remember the peanut butter manifesto? has anything changed at yahoo?
remember the peanut butter manifesto? in late 2006 an svp at Yahoo called brad garlinghouse (now at AOL) sent a memo out about yahoo’s failings and what was needed to turn the corner. the company needed a “cohesive vision”. yahoo’s strategy was like peanut butter spread across a “myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world. the result: a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular.”
today, I watched carol bartz’s fire side chat with michael arrington at techcrunch disrupt. in just under 4 years not much has changed. in fairness to carol bartz she’s only been there 15 months. let’s give her some time. yet arrington hit the nail on the head when asking if yahoo had a soul. a better translation would be its mission. what is yahoo’s mission? personally I have no idea and judging from carol bartz’s opening answer to “what is yahoo”, i doubt many do. technologically, yahoo has produced some interesting products of late like BOSS, but what is the overarching mission?
its easy to criticise, but lets be straight. its good for the internet ecosystem to have a number of powerful, innovative, successful companies. i hope yahoo finds its mission.
