:: Corner (office) case ::

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The LA Times on how organizational convergence at Yahoo is mirroring the fettered convergence of media and technology:

But as Yahoo strives to enter the league of Walt Disney Co., Viacom Inc. and other media giants, success hinges on its ability to merge two inherently different cultures: the brash, flashy ethos of entertainment executives and the rumpled, brainiac realm of computer nerds.

In the year since the company consolidated its Santa Monica office and began hiring a slew of former Hollywood executives bent on "convergence," Yahoo's leaders have sought to downplay the tensions. But the union has sometimes been rocky.

In Sunnyvale, it's "a cubicle society," said a person close to Yahoo, referring to the willingness of people at all levels to work in cramped workstations. Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from Yahoo, this person said the Santa Monica office, by contrast, was about " 'How big is my office? Where is my parking spot? You report to me. I don't need to talk to you.' It's very much the studio hierarchy mentality."

The article continues to make the point that while Silicon Valley is no stranger to egotism it prefers a more reserved, less berating vintage. What short a short collective memory we have should we think that. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hurls chairs in anger. A biography about Larry Ellison is entitled "The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison (God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison)". And Steve Jobs has made so many employees break down in tears he's responsible for more Californian irrigation than the Owens Valley.

The clash within Yahoo! can't be completely reduced to that between a Valley culture and a Hollywood one. The latest technology mega-boom left some unusually humble people at the head of multi-million and multi-billion dollar organizations. Whether their more egalitarian managerial doctrines stemmed from academic idealism (though I would be hard-pressed to find a more rigidly hierarchical arena than career academia - perhaps it is due to an early, pre-jading egress), entrepreneurial iconoclasm, or a youthful reaction to the cult of their predecessors, many of the companies that survived the collapse have some amount of modesty in their administrative DNA. It's heartbreaking to see one example of that fade, especially when the lack of private offices and parking spaces didn't seem to keep them off the track to make somewhere around $1 billion in profits alone this year.

Posted by morland @ 04:04 PM

:: Comments ::

This relationship - media & technology - sounds vaguely familiar to one shared by certain former roommates: computer nerd & movie industry insider.

As to their compatibility, we know the end of the story. The media guy crawls into bed with some lawyer & the tech guy goes looking for 'seed' money from a couple I-bankers.

Posted by: Al on November 16, 2005 05:32 PM

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