The media, greens, collaboration experts, mom bloggers, et al. can huff and puff about Marissa Mayer's ban on telecommuting. But they aren't going to blow the house down. Only she can do that if she doesn't produce the numbers for Yahoo profits and earnings.
Currently there's a combination of a honeymoon period for the new leadership and the few free throws allowed to a celebrity CEO (Chief Executive Officer). But that will pass soon enough. It always did.
Remember how the security analysts initially cut slack for J.C. Penney's Ron Johnson because he had overseen Apple's retail. I was among the minority who panned Johnson's mission to put Penney shoppers into detox, freeing them addiction to deep discounting. Ha-ha, the cure didn't work as shoppers went to Macy's. Soon enough, Johnson was accountable to the bottom line, just as Mayer will be.
If Yahoo's numbers are flat or decline, nothing Mayer says or does will get much attention any more. She will be hammered for being what she is - a Celebrity CEO. Snide I Told You Sos will be made about The Off To Work We Go Folly. And both men and women will contend Mayer set back professional women half a century.
The new normal in business is all about the numbers.
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