Carol Bartz Archives - The Grassy Road

How to fire a CEO

Let's face it, CEOs get fired all the time.CEOs with less than 5 years of experience are more likely than the long standing ones to be fired (as found in the University of Miami business school study) so it's going to happen all the time but there are ways to do it, and ways not to.Yahoo's firing of Carol Bartz is a great example of how not to. Don't fire a CEO over the phone, don't underestimate their balls, don't fire them without an agreed on communication plan.Carol is known [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-03T02:44:41-08:00September 22, 2011|Leadership|1 Comment

Obama meets White Silicon Valley

It's great that President Obama came to silicon valley to meet with the leading tech CEOs. But the lack of diversity in the leadership of the Valley is made even more stark when the President is half African-American.Look a this "iconic" picture as Fortune dubs it. All white men except the President, Carol Bartz (the only one in color) and a blond woman with her back to the camera who does not even warrant a name. If we needed one more reminder of the need to recruit more women into [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T17:09:46-08:00February 18, 2011|Equality|4 Comments

The rise in CEO turnover is a sign of the times- both good and bad

Posted on Huffington Post todayIn the first 9 months of 2008 the number of CEOs who left their jobs hit a record high according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc – 1,132 by October and when the 2008 full year tally is completed the total will be higher than ever before.What is going on behind these numbers is two forces of change, both of which should improve the caliber of leadership and cause boards to act.First the economic crisis makes CEOs more vulnerable. Their companies and markets are in crisis, [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T17:20:28-08:00January 17, 2009|Leadership|0 Comments