It's been barely a month since Yahoo appointed a new CEO. Things have been rather quiet from Yahoo's end, but the press has been quick to criticize Yahoo's board for yet another poor choice of Chief Executive to steer the Yahoo titanic out of icy waters. Indeed, at first sight, new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson does not strike you as an obvious digital captain to lead one of the world's largest Internet destinations.

With technology and digital payments experience from eBay's payment behemoth PayPal, Thompson does not have a background that's directly relevant to Yahoo. Yahoo is a content-driven consumer portal with a revenue model entirely dependent on advertising. In contrast, Thompson's eBay and PayPal tenure gave him an understanding of digital commerce, but that's a far cry away from the Madison Avenue advertising world that he now needs to woo.

So on paper, Thompson does not impress. Did Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resign in protest? Is this Carol Bartz part deux in the making?

Beneath the surface
Before we jump to pre-mature conclusions about Yahoo's new headliner, I'd pay closer attention to his moves in three areas:

1. Appointment of a senior management team of A+ players
2. The right strategic direction(s)
3. Execution

Here is what I would look out for:

An A+ senior management team and the right strategic direction
Behind every successful A-rated CEO is an exceptional senior management team of A+ players. The media has an obsession with superstar CEOs, and rarely pays close attention to the senior management teams these superstar CEOs build. After all, it's the strength of the senior management team -- not the strength of the CEO alone -- that determines the fate of a company. For example, while all media lights shone on the late Steve Jobs, I believe we will see the brilliance of the Apple legacy he left in the team he built in the years to come.

At Yahoo, I'd pay very close attention to Scott Thompson's management appointments and strategic direction he takes in the following areas:

• Social -- Clearly, the world is going social. Yahoo by and large has missed the social boat, along with its cousins MSN and AOL. A clever aggregation of other companies' social services sounds like a good idea, but so far it has been rather poorly executed.

• Mobile - Yahoo also appears to have missed the mobile bus. I hope there is a plane Yahoo can catch, because some 5.6 billion mobile users are moving a significant portion of their digital activities to mobile. Google's Android and underappreciated Microsoft's Windows Mobile are shaping what I believe will be the mobile-driven web 3.0 battle. Just a few weeks ago, Yahoo boldly stated its "mobile first" strategy, but its subsequent shutting down of 10 mobile apps did not exactly inspire confidence. Replacing those apps with better and bolder might have been a more elegant move.

• Advertising - Online display advertising has been in decline for a long time. Yahoo was once a leader in coming up with new, innovative and engaging advertising formats. To be fair, we have seen very little innovation coming in the world of Internet advertising lately - including from the likes of Facebook. Developments in mobile advertising are more exciting, so I look forward to seeing if Yahoo can show some innovation in the advertising space.

• Business development and M&A - You rarely see acquisitions or partnerships transform a company. But in the case of AOL's acquisition of the Huffington Post, I believe AOL has taken a turn for the better. A stronger content-driven proposition is giving AOL a second chance at winning audiences. Google's 2005 play for Android and series of mobile-related acquisitions have proven to be key to its driving into the critical mobile space.

• User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) - This might be a personal thing, but I just hate the Yahoo UI/UX. The experience is clunky and cluttered. While I'm at it, I also hate AOL's and MSN's UI/UX. No wonder consumer portal user numbers have been dwindling. While dot com 2.0 players have been updating their UI/UX seemingly every other day, the UI/UX chiefs at the major consumer portal have been fast asleep. Unfortunately, UI/UX tends to be a low level managerial position to which few digital chiefs pay enough attention.

• Technology - Having outsourced all things search to Microsoft's Bing, Yahootheoretically has the resources to focus on other areas of technology. We have yet to see something groundbreaking to come out of the Yahoo tech kitchen. For all I know, Yahoo is a great email and instant messaging provider, but is that really technology?

• Content - Under media mogul Terry Semel, Yahoo tried to jump on the content bandwagon. But by and large, I find that Yahoo disappoints in differentiating with truly exceptional original content. Its content partnerships with the likes of Eurosport appear to work, but make Yahoo unnecessarily dependent on partners. Of course, there are pros and cons to outsourcing non-strategic activities. But what is Yahoo's core competence, if it's not content, advertising or technology?

• International - Even if you're not winning at home in the US, you might be able to make a difference abroad. Time and again, American companies have been late to give their international subsidiaries the time and attention they deserve. Ironically, the majority of Yahoo's value comes from its international equity stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan Corp. Will Yahoo International finally get the resources they require to grow? Or will the troubled US business absorb the majority of resources and management's attention?

• Portfolio - One-size-fits-all, content aggregating consumer portals have been in decline for quite some time now. Stand-alone vertical plays - as AOL's Huffington Post- have been more successful in attracting premium advertising dollars. To be on the safe side, I would expect Yahoo to make more vertical plays and build a portfolio of properties rather than put all eggs into its mega portal basket.

• Buy-out? Scott Thompson might take the private equity emergency exit and take Yahoo private. Indeed, taking Yahoo out of the public limelight of the quarterly Wall Street pressures might be just what the doctor ordered. Yahoo might be able to make unpopular, short-term restructuring decisions and divestments more easily under private ownership.

• Strategy - What can a strategy consultant constructively say about Yahoo's strategy? You might be surprised, but I don't think they need a 'strategy' in the traditional sense. My fellow strategists might blast me for being anti-strategy, but does it make sense to have one in the fast-changing world of digital? Twitter, Groupon and Facebook are three examples of companies that started with one strategy and evolved into something completely unexpected. A strategic direction or theme is nice to have, but a strategy is refined and iterated as you execute. As long as you have the team and flexibility to make changes quickly, you can succeed in the digital world. As Yahoo is a portfolio play, I would expect to see a portfolio of different strategies and business models.

Even if Thompson does not reshuffle management, I would take a closer look at his existing lieutenants to see if they have a relevant skill set and make cunning strategic moves. Indeed, it could very well be that Yahoo already has an A+ senior management team in place, but that under the previous leadership they were not allowed to thrive.

And yes, it would be nice for Yahoo to appoint a new board of young digiratis who 'get digital.'

Relentless focus on execution
Time will tell, but I'd expect the first round of innovations to come out of the Yahoo house within the first six months of Thompson's tenure. We are in the "need-for-speed" digital world after all.

So what's your verdict?

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• yahoo CEO