Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer’s recent unorthodox approach to hiring new employees – personally reviewing and deciding on which newbie makes the cut at Yahoo, begs the question, is it wise for leadership to spend its much valued time on decisions that others, should be able to make?

A recent look at Yahoo’s careers website shows more than 500 available jobs – a small number when compared with the 10,000 who already work there, but large enough to prolong any hiring process.

Some of Mayer’s critics, sourced in a Reuters story this week, say these higher standards at Yahoo’s top level would prompt the company to lose out on talented people and send a strong message that leadership doesn’t trust its own senior team. Additionally, the same critics say that their CEO should instead focus on long-term strategic issues such as making Yahoo successful again.

Mayer has responded by challenging her staff to get better at recruiting.  

There is little doubt that Mayer’s decision-making is to challenge the current culture at Yahoo in an effort to make it more like Google, Mayer’s previous place of employment for 13 years. But, as former Google exec Sheryl Sandberg reveals in her book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,”, this hiring process can in fact, slow down the process and create a huge bottleneck. Sandberg also revealed that she was actually applauded by her team when she decided to stop making every hiring decision.

But, that was at Google and not at a company on its third CEO in less than a year and one that is undergoing a massive turnaround.

So, where does one, as a leader, draw the line?

No one is denying that Mayer is going against the norm and raising eyebrows with her decision-making. But, isn’t that what she was brought in to do in the first place? Help revive a company that has seen its stock drop drastically over the past few years, while other Web-based companies continue an upward climb?

Leadership gurus Kouzes and Posner argue that the most significant contribution leaders make is not simply to today’s bottom line; it is to the long-term development of people and organizations so they can adapt, change, prosper and grow.

And, that’s exactly what Mayer has in mind – train her team so it recruits and retains the best.

She wants to recruit top talent that isn’t distracted by the sexiness of fellow Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Facebook. Additionally, she wants the same top talent to see Yahoo’s turnaround as a huge opportunity to grow as a company and as individuals.

By choosing to currently be hands-on in the hiring process, Mayer is actually accomplishing two important goals.

First, she is leading the way by holding herself accountable via hand-picking new talent and showing her team the “it can be done” attitude.

Second, she is encouraging initiative by providing an opportunity for her team to go from “good to great” one step at a time. Mayer wants to lead her team to be effective while adhering to higher recruiting standards.

Employee training is important at any level, especially when encouraging initiative. And, effective leaders know that making an investment in training will always payoff in the long run even though there may be little time or money for it right now. Additionally, leadership experts agree that people can’t deliver on what they don’t know how to do and that is why organizations must continuously upgrade one’s capabilities.

It’s no secret that training helps prepare one for success. But, it is important to remember that it also encourages initiative. Which, not only helps recruit talent, but also helps retain it.

Leadership success starts with a clear vision and what could be. And, Mayer’s vision is definitely compelling. She continues to fight for what she believes is best for Yahoo while capturing the public’s imagination.

Her title as CEO was given to her by the board, but her leadership philosophy and direction will be the key drivers as to whether or not she earns the respect to go along with it.