At a corporate culture level, she said that she has pushed for a new emphasis on transparency and open dialogue with employees, putting in place tools to encourage feedback, systems to remove bureaucracy and new and aligned performance measurements for the company and its employees.

"These new systems are working to improve our execution," she said.

Mayer said another priority is to hire the best people available, so it's important to make Yahoo an attractive place to work. Already there are signs that this is happening, based on the increasing number of talented people expressing an interest in joining Yahoo, and on the rising number of startups wanting to be acquired, she said.

Since coming on board, Mayer has revamped Yahoo's C-level suite, appointing new people to the chief operating officer, CFO, general counsel and chief marketing officer positions.

She became Yahoo's third CEO in less than a year when she got the job in July. Carol Bartz, appointed in January 2009, was let go in September of last year after the board lost confidence in her ability to turn the struggling company around. Her replacement, Scott Thompson, a former PayPal president, only served between January and May of this year, leaving in the midst of a controversy about his college education credentials. Yahoo was then led by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, a Yahoo executive vice president who left shortly after Mayer's arrival.