Marissa Mayer Madness

Marissa Mayer is made CEO of Yahoo, whilst 7 months pregnant. The scandal! Or, you  know, just, cool.  I have selected one of the myriad blogs out there for consideration and comment. This one from the Wall Street Journal. I'll name no names. There is no witch hunt here....

"Can women have it all?" All what? The pie?

"That thorny issue..." 'Thorny' definition: Having many thorns. Ouch. Proceed with caution or wear gloves.

"Play out in real life on a very high-profile stage..." Sorry, what's the play? How one particular woman, Marissa Mayer, lives her life as the CEO of Yahoo, mother of one, keen shopper, friend and wife?  I am almost entirely sure that this play will have some incredibly boring scenes.

"[Her being pregnant] was not part of the consideration,” said one person close to the situation about the former Google exec". OK. I like this comment. Clear. Fact.

"And while it should go without saying that personal issues should not make a difference, they often can and do." Well, your constantly writing about them before any top female announcement does exacerbate that.

"Not by the Yahoo board, apparently, which weighed only Mayer’s techie credentials in selecting her." Sounds pretty sensible when selecting a new CEO candidate for a failing tech firm.  I do wonder whether the management should have considered the candidate's experience in running a large business, though. None.

“Like every other professional woman, she has to weigh all the factors in doing her job and having a family.” Unless all professional women are also single mothers, this is also a factor for the male working population, and to suggest otherwise is a bit mean to the chaps who have turned down multi-million jobs in Los Angeles as Brad Pitt's body double, to hang out with their loved ones in Tooting. Right lads?

"As much as we might like to pretend that a woman can just pop out a baby and get right back to her pre-pregnancy life." Let's face it. Pretty much any woman loves to pretend that she can pop out a baby and get back to her pre-pregnancy life.  If we didn't believe that were possible, we may drown ourselves in the birthing pool.  "That just isn't so". Party pooper. "And it shouldn't be". OK, now you are judging me, and that's annoying.

"There’s also the matter of recovering from a physical trauma". Physical trauma?  The vast majority of, though not all, deliveries are not traumatic. Added to which, if she was in trauma, I am pretty sure she would not be going into the office and would instead be benefiting from the exemplary medical care at her disposal. She is having a baby, she's not an idiot. "hormones on overdrive", good ones though that make you be able to deal with the "temporary psychosis brought on by sleep deprivation", at least for the first 3 months. Think this is panic mongering.

"I would counsel any friend to take as long a leave as she can and bond as much as possible with her baby". What's the definition of 'bonding'? What's the definition of  'as much as possible'? No pressure girls. I don't think I want to be friends with you if doing so would involve this type of sanctimonious conversation.

"However, she is in a bit of a bind". M'lud - patronising!

"She can’t linger at home when Yahoo shareholders are waiting for a transformation". Again, panic mongering. She has a phone.

"Mayer is accomplished (true), glamorous (relevant?), brilliant (same as 'accomplished'? Or is this the French term 'shiny'?), powerful (how much wattage does she push out on the final sprint up the Champs Elysees?), a pioneer in a male-dominated industry (can't argue) and wealthy enough to afford any help she might need (none of your business). But she’s still human (really? even though she is so glamorous and shiny?).

"As all working parents know, when it comes to balancing work and family, something has to give." Top athletes will tell you that, as a top athlete, you can no longer eat pie everyday. Something has to give. Top mothers will tell you that, as a top mother who delivers absolute perfection in her children, you can no longer sit on the sofa and smoke crack cocaine, something has to give. This comment assumes working parents to be superior in knowledge to the rest of humankind. Which is clearly only partly true.

"Many people envision a baby as an adorable, babbling accessory." Really? You clearly don't have young relatives, visit the supermarket or go out ever in South West London.

"I thought that I’d be able to keep up with hobbies, friends and my prior work hours. It didn’t work out that way." Did you do some of the exercises that we have discussed in this blog? Do you have a good support structure in place? Do you know what you aspire to be? Do you feel inspired to go after that?

Thought not.

Please Wall Street Journal blog writer, don't concern yourself with the Life Scorecard of Marissa Mayer and how she plans to optimise it, it really is her concern and I am sure she has a wonderful team in place to help her with it. Think about your own life. Focus on that. I am sure that if she needs a friend, she will find you.