Carol Bartz on bossing

Ever since being hired in January, Yahoo's CEO has not been afraid to speak her mind, as she did in a Sunday NYT Q&A on being a manager. I wouldn't begin to evaluate her short tenure, except to note that she usually seems to say the right things. One example: her view of the pointless and in some cases counterproductive ritual known as the annual performance review.

I have the puppy theory. When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don't say six months later, "Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?" That doesn't make any sense. "This is what's on my mind. This is quick feedback."

Bartz says that when you're young, you just think managing is a natural progression -- "I'm good at this so I'm going to be good at that, and it's not that way at all."

Q. Do you remember the first time you were somebody's boss?

A. I became a sales manager at Digital Equipment, promoted from within the sales team. My peers were less than excited that I had gotten the job, especially one of my male peers who said he just wasn't going to work for a woman. I said, "Well, where are you going to work?" That was the first time I realized I'd better have some guts here.

Q. Then what happened?

A. Well, he got in line, and then we were fine. I guess he thought he could just bully his way in there. Times were a little different in the '70s. I think he was shocked that a female got the job.

[CUT]

Q. What are the most important leadership lessons you've learned?

A. I grew up in the Midwest. My mom died when I was 8, so my grandmother raised my brother and me. She had a great sense of humor, and she never really let things get to her. My favorite story is when we were on a farm in Wisconsin; I would have probably been 13. There was a snake up in the rafter of the machine shed. And we ran and said, "Grandma, there's a snake." And she came out and she knocked it down with a shovel, chopped its head off and said, "You could have done that." And, you know, that's the tone she set. Just get it done. Just do it. Pick yourself up. Move on. Laugh.