show that they’re not the doofuses that they are.”
- “I want to make sure that the employees don’t believe that I’ve abandoned them. I would never abandon them.”
- “I wish the Yahoo! people the best because it’s a fantastic franchise.”
Hey, you have got to admire someone with the gonads to call things straight. By her unique and personal style Carol Bartz is now the personification of guts, toughness, and transparency. By contrast she is making the Yahoo! Board look like spineless male suits who can’t get out of their own way. How refreshing to see a woman give it to the big boys. She was fired by Roy Bostock, the Yahoo! Chairman of the Board who gave her the news not face-to-face but rather over the phone reading a statement written by legal counsel. So what does Bartz do? She fires back in her, shall we say, salty style. She completely gained public attention and sympathy by being so candid and emotional.
Yahoo! is a prime example of an Internet firm that has lost its mojo. While they have every right to fire someone who underperforms, and she did, but to do so without class is unforgiveable. Where is the spirit that founded this company and made it such a standout? Is it any wonder that the company is floundering?
Now I’m not going to defend Bartz’s performance because it is indefensible. She had 30 months and during that time things went in the wrong direction. She missed out on Social Media and Apps among other things and let competitors (i.e. Google) just steal market share. But c’mon fellas, do things the right way. If I was a Yahoo! employee right now, I’d be completely embarrassed if not ashamed. Employees are a firm’s brand ambassadors and if you can’t communicate right with them, you’ve lost.