Would you rather work for a founder or a professional manager? Yahooligans will find out in the wake of CEO Terry Semel’s demotion this week. Co-founder Jerry
Yang is returning to shepherd the company.
/ F$ P3 G* {1 _+ v9 X0 N) z% z, o
Yang is a sharp and savvy tech veteran who understands Yahoo!’s culture from inside out. Just as with Michael Dell, who
resumed leadership in 2007 of the company he founded in 1984, the concept is that the founder can’t do any worse. In the head to head competition against Google, Wall Street viewed Semel’s Yahoo! as Avis to Google’s Hertz.
) [* m; j7 s5 \; N' n! F9 SCertainly Yang and Dell are likeable fellows who understand their customer’s needs. Still, I wonder if founders have the objectivity - or stomach - to make substantial changes.
4 q, T! ]: \* v* Q0 W4 @
In general, founders are not considered excellent professional managers (not that you require an M.B.A. to shepherd people). Though they never lack
passion or interest in employees, founders often lack objectivity. They may cling to ineffective ideas longer than is healthy. And investors often fear that the founders lack the ability to scale operations, sell or merge the company when the time is right.
& `: S4 S7 M9 a" {" g- R7 l; p
On the bright side founders have the corporate culture imprinted in their DNA. Sometimes companies need a shot of the original Mojo and that’s the perfect time to bring back the founder. Certainly that idea worked pretty well for Apple when it brought back Steve
Jobs.
. A5 [1 C0 K* z4 e9 xNo one ever said Jobs was easy to work for, but that’s not what investors care about. It’s an issue both for employees and prospects to consider.
