Working just for the money is not the way to build a successful life or a successful business.  It takes hard work, time, dedication, and commitment to build a business that will last.  You'll have a better chance at success by doing what you love.

Blog Post
Stephen Wicks, CEO
Stephen Wicks Internet Development Company

Here's an interesting Facebook post from Entrepreneur magazine that I found recently.

As of yesterday, Marissa Mayer is Yahoo's brand new President and CEO.  On the same day that she was announced as the new head of the company, she announced via Twitter that she was pregnant and expecting a child in October, 2012.

Things got further interesting when she stated that she was only taking a few weeks off after the delivery of her child.   Not only is she planning on just taking a few weeks, but she said that she would be working through that time off as well.

Wow.  This seems to illustrate a serious double standard in business as it relates to female professionals.  If a man were announcing that he and his spouse were expecting a child, he would not have to take any time off at all.  This is no doubt, why she feels compelled to "keep working" through her very short maternity leave.

It's very unfortunate that women have to make these types of choices while trying to fit in with the corporate work ethic culture in America.

I feel as though mothers need a little time to settle in with their children after child birth.  She should be able to take that time to get adjusted to motherhood and I believe the child benefits from that shared time as well.  However, it is true that the company cannot afford to have it's leader missing in action during such a crucial period.  What to do?

I feel as though it's unfortunate, but still a necessary sacrifice that she has to make in order to be effective in her new position as leader of Yahoo.  She built an incredible career at Google and is known to be very effective as a business person.  I'm sure that she has a personal drive that makes it easy for her to make that sacrifice.

Congrats to her and her husband.  I'm sure that he will help her in this difficult period coming up.  What do you think?  Should she take a longer maternity leave?  Should she work through her leave?  Leave a comment and let me know what you think about this issue.