When a person is the CEO of a company, that person is tasked with commanding a team of talents. As the captain of a ship, the person needs to be a visionary who is also a strategic thinker, capable of steering the company towards success.
With traits that also include decisiveness and communication, resilience, strategic networking, integrity, and continuous learning, the CEO must also adapt to changes, as soon as the changes happen.
When Marissa Mayer was brought in to Yahoo! as its CEO, shareholders and those within the company had high hopes that she could be their savior.
At the time, Yahoo! was struggling.
With an impressive portfolio and experience, Mayer was the perfect candidate, yet she failed.
In an interview with Wired, she recalled what went wrong.
She said that:
"Yes, taking all those Yahoo products and putting them on mobile was a good idea, but it needed to happen five to eight years earlier than it did."
Whereas other tech companies, like Google and others that include the emerging social media platforms quickly shifted towards mobile, Yahoo! was late.
This marked its point of no return.
Despite expectations that Mayer could turn around Yahoo!, the company continued to struggle during her tenure.
The downfall was inevitable, and Mayer just couldn't prevent the ship from sinking.
It was only until Verizon that bought Yahoo! for nearly $5 billion in a deal that was announced in 2016, that saved the company from hitting rock bottom, or eating itself from the inside.
The acquisition was initially meant to make Yahoo! a tax-free spinoff of the Alibaba assets that would have allowed Yahoo! to continue as an independent company.
After all, Yahoo! that was holding Alibaba's share for too long has somehow cursed Yahoo! in an inevitable condition, one way or another no matter which decision it's making.
Read: Verizon Acquires Yahoo!: The Beginning Of A New Beginning
It was certain to happen, in the end, it all happens.
Mayer stepped down after the deal closed.
It took her a long-five years of trying to revive the internet giant before she ultimately resigned.
Mayer came to Yahoo! from Google in 2012 and had big ideas to change the company.
Another thing that she recalled was her notable $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, as well as attempts to revamp Yahoo!'s core products and services, as well as her "bigger mistakes," which include not taking a "bold enough stance."
"It felt like we were taking a stance in terms of bold acquisition, shifts in the portfolio," she said. "Some of those I would have done to an even more extreme."