Carol Bartz

Fast Company has a very good interview of Carol Bartz.

On the first day at declining company:

Kermit Pattison: When you came to Yahoo, what were the first things you did to set conditions for being able to manage the organization?

Carol Bartz: The first thing I did was just set up 45 min sessions with as many people as I could and just listened. I said, "Okay, what do you think needs to be changed here? What's good? What's bad? What would you do if you were sitting in my seat?" And then I'd always ask, "Who else should I talk to?" If you sit quiet long enough, you find out what people really think. I filled a whole notebook up in those first few weeks, just gently asking and listening.

Bartz interestingly compares 'management' with 'being a mom'

When I started off as a boss, just like when I started off as a mom, I though I was supposed to be the font of all knowledge--ha! That's pretty funny. I thought that I had to have an answer, always know what to do and try to keep everything in control.

The best part:

I remember in the middle of the night right before I was going home from the hospital, I asked the nurse, "Would you give me a demo on how to change a diaper?" She said, "What's a demo?"