Passion Alone Doesn't Cut it in the C-Suite

When the inevitable happened and Jerry Yang stepped down last night from his CEO role at the company he founded, Yahoo!, the pundits swooped in and commented on his mistakes along the way.  Silicon Alley Insider rubbed salt into the wound by noting the nice bounce the stock got immediately after the news hit, calling Yang the $2B man.  He is returning to his former role as Chief Yahoo!, a strategy role that enables him to employ his passion for the company he created while letting the board select a new CEO.  From a PR perspective, it was a textbook announcement plan.  Create the internal memo that you fully plan to make available externally.  Prepare a release that will outline the facts with some nice quotes from Yang.  Say he is going to help find his successor and stay on the board.  Put a good face on it.  Give an advance on it (I assume this was the case) to Kara Swisher, who has been doggedly pursuing Yahoo! and Yang for well over a year and who did a nice job summarizing the situation without taking any cheap shots.  Use her reporting as your basis for getting the news out.  Now move on.

As I read the coverage, I found my Twitter feed from D6 on May 28 when Yang and Yahoo! President Sue Decker were interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of AllThingsDigital about the failed Microsoft deal and other things Yahoo!  Excuse my typos (my first attempt at live-twittering from a show), but the tweets kind of tell the story, don't they?

Two Qs in a row ding customer service and experience from Yahoo. Uncomfortable interview for the two founders. 4:55 PM May 28th

Why are they leading Yahoo? She asks them. Good question. Yang admits he is ceo because he is founder but riight person due to passion. 4:40 PM May 28th

Kara asking Qs from other room. When will you have lunch with me? She asks Yang. He makes her pony up for his charity in exchange. 4:37 PM May 28th

Home page, search, mail, mobile os Yahoo response to Q who are you. This followed saying they cannot be all things to all peoe. What's left? 4:34 PM May 28th

Walt trying to nicely ask wth are they thinking letting this happen. Decker finally speaks. All is good she says. 4:30 PM May 28th

Yang and Decker showed video of advice from industry muckey mucks. Now on stage with Walt. 4:14 PM May 28th

Then as I read the coverage, I wondered why Yahoo! would be sending an email to its employees from Yang rather than posting to an internal or external blog.  When I searched for a Yahoo! blog, the first item my search uncovered was Yang's "My new job" post from June 18, 2007 when he took over the CEO role from his Chief Yahoo! post after former CEO Terry Semel was forced out.  It too is textbook, saying nice things about Terry Semel and his accomplishments during his tenure and welcomes aboard Sue Decker as the new president who will team with him to "pursue our joint vision."

What is that vision? A Yahoo! that executes with speed, clarity and discipline.  A Yahoo! that increases its focus on differentiating its products and investing in creativity and innovation.  A Yahoo! that better monetizes its audience.  A Yahoo! whose great talent is galvanized to address its challenges.  And a Yahoo! that is better focused on what's important to its users, customers and employees.

Seventeen months later, to the day, Yang's "Stepping down" blog post is much shorter -- only five paragraphs.  He says nice things about what was accomplished during this "tough external environment."  The latter is the only reference to anything amiss.  Yang talks about the need for someone else to take this forward as he returns to the post of Chief Yahoo!  

But like his interview at D6, which you may have figured out from my puzzle-pieces Twitter feed, Yang is squarely focused on the positive and is not saying a word about anything he did wrong that has made it abundantly clear that new leadership is sorely needed.  There were 15 comments about this blog post as of Tuesday late afternoon, mostly negative, some supportive, as opposed to the 176 comments, mostly supportive, for the "conquering hero returns" blog post.

Many times over the years we have been asked to help with a management transition announcement or tough news, such as a layoff or restructuring.  The most successful situations we have worked on have been the carefully written warts-and-all ones that don't try to sugar-coat and acknowledge the bad as well as the good.  After all, if you don't lay it out there directly and honestly yourself, you'll only leave yourself open for dissection and lampooning in the media and, especially, in the blogosphere.  It's not easy for any executive to "fess up" to anything less than perfection, but sometimes it is the best kind of communication strategy.  Credibility and straight-forwardness set companies and executives apart because they are in such short supply.  Interestingly, blunt honesty also can help you control the message around the toughest news because it is what it is and there is no nitpicking or second guessing necessary.