Marissa Mayer: Six life lessons from Yahoo CEO

This week, 37-year-old Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo, an internet provider with many problems, although an audience isn't one of them -- the company claims more than half a billion people currently access its products a month, and Mayer told the New York Times she considers it "one of the best brands on the internet."

Mayer also announced Tuesday that she is pregnant. She and husband Zack Bogue are expecting a baby boy in October.

A Silicon Valley veteran, Mayer became Google's 20th employee in 1999, after completing a Masters in Computer Science at Stanford University. She leaves Google after 13 years, having heading up its search team and, for the last two years, leading location and maps services. This year, she also joined the board of retail giant Wal-Mart.

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Now, one of the most powerful women in the tech industry, Mayer regularly shares her philosophies on life and work. Here, we've gathered together some of the lessons that have helped Mayer on her way to the top.

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Push through your uncertainty

"I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that's how you grow. When there's that moment of 'Wow, I'm not really sure I can do this,' and you push through those moments, that's when you have a breakthrough. Sometimes that's a sign that something really good is about to happen. You're about to grow and learn a lot about yourself," she told CNN in April.

I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that's how you grow.
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO

Protect what's really important to you

"I have a theory that burnout is about resentment. And you beat it by knowing what it is you're giving up that makes you resentful. I tell people: Find your rhythm. Your rhythm is what matters to you so much that when you miss it you're resentful of your work...So find your rhythm, understand what makes you resentful, and protect it. You can't have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you. And thinking that way empowers you to work really hard for a really long period of time," said Mayer in Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this year.

Work with smart people

"It's really wonderful to work in an environment with a lot of smart people. One, I think because it challenges you to think and work on a different level," she said during a talk atStanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series in 2006.

Keep some outside perspective

You can't have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you.
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO

"I've always loved baking. I think it's because I'm very scientific. The best cooks are chemists... I'm a businesswoman first and foremost (but ) my hobbies actually make me better at work. They help me come up with new and innovative ways of looking at things," Mayer said in an interview with San Francisco magazine in February 2008.

Work with a target customer in mind

"I always put the user first when I get ideas pitched to me. I like to think of my mom and wonder if she would be able to get an idea right off the bat," she told careers website WetFeet.com in 2008.

Set constraints to boost your creativity

"People think of creativity as this sort of unbridled thing, but engineers thrive on constraints. They love to think their way out of that little box: 'We know you said it was impossible, but we're going to do this, this, and that to get us there," Mayer said in an interview with Fast Company in February 2008.

Video: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/17/tech/mayer-yahoo-career-advice/index.html?hpt=ibu_bn3

Europe's rising unemployment raises fears of a tragic past

(CNN) –  Youth unemployment in the 1930s destabilized Germany and radicalized a resentful youth, propelling support for extremist parties.

The consequences are well known. Now, with European unemployment rising, we should be drawing on lessons from the past. It is nothing short of a tragedy that youth unemployment in both Greece and Spain has surged above the 50% mark.

To prevent a generation of young people being unable to find jobs and set themselves up with a secure future, it is essential to act now. The policy maker who does not heed the lessons of history is guilty of negligence on a massive scale.

Just like in the 1930s, when the Great Depression caused youth unemployment to hit the 50% levels in Germany, the current financial crisis is wreaking havoc on young people.

Young people are always hardest hit due to their lack of work experience. This is now accentuated as the youngster from Athens competes directly against the math genius from Bangalore.

The new phenomenon of a global work force has resulted in a far more competitive job market. Perversely, widespread connections through internet and social media, coupled with the global embrace of consumerism, have raised young people's aspirations to all time highs, resulting in a devastating effect when reality hits.

Our experiences as an entrepreneur and student suggest adolescents are a group neglected by policy analysts and business thinkers.

Today's young people are tomorrow's leaders and the very people who have to create economic success and human security for the years to come.

It is a forward thinking government that takes into account its youth. Movements towards fascism and communism in Europe fueled Roosevelt's conviction that youth relief is a task for governments.

This resulted in the establishment of the National Youth Administration which assisted millions of young Americans by providing on-the-job training in the wake of the Great Depression.

Nationalist movements are simmering under the surface in Europe. The overwhelming emphasis on austerity is turning into a self-defeating and self-fulfilling prophecy. Some careful expansions of the state balance sheet are now necessary.

 The NYA should be applied in a modern form, protecting Europe's youth from the vicious linear chain of discontent, despair and desperation. There is little in place now to assist as programs have done in the past.

Workplace training helps young people by bridging the gap between education and the workforce. Internships should be expanded by making them compulsory in school and university curriculums.

Just like some universities do in private form, young people from the poorest families should receive a public subsidy where internships are unpaid or lowly paid.

We have to push for such change: Because most importantly, doing something productive fills a young person with a sense of dignity and self-respect.