This CEO only took 10 days off for maternity leave but doesn't expect other women to do the same

Marissa Meyer's news that she's having twins is both a good and a bad thing for ambitious women.

Pro: She's definitely a role model for women who want to have it all. Con: Her decision to take a short maternity leave and work throughout it is viewed as a dangerous precedent.

We recently spoke to a CEO who made a similar decision, and she gave us a thoughtful reason wy.

In 2013, Christy Wyatt was appointed CEO of Good Technology. She had been a senior manager at Apple and Motorola, so CEO was a fantastic career move for her. On Friday, she had a big moment: she guided Good to a $425 million cash acquisition by Blackberry.

A few months after she started the job, she and her husband decided to adopt a baby. When the adoption agency called and offered the couple a baby boy, the professional timing couldn't have been worse. Good Technology had filed for an IPO, and the infant was due the same week.

The couple debated becoming parents at that moment and decided to go with what life was throwing at them.

Then the IPO was postponed.

"Business life is always going to be crazy, you have no way to plan it. We put on an IPO, we took off an IPO or slowed it down. We picked up the pencils again and now we're selling the company. You just can't push your private life out around business," she said.

"Both of these are life-changing events but you make your personal decisions first. And thank heaven I did because I have a beautiful baby boy," she said.

Wyatt made one big concession to her business life. She took a scant 10 days off on maternity leave and then headed to the office with baby and nanny in tow, working out childcare arrangements with her husband, too.

But she realizes her situation isn't the norm for most women. 

"I hadn't just given birth because we had adopted him, so he was literally here in my office at 10 days old and beyond. And everybody knew him as a baby in the hallways," she said. 

"And that's not what you expect – definitely not what I expect – of women in the workplace," she said. 

For Wyatt, at a turning point for both her business and her personal life, her 10-day maternity leave was her best solution to be both a great mom and a great CEO.

"It was a wonderful way for me to have both at the same time," she said.

SEE ALSO: 17 tech CEOs who earn more than 100 times as much as their employees

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We Can Guess Baby Names Based On What State They Were Born In