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John W. Thompson was once general manager of the division of IBM that produced OS/2[1], which was soundly defeated by Microsoft. I wonder how he feels about being chairman of Microsoft now given that previous experience. [1] Around this time, he reported to an executive named John M. Thompson, hence the use of middle initials.
I'm curious about his accent. It sounds like it would've taken a lot of work to develop. Is sounding American-ish a requirement of rising to the upper echelons of a company like Microsoft?
So the point is that accents can evolve naturally over a period if the person makes an attempt. Yes it gets harder as you get older. Just because someone sounds American-ish doesn't mean that they are not speaking it naturally.
A lot of people do not realize that their accent can actually be a hindrance in communication. They might have near perfect grammar but accents do cause a problem. I know this is a controversial topic and even pg got some flak for saying this but a "neutralized" (notice the American spelling) accent is important for communication. If you are a leader/CEO, even more important.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it racist to not understand half of what is said through a thick accent? if it is I'm a big jerk. edit: why the down votes? Honest question, parent seems to be implying that its a bad thing that he adjusted to his environment, an environment where clear communication is paramount,.
We all have accents whether we were born in America or not. Have you ever been in the South? Just because we talk slow doesn't mean we think slow ;) Typically, it just requires spending time around the person and interacting with them. It doesn't matter where they are from or what sort of accent they have. After a few days, you'll understand them. And also, an accent has no bearing on intelligence.
The bigger news here might be that Bill Gates has stepped down from his role as Chairman of the board! Although this has been rumored to happen for some time, its still a big "changing of the guard" step for Microsoft. Good luck to Bill in his new roll on the Board as "Founder and Technology Advisor".
The bigger news here might be that Bill Gates has stepped down from his role as Chairman of the board! Although this has been rumored to happen for some time, its still a big "changing of the guard" step for Microsoft. Good luck to Bill in his new roll on the Board as "Founder and Technology Advisor".
It will be very interesting to see what this means. When he dropped the CEO title, the goal was to be more of a visionary too. An open question... What's the big thing he brings to the table? Strategic thinking? Vision? Competitiveness? Respect in the Company? All of the above? What's the best way to harness this? (Ok, that's open questionS)
MS clearly need a rethink, but I'm of the view it's time for Bill to walk away to give more space to the others.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it particularly interesting that they highlighted his work with *Nix systems in his early career. I don't want to draw any conclusions, but I have a good feeling about that.
Man, a fully functional supported bash-like terminal on Windows would be heaven sent.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will be very interesting to see what this means. When he dropped the CEO title, the goal was to be more of a visionary too. An open question... What's the big thing he brings to the table? Strategic thinking? Vision? Competitiveness? Respect in the Company? All of the above? What's the best way to harness this? (Ok, that's open questionS)
The further question might be does having Bill around reduce the freedom of the actual CEO? MS clearly need a rethink, but I'm of the view it's time for Bill to walk away to give more space to the others.
Wonder if he has read Vikram Seth's Golden Gate. Looks to be an interesting person despite the corpspeak.