More likely a bunch of women-fearing geeks feel like Marissa is the high school cheerleader to their AV club.

THIS is what we come to valleywag for...

@mtalinm: Indeed. This is some excellent dish: scandalous to hear, but plausible-sounding and yet ultimately unsubstantiated!

So, we understand she's hated, but, is she good at her job or not?

Ahh office politics...
So many stories like these in the working world...

I don't know if Marissa is hated, but I can tell you that various product managers I've spoken with confirm the "keeping everyone waiting in the hallways" story. Of course, bear in mind that many HBS/Stanford/Wharton MBAs who work at Google feel a bit disgruntled, since they are treated like second-class citizens.

As one friend told me, "I'm there working from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM every day. Meanwhile, the engineers roll in at 10 AM, spend half the day playing Rock Band, and roll out to party at 6."

In any large organisation there are two types of people. The first type believes they can rise to to top by working hard. The second group believes they can rise to the top by telling everyone they are working hard.

Unfortunately it's the latter that often yeilds more success.

I can confirm she is despised.

...it's lonely at the top

not only is she despised but she makes bad decisions, is known to lie and manipulate information internally for her benefit--- classic symptoms of a entrepreneurial company too big & bureaucratic to maintain their momentum.

Aaah, the run of the anonymous coward who doesn't provide any details. Lying and manipulation? Oh my.

And this smells funny.

It's certainly easy to believe that Marissa leaves the plebes hanging outside of her office, but picking and designing projects for their PR value? Do we really think she's such a master of PR that she'd be able to do that, even if it was possible? She doesn't know everything about everything.

I'll buy it more when someone tells a real story.

I side with ooorr. By definition anything originating from Marissa's group gets plenty of PR by the over-eager press, so there's something fishy about the original tipster.

Her "management style" is sadly typical of an insecure person who has never worked anywhere else in her adult life. I've seen the same pattern at Microsoft, where female managers who've slept with the men above them were protected and immune from being accountable for their poor business judgment and bad behavior. Oh wait, come to think of it, that description fits Marissa also....

Yes, me thinks it's story time. Some of us non-West Coasties are getting ready for bed. I assume someone from Google will return to tuck us in and tell us a story?

This is probably true, and probably not true. Not everyone is universally liked, very few people are universally disliked. I can imagine that she's a pain in the ass--the way they presented her even in the googirl study which was supposed to be fluff did a poor job of hiding the fact that she has personality flaws, especially if her parents are trying to explain them away--but presumably she's done something good for the company at one point or another to have been with it since the employee count was so tiny and people would've been able to see if she was an incompetent bitch.

@Dweezil: I would not presume. Imagine how it would look like in the press if the EX-girlfriend of one of the founders were to be fired for alleged incompetence.

That said, I have no idea whether she is in fact incompetent or not.

@ValleyStiff: You're assuming they started dating as soon as she was hired. At some point or another she had to do something positive for the company, a company that was small enough for the founders to know whether each person was contributing or not. Larry and Sergey would've never had what they have today with the efforts of others, just like Gates and Jobs. We can't know whether or not X person is competent or good at their job or whatever, but based on the evidence we have to assume she was involved in something that pushed the company forward.

I don't doubt that she's a bitch, but Larry and Sergey are assholes too, and God knows Bill Gates and Steve Jobs aren't exactly known for tact. Most of these complaints, it would seem, are coming from people who were not there at the beginning stages of the company. Maybe she's incompetent now, maybe the founders are too. Who knows. Apparently she's worth 100m+, so she must be doing something right--and I doubt that something was just fucking one of the awkward founders.

Well disgruntled worker, its up to you to lead the revolution to get her fired. Sneek a video camera in Google HQ and film the woman!

@Dweezil

Do you think the users would have noticed ANY difference in Google search if she chose McKinsey instead of Google as her employer? My intuition somehow tells me "no".

I think the reward system in the Valley is a bit fucked up, given that she is worth 100+m.

@Dweezil: You need to learn the difference between "evidence" and "assumptions." Saying, "based on the evidence we have to assume" is hilarious. If you have evidence, you don't assume anything. You infer. Where (as here) you don't have any evidence, you make assumptions.

@sggrf:
[www.sanfranmag.com] says:
"As vice president of search products and user experience, Mayer manages 150 product managers, who direct the efforts of nearly 2,000 software engineers"

What has she produced with those 150 PMs? I don't know what "search products" entails at Google, but IMO, nothing outside of core web search, AdSense and AdWords has been really successful for Google. At least not if you define success as ROI. Google Video, Gmail, Froogle (remember that one?), Google Answers (or that one?) are also-rans or defunct. And "user experience"? Yeah, universal search - big deal. Seems like little Ask.com stole the show here too.

Is she good at her job or not? You make up you own mind.

Speaking of which - can anyone here point me to the equivalent of MiniMicrosoft or MSFTExtrememakeover for Google ?

I'd like to hear the dirt first hand...

Or are people too scared fo GOOG to even blog anonymously?

@MarkTheMarketWatcher: It's an inference based on the evidence that is public knowledge, professor.

Assumption
Something taken for granted or accepted as true without proof; a supposition

Supposition
a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

Inference
The act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true.

She was hired early on and interviewed by people we know were apart of the reason Google is where it is (the founders, the earliest employees), she was involved at a high level in projects before the company was a big success, and throughout the process of Google's growth she held an important executive position. What the fuck else do you want? According to whatever this train of logic is supposed to be the only people that can ever be given credit for anything are people that we, the entirety of humanity, actively see do the work with our own eyes--or the founder(s), who oftentimes aren't responsible for the positive developments within their own companies.

You now have my permission to return to teaching debate to middle schoolers. Jesus Christ.

Lots of subpar people are able to "ride the wave" to success. So your assumptions are entirely unwarranted.

It sounds to me like you have a crush.

As an outsider to Google, my guess is that there are some people there who were once decent engineers, but ended up as lousy managers, ones who let hubris get the best of them. Arrogance hides their insecurities; they lie because they're in denial of their own inadequacies.

Is Marissa one of these wretched souls? I do not know, but if she is, she is undoubtedly is not the sole specimen at Google.

It's interesting to see that the arrogance of Google employees.

Gen Y-er subordinates angry about not being "listened to and treated well." Whaa. Do something about it.

Arrogant executives reverting to Machiavellian techniques thinking it's better to be feared than loved. Squish. Have fun pulling knives out of your back.

You deserve each other.

Marissa isn't perfect, film at eleven. Number of people who work and think their top management is perfect, probably none outside of Valleywag.

@PBwikiChris: Those MBAs picked the wrong field. Too bad for them. If they want to be worshiped they should work someplace else.

But is she still looking for random play?? She's hot hot hot!

She's alienating Harvard Business School MBAs because she won't approve their pinheaded schemes for creating new Google sites instead of fixing the staggering usability problems in all the sites they already have? OH THE SADNESS.

I'd poke her...

Thunder thighs

@MarkTheMarketWatcher: Not a lot of people are able to ride the wave when the company in question has less than 20 employees.

As for a crush, yeah, I'm really attracted to awkward, moderately attractive women with ice-cold personalities who are a decade older than I am. You're on a roll, buddy. Don't stop now.

@tokemak: I think the real problem is that she is approving too many!

I agree with the latter sentiments re: MBAs. Let's fact it, the lawyers and MBAs can leave and, well, they'd hire more. The engineers leave and it would threaten the company. If you question this - look no further down 101 than the Alviso exit.

As for the complaints of self-promotion, I've worked in the Valley long enough to know that it's true, but hardly new.

Of course she's despised by some: She's smart, beautiful, tough-minded, funny as hell, and one of the few execs that L and S and E trust - and with good reason. You don't get her gate-keepers gig without ticking off the ones you've turned away...as for keeping the scheming HBS and Wharton and GSB MBAs waiting while she actually talks to the people actually building products and solving problems - oh yeah - how disrespectful of her!

Isn't a gatekeeper supposed to be a bottleneck? And isn't it to be expected that those whose pet projects don't get an unqualified pass are going to resent the gatekeeper? Could this fact alone account for the animosity toward her?

i agree w/Ooorrr and Mr. Spin. I mean how many lousy managers and VPs exist in the valley? This person gets the brunt of attacks (some rather vitriolic i might add) because she's successful. I can't stand people who compare themselves to others and think they too should be worth $100m. Obviously, this person can pull her weight at Google as she's been there since the very beginning (nearly a decade?). For those who don't like waiting in the hallway to meet with her, take a chill pill. With 16,000 plus employees and her overseeing many of Goog's key areas, she's a busy exec so get over yourselves and quit whining.

@Ladyz: It's not just because she's successful, it's also because she's a woman. Has the world got so anti-PC that we can't point out the obvious any more?

@bluelines: Now now, there is no reason to pull the oppressed women card, ive seen 90 percent more posts here about negative asshat males in high up power positions than women. Marissa is a novelty, shes a blonde fashionista who also happens to be balls out cooperate bitch who helped build the mac daddy of search engines. Girls are jealous, boys want to fuck her, and her employees apparently want to lynch her. Personally, i would say she is a success!

I might add then being a "cooperate bitch" may mean she's too ambitious or perhaps a tad bit too aggressive; two traits completely cool if you're a guy and completely off-limits if you're a woman. For the "haters" out there, too bad she's worth $100M and counting... ;-)

@Cattra: That's because well over 90% of the asshats in high up power positions are men... I agree with Ladyz that the culture of the Valley is no different than anywhere else in the corporate world. That is, you can't be a successful woman without being subjected to the whining of less successful men.

@bluelines: It must be nice to be able to blame someone for your lack of perceived success or that those same "someones" are jealous if you get it. Life is not fair, get over yourself. If only there was some secret club that let every white male get whatever they want.

as Tina Fey said, "Bitch is the New Black."

You go, Marissa. Give 'em Hell.

There's too much money at stake for L & S to keep her around just for her looks.

And the fact that she's gorgeous means the whiny males can't complain that the reason she's successful is because she's ugly and no one would f*** her anyway.

I admit it, I have a girl crush. Smart, beautiful and disarmingly geeky enough to admit to weekends alone? Wow.

I heard from two googlers that left (and formed their own company) that she's a real bitch and that she was the reason why they left. The project that they worked on never got the green light after numerous discussions and they get fed up with office politics. She was the primary reason why they left.

Figaro, thanks for confirming my comment above (that gatekeepers are supposed to gatekeep and anyone who don't get an easy green light blames the gatekeeper). Talk to us when your ruffled buddies' startup is a fraction as successful as their former employer.

@locutor: You are fucking clueless.

Apparently most of you people have never been through an IPO startup to understand how the math works. Googirl's "hundred millions" is less than 0.1% of GOOG market cap. This is an industry-standard option grant for any engineer joining a VC-backed startup at the stage she joined. Barring total incompetence one can easily vest in peace and become such a "success". If you are willing to kiss enough ass (hmmm... Googirl indeed) you get promoted to management as founders need trusted lieutenants to run things.

Now, what does she have to do with Google success? Absolutely nothing.

L&S deserve all the credit. GOOG money machine is built squarely on their vision and execution. Do you think anyone else was empowered to make any real decisions at the stage when that really mattered? Once the important things have been done L&S needed a henchman to figure out on what crazy projects to bet the keyword sales proceeds. Oh yeah and be the "bad cop" to tell all these engineers their ideas made up on 20% time suck. How many of the things she supported, I mean took credit for, became a real success?

Googirl never had to build or run a real business and made "hundreds of millions" just because Google got to a huge market cap through no fault of hers. At least the guys who left had balls to strike on their own. Can she be anything without GOOG clout? I will believe it when I see it.

The Empress has no clothes, as you would expect with any Googirl just doing her job: [www.urbandictionary.com]

marissa can't possibly be as despised as much as scott moore is at yahoo.

no way.

Interesting how not a single Googler has come forward here to contradict the statement that she is almost universally despised. I can in fact confirm that statement, as well as its having nothing whatsoever to do with her being a woman, or the haters "women-fearing geeks". We women hate her too.

I agree with externality. In fact I know folks who have experienced the long wait times outside her office, the minute inspections of UI elements and colors etc. She is also known to be a Yes woman to the higher ups in the org. So all said and done, she might be worth several Hundred million but that doesn't make her a good manager to work for and goes on to expose the flaws that Google has. It's a sugar-coated, new age, eco-friendly corporation that is in start-up mode but with very deep pockets. They know they're big and strong and their arrogance is not very apparent but there is an underlying current that runs within the company - a feeling of arrogance more than pride...