Carol Bartz has just finished her first conference call as Yahoo’s new chief executive. The 60-year-old former Autodesk CEO made a debut that was Sarah Palin-like in its feistiness with comments to analysts such as wanting Yahoo to “kick butt” and a strident appeal for everyone to “give this company some friggin’ breathing room.”
It sounds like Yahoo employees should belt up for an interesting ride with the no-nonsense software veteran.
Some highlights from the brief call:
“As far as the decision factors for me [accepting the job], I see the company as one with enormous assets that frankly could use a little management and I love leading, I love managing, I love making decisions and I love the fact that this is a great company for the long run.”
On criticism of her lack of media experience:
“I think that’s a lot of nonsense, I didn’t know CAD when I joined Autodesk, I didn’t know hardware when I joined Sun, I am a technology person, I am a market-driven person, I love customers, so I suspect I have a little brainpower to learn what it takes to understand media and more importantly I expect there are fantastic people here in the company as well as on the board that can help jumpstart my education.”
On her plans:
“I think unfortunately Yahoo has been battered in the last year and this has caused it to look internally and be protective and that’s nonsense for such a great company and such a great franchise, so I think the important thing to focus on is being best in all our markets and creating new markets for the company whether geographic or vertical and really get outward looking and kick some butt.”
On how long she will take to get to know the company:
“I’m having my first manager meeting here in ten minutes and I can start talking to people who actually run this business. I’m very good at listening and digging around and finding out what’s going on, so I don’t expect it’s going to take an extraordinary amount of time, but this is a big complex company and I need to give people a chance to tell me what their ideas, issues and dreams and hopes are, so let’s not put ourselves on some crazy timeline, let’s let this process evolve and let’s more than anything, let’s give this company some friggin’ breathing room.”
