Everywhere I look, I can’t seem to get away from reports that Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO, overslept a big dinner meeting.

On the one hand, I want people to cut her some slack. I feel like there is some gender bias going on here. I was trying to find evidence online of a high profile male CEO missing a majority of an important meeting, but only found one. The CEO of Google missed the annual shareholders meeting because he lost his voice. All articles on the subject were short and to the point. No real big speculation.

However, I found another article from 2006 where Sara Lee’s female CEO missed a meeting, claiming she was ill. Every article on the subject was over 3 paragraphs long. In article standards, I want to say most of them were quite lengthy.

As a woman, we are scrutinized so much more than men, especially in when women are in positions of power. There is this underlying subconscious thought of, “Can she do it as well as him?” If a high power female CEO misses a meeting, many automatically label her as incompetent. Some think that she can’t handle the work/life balance, especially when scrutinizing someone like Marissa who has a young baby.

According to reports, she did make the other meetings and gave the presentations she was supposed to. The dinner sounds like the only event that she missed.

But looking at the other side of the argument, if Yahoo really does rely on ad dollars and knowing that Yahoo is struggling against competitors, would you miss this dinner? Even if it’s just the possibility to woo people, wouldn’t you grab at that chance?

After thinking about all this, I wondered, “Where was Marissa Mayer’s Assistant? Was she traveling with her? Did she attempt to reach her?”

As an Assistant, what would I have done in a similar situation? If I supported Marissa, would I wake her?

I think I would start by texting and letting her know that people were wondering where she was. From there, I would attempt to call her.devil wears prada paris If she still didn’t pick up…well, that’s where the tricky part comes in and you have to go by how well you know your CEO. For me, I would continue to try to reach her until I managed to get hold of her. Even if I didn’t get through to her, I would try every possible situation so that if she ever said “Why didn’t you get me?” I could answer truthfully that I tried my best.

But what if Marissa told her Assistant that she had an important call and may be late to the meeting but not to say anything? Knowing that it’s been two hours since she was supposed to be in the dinner but is still not present, do I try to get her?

That’s where I would abide by what the CEO says. If you’re an Assistant supporting a CEO, you do what the CEO tells you. That’s your job. At times you have to use your best judgment, but in this case, if Marissa was specific and told me not to disturb, then I wouldn’t. I’m not encouraging lying. If Marissa decided to lie by saying she overslept, than that’s her prerogative. There are ways to shield your CEO and keep their secrets without lying. (I am in no way claiming that Mayer lied. I am presenting a hypothetical situation.)

I still wonder if Marissa’s Assistant was aware of what was going on and if she was even present in any of this. She may not have even been with her, but if she was, did she do everything she could to get her to dinner? Or did she let her boss get a few extra winks in knowing how badly she needed it?

What would you do in this situation? What do you think an Assistant should do?

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