Contest: can you be Yahoo’s next CEO?

Posted November 19, 2008 at 02:20 PM by JG Mason

Section: Web, Web 2.0, Websites, Features, Contests

Being a CEO of a major brand on the net isn’t easy.  Getting the job is even harder, that is where Gadgetell comes in.  By entering our contest, you’ll earn our public recommendation to Yahoo!‘s board for the open CEO position.  Warm up those golf clubs, here is what we think Yahoo! needs:

To be the next CEO at Yahoo!, we believe the company needs a big personality.  Google has the rollerblading wonder twins, MS now has almost larger-than-life Ballmer and Apple’s got a guy with a closet full of black mock turtlenecks.  While we don’t believe having rollerblades, being nutty or sticking to one outfit is a prerequisite, here is what we do think is:

Qualifications: Yahoo! needs some life pumped back in.  The CEO needs to be able to stand up and say this is why we have the largest user base.  This is what makes us #1 and why we should be kicking some royal tush, no groveling for MS to come and vacuum this mess up. Vision.  If you are picked as CEO, you need to have a vision of where you can take Yahoo! leveraging things like popularity and its awesome AJAX library. Openness.  As the CEO you need to be clear with your vision and show us some goods.  You’ll have to walk the tightrope of being open while still offering us surprises now and then (see the wiki on Steve Jobs for reference). Channel Kenny Rogers.  For this CEO job, you have to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.  A buyout may become a real possibility at some point and you’ve got to know when to pull the trigger.  If it helps, sing the song a few times in a karaoke bar just to get in the groove.  Yang wouldn’t take our advice, maybe you will. Enter to win

Sounds easy enough right?  What is awesome about Yahoo! is I’ve found people love different things about it.  So, here is the contest part.  If you believe you are up the challenge, here is what we need:

leave a comment below citing 3 things you’d do on your first day on the job to signal Yahoo!s return to dominance.  Impress us.  Wow us.  Make Robert Scoble cry (love ya big guy).  Show us that you’ve got the moxy to get Gadgetell’s nod. In our vast expertise, the editors at Gadgetell will review the entrants and pick one winner based almost blindly on who can best lead Yahoo! to being a player once more.  We’ll post the results on Friday and send Yahoo! our best candidate for the job. You’re still waiting?  Get to commenting!

This is your chance to earn some big bucks, get some free perks (if nothing more than a year’s supply of Yahoo! stickers), and national attention if you are selected by Yahoo!.  Gadgetell is proud to sponsor this contest.

Fine print: you must be 18 to enter, no purchase necessary to enter, Gadgetell really has no say in who Yahoo! picks as CEO, we can merely suggest on quite possibly deaf ears - I mean they’ve never listened to us before, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying, right?  We strongly suspect there will be a drug test involved, crack heads need not apply.  Thanks to Dougie B for getting me thinking about Yang’s replacement.