Marissa Mayer is pregnant -- and so what?

Having it all / photo courtesy flickr user Adam Tinworth

(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY Soon after news broke yesterday that Yahoo (YHOO) had appointed Google (GOOG) executive Marissa Mayer as CEO, it was also learned that she is expecting her first child in October. Female chief executives are rare, as are corporate leaders in their 30s, so Mayer is breaking new ground.

That's why it's understandable that people are already asking how Mayer, 37, will be able to run a major company while she's pregnant. How will she handle maternity leave? And with pundits still warning American women that they can't have it all, the familiar subtext is that Mayer -- and by extension all female execs who aspire to leadership -- may struggle in juggling motherhood and work.

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Doubtful. Instead, Mayer has an opportunity to show us that there is no contradiction in having a full personal and a full professional life. The world of work is changing in a way that makes even old notions of "maternity leave" less stark.

There is no one place for work and one place for family life. I've taken calls while nursing my three babies and turned in book revisions soon after their births; no doubt Mayer will do the same for her big projects. She'll go in to an office for meetings and come home for a bit to see the baby, moving in and out of roles as she uses the whole 168 hours we all have available to us each week.

If you're up at 2 a.m. with a baby, why not read memos from your team? You can bring a baby to an office, and you can bring work home. There is no conflict. And, of course, Mayer will have plenty of help, as she would in any job she'd take.

Perhaps most surprising about this situation isn't that Mayer is attempting it -- it's that Yahoo's board was mature and forward-thinking enough to embrace it. That bodes well for the advancement of women in corporate America. After all, if a pregnant CEO is fine, promoting a non-pregnant woman isn't crazy at all. This may encourage more risk-averse boards to give it a shot.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Adam Tinworth

[Batman7--2008]

I think the focus of this article is irrelevant. Her pregnancy and upcoming birth and babycare have not too much to do with the fact that she was hired away from Google to run Yahoo. That's huge.

We do live in the 21st century, and to believe that she'll be distracted by her child doesn't make too much sense. If she felt that way, she wouldn't have taken the job.

[BibiBella]

Agree with the above comments, but particularly want to note something I think is damaging to our current generation and way of life: it's when the author says: "If you're up at 2 a.m. with a baby, why not read memos from your team?". It's this type of multi-tasking that erodes one's ability to be fully present, whether you're at work or with your child. Studies constantly show that people - not just moms with newborns - who are always "tuned in" not only hurt relationships, but they increase their inability to really slow down and focus. I'm sure Ms. Mayer is quite masterful at focusing as evidenced by her meteoric career rise, but the damage to family life and friends is not to be underestimated. I would hope that when she's with her child, she'll fully tune in to the baby rather than making the child another item to multi-task, as I so often see today.

[tedwardr1]

"You can bring a baby to an office, and you can bring work home. There is no conflict. " If only that were true! Most employers wouldn't want a baby in an office, and would consider an employee to be less dedicated if they showed up with one. If Yahoo allows her to do so - which is great - will others at Yahoo be able to, too? Todd Raphael

[zendo72]

I think this article is very optimistic, and almost glib, in its analysis of how this is going to go. It is written in a very trite manner. Yahoo is a a company in an absolute downward spiral, with a series of failed CEOs, and most recently its huge breach of data. Even in the most optimal case, I would say a CEO has about a 25% chance of turning the place around. Obviously this new CEO has an A-level resume, but the only way this company can succeed is to have a CEO who can give 110% to this venture, and being in the C-Suite of a company that size, let alone CEO, is probably 90-100 hours of work per weel. Just because the author was able to take calls and turn in some book revisions around her pregnancy, doesn't translate to it being "doubtful" that this will make the CEO less effective in a far more demanding environment. It is great that they have hired a female CEO with great credentials, but to think she is going to come in for a few weeks, then leave for six weeks(IF all goes well) then come back in with a newborn, and solve that by going in and out of the office and reading memos while nursing,it is not realistic. A new leader of a place like that has 3-6 months from the day they walk in the door to establish themselves with credibility. In this company, maybe less. They usually get a grace period where people realize they are learning the company, but in this case a lot of that will be blown through with this. I am not trying to be rude, and I am 100% for getting more women into upper leadership and into tech, but again this article just breezes over the extreme difficulties this is going to bring. Prediction-this CEO is out within one year, sad to say.

[MojitoMamma]

I agree. What people also forget is the difference between "having it all," and having to "do it all." And when you're the CEO, you pay others to do it all, in order to maintain the appearance of having it all.