Earlier quoted context omitted.
Steve Ballmer does not have an MBA.
I should have made the more generic point "MBA types" (high business, executives etc). Not specifically MBAs.
No.
Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
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Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand that. Retail jobs don't tend to be high-salaried positions, with superior benefits packages. They're not the six-figure jobs we read about here on HN all the time, with catered meals and other embroidery. Nonetheless, the company needs people to fill those jobs, and finds them. Is there some kind of intervention that you'd advocate that wouldn't devastate the company?
You are sort of missing the point a little. Walmart frequently causes market imbalances with its massive buying power, forcing suppliers to make extremely low profit margins. A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy. On top of this, I'm not really sure I care if Walmart does fail. What I'm saying is that if it does, then that sing…
Walmart plays the same game that its competition plays, it just plays it better. I am sure that if it were not them, we'd be talking about some other Big Retailer doing these things, some of which are indeed rotten. And there are definitely some concerns to be had for the amount of power that China, specifically, has via its economy. Not being an economic nationalist (and I'm in Canada), I tend to take it case-by-case.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#73I am not sure why this is considered news. Guess just because this guy went on the record to state the obvious? Every large company develops internal politics with various degrees of harm to itself and its performance. If the business is led by a non-founder, non-technical, non-performing CEO it is a given that he will always feel like an insecure usurper/impostor more concerned about protecting their job from rivals…
Internal politics are one thing but I've yet to hear a story of anyone attempting to overtake Ballmer as CEO when he has Gates' backing. There were stories about the usually tight-lipped Apple and how Forstall was fired while attempting to gather more power within the software division.
The story that comes across to me is of a CEO that knows he's not doing a good enough job transitioning MS into a new era. His insecurity gets the better of him and he fires anyone who is conceived, by the media, of being a potential threat while losing major talent in the process.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#74MS revenues have grown by 45 billion dollars under Ballmer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer). Without Ballmer .NET would not have existed and the XBox would not exist as it exists today. I have no great love for the guy but I've yet to read a convincing argument for his ouster. Just priggish former executives badmouthing the company that lifted them into the 1%.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#75Probably throws chairs at them... To be serious, this is normal in most corporates. It starts when you let the MBA* with the personality disorder in, you're fucked. I've watched three companies fall at the hands of such people. * This is not true of all MBAs, but I seem to see a trend where there are more borderline psychopaths.
MBA programs attract borderline personalities? That's a new one. In reality, the MBA provides managers with a framework to conduct business in a methodical manner. It gives them a process to use, so that their personalities don't have to be such a large factor. I've never done an MBA but I know many who have; it's mostly case studies and common sense. If you ONLY have an MBA and no other particular expertise, then ye…
People that rank on the Hare scale of psycopathy are over-represented (relative to prevalence in broader society) in corporate C-suites, controlling for age, gender, race, etc...[0] I am not sure what the representation of MBAs is in the C-suite but I assume it is also fairly high. I do not believe the book examines the representation amongst MBAs specifically, though.
[0] http://www.amazon.com/Snakes-Suits-When-Psychopaths-Work/dp/...
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#76MS revenues have grown by 45 billion dollars under Ballmer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer ). Without Ballmer .NET would not have existed and the XBox would not exist as it exists today. I have no great love for the guy but I've yet to read a convincing argument for his ouster. Just priggish former executives badmouthing the company that lifted them into the 1%.
imho, the biggest reason for his ouster was that he had no internet strategy - his plan A was buying Yahoo. No innovation, no imagination, no results.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#77In a parallel universe: Gates returns, fires Ballmer and turns MS around. Reality: He's probably happier solving much bigger problems in the world. But still, it sucks to see someone drive his company to the ground. Has Ballmer ever done anything right for Microsoft? I can't think of anything.
He's kept the ship afloat and is good at maximizing profits from MS's traditional businesses. The problem is that Ballmer isn't the person you need in a transitional phase for a company.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#78MS revenues have grown by 45 billion dollars under Ballmer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer ). Without Ballmer .NET would not have existed and the XBox would not exist as it exists today. I have no great love for the guy but I've yet to read a convincing argument for his ouster. Just priggish former executives badmouthing the company that lifted them into the 1%.
imho, the biggest reason for his ouster was that he had no internet strategy - his plan A was buying Yahoo. No innovation, no imagination, no results.
Web strategy? Like media? Does a technology company need to have a content/media component -- which Yahoo basically is.
Azure is a decent extension to the MS development ecosystem. Xbox and Xbox Live seem to be doing well -- I don't use either. Bing, while not Google, has it's fans.
Where MSFT was late to the game is in their approach to the post-PC era. WinCE/WinMo were "ok" at the time, then the iPhone came along. Win8, Surface, WP8 are all relatively new - do I expect the same success as, say, XP or the like? Not really, but that path is still playing out for them.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#79MS revenues have grown by 45 billion dollars under Ballmer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer ). Without Ballmer .NET would not have existed and the XBox would not exist as it exists today. I have no great love for the guy but I've yet to read a convincing argument for his ouster. Just priggish former executives badmouthing the company that lifted them into the 1%.
Saying Ballmer is responsible for the existence of both .NET and Xbox is like saying Al Gore invented the internet.
There were lots of very smart leaders and engineers involved in the creation of both of those and their contributions far outweigh Ballmer's decision to "green light" those projects back in the late 90s.
Re: Former Microsoft executive says Ballmer culls internal rivals to retain power
#80Every call for Ballmer's ouster ignores two important points. He is the second largest shareholder. His college buddy is the largest. No analyst has clout with the shareholders. Nobody inside does either. What I see in Sinofsky's departure is a clear signal that the type of politics which this article assumes to be the proper way of creating succession is being deprecated within Microsoft. What I mean is that the arg…
> He is the second largest shareholder. His college buddy is the largest. Being a college buddy of one of the founders hardly qualifies someone to run a multibillion dollar company.
Well, he has a dozen years experience doing it. He brought about the IPO. He's been the business partner for thirty years. Who would be more qualified?