As Yahoo Inc.'s board searches for its next chief executive, directors are in many ways looking for the anti-Jerry.

For 17 months, co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang tried to turn around Yahoo with a simple management mantra: rally senior executives to put aside their differences and do what's best for the company.

But people inside and outside the Sunnyvale, Calif., firm said Mr. Yang's inability to make tough decisions on matters ranging from new products to strategic alliances stymied his effectiveness and failed to get Yahoo out of its hole.

On Tuesday, Yahoo's ailing stock soared nearly 9% to close at $11.55 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, a day after the board announced Mr. Yang will surrender his post.

As they search for a replacement, Yahoo directors are looking at Mr. Yang's track record for lessons about how to find a leader better equipped to navigate the Internet giant through continued tumultuous times.

"This company has shown a failure to execute," said a person familiar with the situation. Yahoo's next CEO "can't be just a thinker."

The board wants to consider executives with strong operational skills who may be veterans of the high-tech and media worlds, rather than simply Internet industry types, this person said.

Two of the many people being considered at this stage are Tim Armstrong, a senior vice president at Google Inc. and Peter Chernin, president of News Corp., said people familiar with the situation.

Spokespeople for Google and News Corp. declined to comment. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Another person close to the company cautioned Mr. Yang shouldn't be solely blamed for Yahoo's "consensus-driven" and at times indecisive culture. But others note that Mr. Yang failed in his promise to break those habits.

Even as Wall Street exulted over Mr. Yang's decision to step down, the mood inside Yahoo, where morale has been low, was muted. Yahoo employees were hopeful that a new leader might turn the company around while still expressing affection for Mr. Yang, according to employees who declined to be named.

Yahoo senior vice presidents had discussed the news with Mr. Yang and other executives during a conference call Monday evening, at which time Mr. Yang stressed that the transition had been in the works for a while, according to people familiar with the matter.

In many ways, Mr. Yang was better suited to building a young company than to steering a more-mature company in a crisis, said current and former employees. When Mr. Yang had the visionary's title of "Chief Yahoo," executives turned to him for insights about future trends. He drew fans as a beloved geek and cheerleader, hitting it off with engineers for his penchant for rattling off technical terms in casual conversation, current and former employees said.

Given Mr. Yang's passion for the company, employees were initially excited to see what change he could bring as CEO. But the mood changed quickly amid the perception that he began punting tough decisions -- such as whether Yahoo should sell its search business.

"The thing that Yahoo needs most is someone who can make decisions and who is comfortable with the risk of making fast decisions," said one former Yahoo executive.

Mr. Yang's preference for letting employees reach consensus rather than make tough decisions himself sometimes backfired, creating bickering among employees.

Last year, to prepare for a keynote presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show, he asked several senior Yahoo executives across different groups to brainstorm big company-wide projects to show off, according to four people familiar with the matter.

When executives asked for more guidance to help resolve their disputes, he told them to work together without much further detail, these people said. Mr. Yang eventually ended up showing off a number of features that the company still hasn't launched.

"The mistakes he made were on the operational side by not reducing costs and increasing efficiency" fast enough, said Dona E. Roche-Tarry, a London-based technology recruiter for CTPartners, a U.S. search firm.

The board is also looking for a leader more engaged in discussions, said people familiar with the matter. While negotiating a long-simmering merger with Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, there was a perception among the board that Mr. Yang appeared reluctant to pull the trigger, according to these people, although there have been numerous other barriers to a deal, including price.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock is leading an informal committee of directors in the CEO search, said one person familiar with the matter. The committee also includes Frank Biondi, the former chief executive of Viacom Inc. who recently joined the Yahoo board as part of the company's settlement of investor Carl Icahn's proxy battle, said another person.

Mr. Icahn is not on the search committee, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Icahn could not be reached for comment.

The search is scheduled to conclude in the first quarter of next year, according to people familiar with the timing. Yahoo's current president, Sue Decker, has raised her hand for the job, according to people familiar with the matter. But board and investor concerns that she is also partly to blame for Yahoo's current performance suggest she is unlikely to get the job, say people familiar with the matter.

Credit: By Jessica E. Vascellaro and Joann S. Lublin