A CEO Misses The Mark

The lightning rod strikes again.

A few weeks ago, news broke that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who has unwittingly become the poster child of the anti-telecommuting movement, announced she is pregnant, and that she plans to take a two-week maternity leave, just as she did a few years ago.

Oh, and by the way, she’s having twins. And she plans to be home for two weeks.

Two weeks.

That’s 10 business days. It’s the amount of notice an employee should give when resigning. It’s six days shy of the typical rehab assignment for baseball players. It’s the amount of time it takes most packages to arrive via standard shipping.

And when you have one baby, never mind two, it’s the blink of an eye. So it should come as no surprise that every pundit on the planet is weighing in on Mayer’s decision, with some offering support and declaring that how long she stays home is her (and her family’s) business, and others questioning her commitment to motherhood.

I was amazed at how quickly people were able to form an opinion, because for me, this is a tough one. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mayer; it’s hard not to be in awe of a woman who fights her way to the role of CEO at one of the most prominent tech companies in the world at age 37. Since then, she led the $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr and has acquired a number of small companies to help develop Yahoo’s technical and engineering teams — all while raising a toddler.

Mayer is nothing if not impressive.

But while the feminist in me wants to praise her, the mom in me wants to put her in time out. Not because I don’t approve of her choice, but because I think she’s passing up a tremendous opportunity to help change the culture for working parents.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see someone in her position actually take the 16 weeks of leave Yahoo offers — or at least six weeks (which is the minimum age allowed by most day care centers)? Wouldn’t it be great to see someone like her, or Mark Zuckerberg (who is about to become a first-time father) forego the round-the-clock nanny care and spend a few weeks in the trenches, like so many of us have done?

It would be the ultimate Undercover Boss experiment, and it might open up a CEO’s eyes to what other parents go through.

Because here’s the thing. I believe Mayer has earned the right to take a “limited” leave and build a nursery in her office. But just because it’s her right, it doesn’t mean I have to respect her decision, because I don’t. To me, a mom who slogged her way through the full 12 weeks (15 if you count the time we spent in the NICU), it feels like a slap in the face. It feels like she’s undervaluing the importance of parental leave, and treating it like something CEOs need not worry about.

Of course, I realize that I’m not exactly objective when it comes to this issue. For me, that 3-month period was the most exhausting and challenging experience I’ve ever had. At least, I think it was — I can’t remember anything as a result of being awake basically around the clock for a few weeks straight. But I needed that time to adjust to motherhood and get my babies to a place where I could entrust them in someone else’s care. I needed to be there for the weight checks and the follow-ups with specialists. I needed to do all of that so that when the time was right, I felt ready to return to work.

And so, to all of the pundits who were quick to let Mayer off the hook and say that she’s not obligated to set an example for other working parents, I say, you’re right, she’s not. And neither is Zuckerberg.

But it sure would be nice if they wanted to.