I don’t think I could say it any better than Mike Arrington on TechCrunch here. But really, Facebook is is going to eventually have to face (no pun intended) up to the issue of user privacy versus effective advertising options. These two go hand in hand. So long as they don’t get sunk by privacy, they’ll keep growing.

Yes, sad isn’t it. Has Yahoo ever had a technology leader???

At my prior company (major Silicon Valley software maker), I experienced a similar leadership challenge. Not having a tech CEO who knows where the market is going at their heart is a big handicap.

We had one CEO say that he could run any company just from the financial controls. Naturally this didn’t work in the long term even though in the short term the earnings numbers appeared better as the result of cost cutting and margin tweaks.

Dennis, it sounds like you think Facebook will remain relevant due to their CEO.

Thanks! I was making an indirect reference to Yahoo! and how they’re in trouble now. Carol Bartz had an embarrassing interview with Mike Arrington, where she got destroyed. A tech leader wouldn’t be caught like that– he or she would have answers on mobile strategy, what to do about social, etc…

I couldn’t agree with you more on your reasoning. This is something I’ve been saying for years regarding technology companies.

Here’s my favorite quote from your post above:
“Running a technology company requires a deep understanding of what’s coming next in a rapidly changing world.”

The best tech leaders tend to invest before the spreadsheet tells them the new product or market is a proven winner.