Tag: Kara Swisher

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Should You Take the Interim Role? The Other Shoe Drops

English: Diagram showing the parts of a shoe.

Interim roles frequently have hair on them. They are imperfect jobs where you toil in a state of “pretend”  for those who hope temporary will become the “real” job.

Last week’s post Career Quandry: Should You Take the “Interim” Job surveyed the landscape of people taking interim roles when their boss vacates his/her role. Inspiration for the piece came from Yahoo’s appointment of Marissa Mayer as their new CEO coming on the heels of the expectation that interim CEO Ross Levinsohn would be tapped for the permanent role.… Read the rest

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Career Quandry: Should You Take the “Interim” Job?

Your boss has been hired to take another job and will be leaving the company. Or perhaps your boss has been whacked and that’s the reason the job is now vacant.

Either way that box in the organization chart that used have a name is empty.

Do you raise your hand and volunteer to take the job on an interim basis, or do you wait to see if you get tapped – and decide then if you want “interim” next to your name?… Read the rest

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Is Your Goose Cooked if a Headhunter’s Been Hired for Your Job?

You’ve been promoted to a job on an interim basis and perhaps promised a strong shot at that role on a permanent basis.

Your company has just hired a search firm to handle the “permanent” placement.

Are you at risk?

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

That’s the situation that Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinshohn finds himself in with the news reported by Kara Swisher that blue chip executive search firm Spencer Stuart has been hired by the board to handle the firm’s CEO search.… Read the rest

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The Good Time to Fire Someone?

Journalist (and Twitter friend) Kara Swisher noted regarding the Carol Bartz debacle that “there really is no good time to fire someone.”

I think Kara’s work is great, and I’d suggest otherwise.

There are good times to fire people.

Lord knows that as someone who worked as a corporate HR exec during the height of the restructuring boom in the 80’s and 90’s I’ve fired more people than I can count.… Read the rest

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Football Coaches and Outsider CEOs: When the Messiah Isn’t

There are many reasons to love this time of year.

Day (actually daylight) will start to get longer, spring and warmth is not too far around the corner, and it’s also the time of year when the annual churn in US college and professional football teams happens with uncanny predictability.

For those of us who work in “regular” business, the football sports world offers a great analogue for things like leadership, assessment, and succession.… Read the rest

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Jed York: When the Boss Needs A Helping Hand

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, dur...
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The boss, it turns out is, human.

That can be hard to believe in an age where CEOs can be paid a lot of money and deified at the drop of a hat. But it’s true, and easy to spot when the CEO is younger, less experienced, and front and center of the spotlight. With the pile-on week for 49er’s President Jed York by journalists and fans (and me too) still in process following the firing of 49er head coach Mike Singletary, it helps to remember that Jed York is all of 29 years old.… Read the rest