We always see a person’s success but never think about what it took for them to get there. Whether they’re physicians, entrepreneurs, or CEO’s, it’s always interesting to know a person’s journey to success. If you can dream it, you can achieve it! The CGS team has focused in on Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer, and how she achieved her level of success. Continue reading to learn more.
Yahoo!
Everyone is familiar with the popular search engine Yahoo. However, many aren’t familiar with the CEO who runs Yahoo. 40 year old Marissa Mayer is a mother and wife along with being the current President and CEO of the notable search engine. Immediately after graduating from Stanford with her masters in computer science, Mayer joined Google in 1999 becoming the first woman engineer at only 24 years old. She became well known for her detail oriented work ethic, which later helped her move up in the company.
Her work ethic with Google was so astonishing to the company that by 2002 Mayer founded the Associate Product Manager program. The APM program is a Google mentorship program aimed to recruit new talent, and cultivate and train them for leadership roles within the company. Marissa had the opportunity to choose several juniors to take part in the program each year.
A demotion…
Little did she know that eight years later she would be demoted from Vice President of Google Product Search to run the Local, Maps, and Location Services department. After years of hard work with Google and teaching programming at Stanford, in 2012 Mayer was appointed President and CEO of Yahoo. Since being appointed to the position Mayer has enforced many policies to better their employee circumstances.
Mayer was responsible for moving all tele-working employees back into office roles. Mayer also changed Yahoo’ maternity leave policy that lengthens its time allowance for soon-to-be parents, along with providing a cash bonus to parents. In addition to looking out for Yahoo’s employees, Mayer was also behind the $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr in 2013. The stock price had doubled over the 14 months since Mayer’s appointment to the company.
Fortune
In 2014, Mayer was listed sixth on Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40 list, and was ranked the 16th most-powerful businesswoman in the world that year according to the same publication. How amazing is that for such a young age? Sometimes it’s not always about how big the dog is, but how big the fight in the dog is. Marissa Mayer didn’t let her setbacks at Google derail her from pushing forward.
What do you think of Marissa’s story? The CGS team loves to hear from our members, so let us know what keeps you pushing toward your dreams. Share your thoughts on Marissa Mayer’s story by leaving a comment below!
2 thoughts on “How’d She Do it? Marissa Mayer”
What an inspiring story! It just shows that hard work and persistence does pay off. I love hearing that she bounced back better than ever after being demoted with Google. Great read, thanks CGS Team!
I think Marissa is so inspiring. Her consistency and drive even through difficult times or set backs encourages me to want to keep pushing through any circumstances that may arise. Thank you for being awesome Marissa!