Title IX, Microsoft, Yahoo! and JDRF...

It's that time of the year where we shamelessly plug our annual JDRF dinner being held at Chez Beck. It's on Saturday, September 28th. Feel free to drop me an email if you are interested in attending. It's a multi-course dinner paired with wines with ALL proceeds going straight to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. If you cannot attend and are interested in donating, feel free to donate using this link. BTW, we are already halfway full so snag your spot(s)!

For those of you who are interested in Title IX or the advancement of women in the sports field in general, I have been catching up on ESPN's series called "Nine for IX". People like Pat Summitt, Lesley Visser, Mary Decker Slaney, Katarina Witt and Venus Williams are profiled. It's well worth the $10 to download the series off of iTunes and watch the episodes. The different shows have been educational, cringe-worthy (in terms of how much some women put up with) and humorous. Note that one or two of the episodes may be a bit graphic for younger viewers.

It's brought back some great memories, particularly watching the '99ers (1999 US Women's World Cup Soccer Team) due to catching those games with Lisa, my sister, and a good friend, Keri back at Giants Stadium. The final was absolutely riveting and I remember watching with Lisa, and by the time overtime came around, the very packed sports bar switched from watching baseball to the women's final. Absolutely awesome.

As I was catching up on some reading, I stumbled upon this profile of Marissa Mayer in Business Insider. It's a long read, but I found it engaging and well written. It doesn't say Mayer is a savior, but I also find that it doesn't go the typical "well the woman is a b***h because she is forceful with what she wants". That said, the title of the article is more salacious and infers it is some kind of big expose. No, I haven't seen the Vogue spread yet. She's rich, relatively young and very successful. Mayer will be well presented in the magazine.

I found I was more intrigued by Mayer's style and her career outlined in the article than by Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" circles advocated in her book. Sandberg's statements did not resonate with me at all as she seemed to say you had to either be a mother of children or completely dedicated to your career to be 100% fulfilled. Plus what did she actually do in her highly influential positions at Google and at Facebook to make those companies more equal in terms of pay for men and women? Or being promoted to higher positions? I don't begrudge her success but she could have led by example which would have been way more powerful. Don't tell me. Show me.

As for the latest with Microsoft and SteveB leaving, I have no idea who will replace him. The recent re-org does present an interesting question for the CEO candidates. Are they going to have to commit to the strategy that he spent over a year working on, or will they be able to create their own strategy? SteveB's departure was long overdue, and clamoring for other unpopular execs (but popular with Steve) to leave has started in earnest. Guess who? :-)

But I do wonder how employees feel given that they were still trying to figure out how things were going to shake out for them in the recently announced re-org, and now will wonder what a new CEO will want to implement? I am sure Kara Swisher of AllThingsD will have her sources working overtime to find out the skinny.

SteveB: Since you made around $800 MILLION yesterday just because MSFT soared due to your retirement news, how about you save the taxpayers of Seattle some money and just pay for the arena for the Sonics yourself? Thanks!
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“When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and join a circus. With the Yankees I’ve accomplished both."