Please do something.
Soon.
You know what I'm talking about.
There are a lot of people wondering what the future holds and it seems like we're in yet another indefinite holding pattern while you do whatever it is you're doing and cannot talk about.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world marches on.
While the public staring contest is great drama for the incessant technology news machine, the rest of us are rather sick of this. I say this as a concerned observer, fan of Yahoo, employee, and shareholder.
Your Friend,
Jeremy
Posted by jzawodn at April 28, 2008 11:31 AM
Well said. The "Ultimatum" expired last Saturday, so if Microsoft did not do any further steps by now, it looks like they don't have much of a plan here.
We had a similar situation at work just a couple of years ago. Lots of uncertainty for a too-long period of time. The best and brightest (all except me, of course) said "I do not need this crap!" and left. Nothing good ever comes from these things.
Well said. It's time to make some decisions.
Which of those kittens is supposed to be Yang?
Dude, as someone who's been an executive who's been involved in discussions where I couldn't tell the employees what was going on at times: suck it up and just focus on your own work. Yes, what the folks are doing will have impact on you one way or another at some point, worrying about what might or might not be happening, while your mind comes up with a thousand crazy what-ifs in a complete vacuum is really just going to drive up your blood pressure and reduce your sleep comfort with no real benefit.
Just let them do their jobs, you do yours, and it'll end up good. If they don't do theirs because they need to be worrying about what you're thinking about them not being able to tell you, and you don't do yours cos you're thinking about them not being able to tell you, then everyone loses.
No matter what happens, productivity and focus on your piece of the puzzle is basically the key to moving forward successfully.
Well said and cute photo!
I think this indecision is not healthy for anyone. What worries me is that the management may be playing golf out there, figuratively speaking, and hoping that all these hard-decision will just go away on their own...
If they are in-fact in some discussions, just tell us "we are in discussions". At least that way we know someone cares about fate of both companies...
Me? I am just a concerned shareholder of both MSFT and YHOO stocks, for years now...
why should it matter when they come to a decision?
does the lack of one affect your job? it doesn't affect mine. my focus is on my project and on the success of the company (by way of my project being successful). this holds true today just as it did 6 months ago before any of this started.
@Craig: "let them do their jobs, you do yours, and it'll end up good." Lemme guess. You learned that in some business school program or one of those books written by Seth Godin. Your advice is typical of someone with an MBA that has a high profile gig that you don't deserve. I think what Jeremy is saying is that the going back and forth is distracting. Of course you were never on that end of the stick because you were off some where spouting off cliches (take your pick) you learned in business school. You probably have never been an "individual contributor" in an organization such as Yahoo!.
So rather than provide cracker box wisdom (such as "productivity and focus on your piece of the puzzle is basically the key to moving forward successfully.") while you are wearing your golf polo and Docker khaki's, let me give you some advice from an individual contributor: Go work for a real living and earn your MBA rather than pay for one to simply get you a job you weren't qualified for in the first place.
@Craig: "Just let them do their jobs, you do yours, and it'll end up good."
No, it does not end up good. The Smart people will get pissed off, because smart people just don't simply "do their job" without knowing where the road leads to - they'll do the single right thing and get a new job. What's left after the brain drain is the horde of grunts. Not bad people, but you are left with the type of people that you can just hire off the street anytime. Those people that are not bad, but that are of course laid off in the "synergy effects" following the merger.
It's easy for management to forget sometimes that the thing that really gets to people most is uncertainty. Especially when it comes to jobs.
Keep it up for too long, and you'll loose all your talent. Guaranteed. How long is too long? Pretty much any amount.
Sad really. A fair number of companies have lost their edge because management is just to indecisive. These are just pathetic cases, since it's not that the business didn't have the resources to be competitive, but it decided to shed it's capabilities rather than move forward.
Add in an uncertain economy and job market, and you just accelerate things.
