This might be more aptly title an open letter to Jerry Yang at Yahoo.

A little over a month ago, my friend and colleague Stuart Henshall posted Yahoo 100 Days and....? He said -

Yahoo 100 Days and....?
100 Day plans always worry me. It's like a signal that McKinsey or BCG is coming in. Then they will magically have the answer in one hundred days. What ails Yahoo is simple. Their Ad model is obsolete. So in one hundred days can Yahoo figure out how to put the ad model into the hands of you and me. Solve that and open up on Identity and you have a revolution. Do it right and it changes the rules for Google. Take it further and we can have some control over what is searched and on the expiry of data.
[Read Stuart's full post]

I'm also going to use the same CNET news story quote here that Stuart used -

Still no cure for what ails Yahoo | CNET News.com
On a conference call with analysts after the earnings report, Chief Executive Jerry Yang said he would "spend the next 100 days or so mapping out a strategic plan" and conduct a "top to bottom review of our business." "I have a great sense of urgency to move fast and in a focused way," Yang said. He promised there would be "no sacred cows" and talked about three key topics: insight, openness and partnering. Specifically, the company will de-emphasize underperforming products and "set a new bar for the Yahoo culture" by "prioritizing teamwork, leadership and a desire to win."
[Read the whole CNET News story]

Stuart is ever the voice of reason. And he generally thinks three to four steps (or more) ahead of me. He's reasoned and thoughtful when he writes, whereas I often shoot from the hip.

Stuart's observation on Day Two of the 100 Days Jerry Yang announced was his hope for at least 5 radical items.

If you read here at all, you know I restrained myself from jumping in. I've not been silent about Yahoo ever. The CNET article called Yahoo a sinking ship, and form an outsider's perspective, it's going down fast.

In recent conversations with other blogging colleagues, one thing that's been astounding is that Yahoo has gone what we've begun to call radio silent. Like a ship lost at sea, they are off the radar, status unknown.

Well Jerry, your 100 days are 1/3 gone and many of us are wondering just what the heck is going on at Yahoo. And when we'll hear from you again. You have some of the brightest minds on the planet working there. Sharp, energetic, creative people who not only understand Yahoo's business. They understand Internet business. They're engaged in other places and have their fingers on the pulse of what's going on out here.

I hope while you're radio silent you're talking with and listening to people like Jeff Bonforte and Daniel Raffel and not just talking in an echo chamber. If you're staring into the abyss with a deer in the headlights look, please don't let the great people at Yahoo all ride that train until it derails. I hope you aren't doing all the talking and failing to listen to the people who made Yahoo what it was. Because it can be again, but not if you fail to act.

One hundred days on the Internet is like ten years in business a couple of decades ago. You're letting everyone else surge forward without you, while you sit there quietly in the corner, giving the appearance of doing nothing. That's not a good sign. You generously gave yourself a hundred days, but I have to tell you, on the Internet, you're only as good as what you did yesterday, maybe what you did this morning. And right now, you and Yahoo aren't doing anything but losing ground and falling behind.

Like I said, Stuart's a thoughtful and reasonable guy. My and my six gun from the hip are more curious just what the heck is wrong with Yahoo. Time to wake up and smell the coffee.


Technorati Tags: Yahoo, Jerry Yang, Jeff Bonforte, Daniel Raffel, bright minds, sinking ship