Yahoo's recent years of struggle show that the strength of a company depends on strong leadership from the top. Without a unified vision the technology company stood a good chance at losing money, and the job security of the thousands of employees who work there came into jeopardy.
And of course, without that feeling of security, job performance can suffer and the whole business can spiral into the abyss of failure. People need to know that the leadership of a company is all on the same page, and with Yahoo, that was not the case.
That's why the news that Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and three other longtime members of the company's board of directors were stepping down this week matters so much. However, in this particular instance, getting rid of such powerful voices might actually be a good thing.
Shareholders in the Internet company were upset that stock prices had continued to remain low, even after the hiring of former PayPal executive Scott Thompson to take over as CEO at the start of 2012. Thompson's new vision for Yahoo, which included the selling off of some of its Asian assets, was questioned by some of the more tenured members of the board.
Now Thompson can restock the board with people who share his vision. If the vast majority of decision makers for Yahoo didn't agree with Thompson's new vision, then they probably made the best move for the company's longterm health by stepping down.
Revenue for Yahoo has been in decline for 13 consecutive quarters while other residents of Silicon Valley, like Google and Facebook continued to experience increased sales. The shakeup at Yahoo comes, at least in part, because their shareholders want that same kind of financial success. So while Yahoo itself may be struggling, the industry of Silicon Valley, as a whole, remains strong.
A stronger Yahoo can only help to keep things that way and provide more security for the whole Bay Area community.
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