A clear identity since starters. But be possible to the new CEO’session "adult supervision" steer the beleaguered tech giant into taking greater amount of crucial nearest steps?

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By Robert D. Hof

With a new leading executive chosen from well outside its decaying orbit, Yahoo (YHOO) now has one greatest opening to salvage itself from a slow spiry into irrelevance. On Jan. 13, the struggling Internet icon appointed Carol Bartz, the executive chairman and former CEO of computer design software firm Autodesk (ADSK), to succeed co-founder Jerry Yang at Yahoo’s helm.

In her first public statements without interruption behoof of the company, on a brief conference call with analysts, Bartz’s no-nonsense gnomon shone through. She noted that Yahoo is a strong company that "frankly necessarily a little management" and said she would take some time to talk through her staff before announcing any plans in quest of which Yahoo should achieve from here on out. Bartz will still have Yang’s counsel in his longtime strategy-setting role as Chief Yahoo, but Yahoo President Sue Decker, who was a outgo internal aspirant for the CEO spot, will leave the company

For her part, Bartz will neediness a little educating. It’s not that most people question her management prowess or her drive to succeed amid immense obstacles. She joined Autodesk as CEO 14 years past and almost immediately got a diagnosis of breast cancer, returning to labor while still in recovery. She also joined a company where she wasn’t exactly embraced by the engineers but managed to expand the product line in the same state Autodesk is now a $1.5 billion attempt, while cutting costs early in the 2001 downturn to keep the profession above water.

Bartz, nevertheless, has not one Internet or media actual feeling, so she probably won’t change Yahoo’s direction on a dime. She’ll not only have to conformation out Yahoo’s operations but also hear where Yahoo fits into a still fast-changing Internet media globe. "It will likely take months for her to acquire skill in the Internet business and how Yahoo really works before she can develop every effective new strategy," Bernstein Research analyst Jeffrey Lindsay said in a note to clients.

Observers bring forth no shortage of ideas for what she should do next. None of this advice, it should be said, is something Bartz has asked for on the surface the company. Indeed, Bartz put it in no uncertain terms that she wouldn’t be hurried in the sight of she had a chance to scrutinize operations more closely. "Let’s bestow this company some friggin’ breathing place," she declared in the conference call.

But investors, advertisers, and employees won’t give her unlimited time to decide Yahoo’s next steps. Here are five ideas that smart folks are hoping leave get Yahoo hindmost on track once and for total. Not wholly of them are entirely new, but they’re all more relevant than ever as Yahoo stares down restless investors, weary employees, and a declining economy that is now taking a heavy toll on Internet advertising.