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[Spring Drive]

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's work ethic is near legendary.

And a recent report by the WSJ's Doug MacMillan shares another interesting bit of information that illustrates just how hard she works.

Late last year, Mayer was pregnant with twins. At the same time, she was pulling through one of the toughest periods of her time at Yahoo, running three-day meetings and addressing the media — right until the day before she gave birth to the twin babies.

But after having kids, Mayer remained closely in touch with Yahoo's management, even finding a way to speak with Yahoo chairman Maynard Webb on the phone from her hospital bed, the WSJ report says. The two discussed the company's next steps on the phone, and soon announced that it would explore a sale of its core internet business.

Given Yahoo was under immense pressure from activist investors to come up with a decision that's easily one of the most important in company history, it's not hard to see why Mayer wanted to work from the hospital. But it also sheds light on the crazy hours Mayer is known for working.

One former Google executive once told us, "[Mayer] will literally work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently called her "completely magical."

PayPal cofounder and Affirm CEO Max Levchin even called her "the hardest working CEO in Silicon Valley, bar none."

Not everyone is a fan of Mayer's workaholic-like hours. Some people criticize her for setting a bad example for all working mothers in the US who don't get guaranteed paid maternity leave.

But Mayer believes she needs to be an exception as CEO of the company, and recently shared some data to show the rest of the company is not affected by her actions.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayer-worked-in-hospital-after-having-twins-2016-6?r=US&IR=T

 

[entremet]

Yeah. She's a well known workaholic.

Doesn't seem to be working!

SV work culture is bananas and one of the reasons there's a huge gender disparity. Women are more like prioritize work life balance than men.

 

[Sheentak]

Toxic work culture, all this hardwork for nothing.

 

[EBreda]

So "work ethic" means neglecting your own health and that of your newborn sons? Great example, corporate America.

 

[Escape Goat]

Unless im making millions with a golden parachute I hope Im never expected to work from my hospital bed after expelling a parasitic lifeform from my body.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

She is well known for working hard, and if she wants to do this then fine... But I could personally never do this. Family>Job.

 

[Syriel]

Working that much is not a good thing.

It is the sign of a micro manager who has no idea how to delegate or put together a solid team.

 

[Renekton]

Holy crap.... I need my 8.2 hours of sleep

Some people are just amazing

 

[RSTEIN]

So "work ethic" means neglecting your own health and that of your newborn sons? Great example, corporate America.

But she's magical!

 

[kirblar]

Working hard doesn't mean anything if you're not doing good work.

 

[beato_angelico]

All this work and the result is bad decisions.

 

[TS-08]

So "work ethic" means neglecting your own health and that of your newborn sons? Great example, corporate America.

What makes you think she was neglecting either?

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

So

 

[Spring Drive]

So "work ethic" means neglecting your own health and that of your newborn sons? Great example, corporate America.

Is there evidence that either she or her sons are in bad health?

 

[entremet]

Holy crap.... I need my 8.2 hours of sleep

Some people are just amazing

She's still relatively young--late 30/40s? But she will notice this damage as she ages.

Bill Clinton had a similar work ethic and had extremely serious heart surgery late in life.

Nature comes calling eventually. You can't cheat it.

 

[TheOMan]

There are diminishing returns for working that much and you actually become a detriment. The fact that she put together a report to show that the rest of the company is not affected by her actions is telling.

Actually - shouldn't the rest of the company be affected by her actions? If it's not, then why is she there???

 

[Sulik2]

Moronic. Work culture like this is toxic. You gain nothing from working this many hours and neglecting your life. All the studies show that crunching hours like this actually hurts performance after the first work. These CEOs praising her for doing this are gross.

 

[Branduil]

Well, this is a very good argument for not being a workaholic.

 

[Dennis]

How is this working out for Yahoo?

Being a workaholic when you are the privileged person at the top of the pyramid is also a lot different than a grunt at the bottom being worked to the bone.

I hope the journalists got paid well for this glow job.

 

[Kurdel]

I am sure CEO levels of stress on in-utero twins won't have any negative long term impact at all on her children.

 

[Auctopus]

If she likes to work and enjoys doing that then good for her but this sort of behaviour shouldn't be deified.

 

[Vanillalite]

Maybe she should stop working as the more work she puts in the shitter Yahoo becomes.

Worst tech CEO in the Valley.

 

[entremet]

If she likes to work and enjoys doing that then good for her but this sort of behaviour shouldn't be deified.

The problem is that leaders set the culture by their behavior.

Then those wanting to climb the ladder see what game you must play in order to get promoted. It's a toxic cycle.

 

[Dennis]

Let us worship these CEOs. They are like gods compared to us lesser mortals.

We should be thankful they are willing to work for salaries only x1000 larger than ours.

 

[Tertullian]

Hey, Yahoo's not gonna... do... whatever it is Yahoo does all by itself!

 

[backflip10019]

That's probably actually the problem, that she's working nonstop. Doesn't take enough time off to experience life or let her ideas settle.

 

[And_Gignac]

Work ethic lmao

 

[bobbytkc]

A terrible CEO that works hard.

The worth of Yahoo now is mostly in their holding of Alibaba stocks. That says everything you need to know.

 

[Dennis]

Please take this example from your betters to heart, plebs.

You need to work harder.

 

[Malvolio]

Sounds completely unhealthy, but she has data so it must be OK.

 

[Escape Goat]

Please take this example from your betters to heart, plebs.

You need to work harder.

My bootstraps are going to snap if I do.

 

[Yoda]

Well it isn't helping her have a long-term vision for Yahoo. She passed on Netflix when it was dirt-cheap, and instead opted for Tumblr... a porn blog for teens. The majority of her tenure at Yahoo has been about hyping her soon-to-be amazing tenure at Yahoo. I to date don't understand how she hasn't been fired given how miserably she's handled the company.

 

[jts]

A real life Leslie Knope

 

[E92 M3]

Nothing to be proud of; life is short. Work/life balance is fundamental to happiness.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Considering the state of Yahoo and their acquisitions, maybe she should work harder. Maybe make Tumblr the next gen PDF as envisioned

 

[onadesertedisland]

Giving up her one life, all for what? Making a website better? Sad.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Work more important than your newborn kids? Pathetic.

 

[BigAT]

Giving up her one life, all for what? Making a website better? Sad.

Actually she's giving up her life to make a website worse.

 

[entremet]

Considering the state of Yahoo and their acquisitions, maybe she should work harder. Maybe make Tumblr the next gen PDF as envisioned

She's mostly been terrible in building a solid team around her.

Even Steve Jobs, a noted egomaniac, built a strong team when he came back to Apple--Ive, Schiller, etc. And he let them do their work. He had ultimate veto power, of course.

 

[D4Danger]

This is just sad. Maybe if she was doing something worthwhile you could start to understand but not like this.

 

[EBreda]

What makes you think she was neglecting either?

It's only logical. IF you're doing three meetings a day, the very next day your TWINS are born, unless it's a 3 minute meeting which I very much doubt, you're neglecting at least their psychological and emotional health.

You can delegate the usual baby stuff to nurses / husband / mother whatever (diapers, baths, massages), but the mother/son emotional connection the very next day they are born can't be done by someone else. It's supposed to be a time of peace with your son, bonding and making sure his first days out of the womb are not traumatic.

You simply can't offer them that while having 3 meetings a day and worrying about a ducking huge thing like Yahoo, SPECIALLY if you have twins. Sorry.

 

[starchild excalibur]

I am sure CEO levels of stress on in-utero twins won't have any negative long term impact at all on her children.

I know this is sarcasm, but, well... will it?

Work more important than your newborn kids? Pathetic.

They hadn't been born at all at the time.

 

[entremet]

I know this is sarcasm, but, well... will it?

In utero stress effects have been observed. The poster is right.

 

[TS-08]

Work more important than your newborn kids? Pathetic.

The child(ren) aren't always with you when you're in the hospital. And the only work it says she did in the hospital is a phone call. This feels like a blown-out-of-proportion anecdote.

 

[Jag]

I know this is sarcasm, but, well... will it?



They hadn't been born at all at the time.

Stress in any form is generally not good for fetal development. That said, there is no indication that hours worked = more stress.

My wife works out to relieve stress. The thought of working out causes me stress.

 

[Skellig Gra]

The child(ren) aren't always with you when you're in the hospital. And the only work it says she did in the hospital is a phone call. This feels like a blown-out-of-proportion anecdote.

My wife literally just had a baby so unless they were in intensive care or getting cleaned off from being born they should have been with the parents.

They hadn't been born at all at the time.

Huh? The article literally says

But after having kids, Mayer remained closely in touch with Yahoo's management, even finding a way to speak with Yahoo chairman Maynard Webb on the phone from her hospital bed, the WSJ report says.

 

[Einhander]

Being a workaholic when you are the privileged person at the top of the pyramid is also a lot different than a grunt at the bottom being worked to the bone.

Agreed.

While, yes, that is an awful work environment to be in, but her net worth is $500 million. Her salary is $117 million over 5 years; $36.6 million for the first six months. These figures come from her Wikipedia page, so I don't know how accurate they are. The point is, there are many low-wage, low-skilled workers putting in 50-60 hours a week doing thankless jobs, and I'm supposed to feel sympathetic after reading this article?

 

[Aiii]

To each their own. Personally I work to ensure I can have a fun and carefree life outside of work, but if she lives to work, then hey, who am I to say that's wrong? It's her life, she can do with it what she wants.

 

[Slacker]

The child(ren) aren't always with you when you're in the hospital. And the only work it says she did in the hospital is a phone call. This feels like a blown-out-of-proportion anecdote.

Yep, the nurses helpfully take the kiddos to the nursery if the mother wants to rest. I don't see a phone call or two in this situation to be outrageous for a CEO.

The work/life balance issue in general, on the other hand, is a big one.

 

[D4Danger]

The child(ren) aren't always with you when you're in the hospital. And the only work it says she did in the hospital is a phone call. This feels like a blown-out-of-proportion anecdote.

It's clearly some fluff piece we're all supposed to read and be in awe of.

CEO works 24/7 even after having twins! be amazed, plebs.