Microsoft CEO Search: Live blogging (facetious)

Following was overheard between Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and retiring CEO Steve Ballmer in Redmond, Wash., earlier this week before Gates fired up The Founder's Jet for Davos and the World Economic Forum (WEF.)

Gates: So, Steve, how are we coming along with your replacement?

Ballmer: I don't know, man. We've got a lot of resumes here from the search firm but don't really have any standouts since Alan (Mulally) turned us down on CNBC. Board has been pretty mum.

Gates: Yeah, that kind of stinks. With all the money the company is making right now, we probably don't even need a CEO. (Note: Microsoft reported a 4Q 2013 profit of $3 billion earlier this week.)

Ballmer: Bill, it's not all about money. Strategy is critical to long-term performance of the company.

Gates: Easy for you to say. Didn't you come up with what we're doing now? Back in my day, that other guy with the Macintosh was hard to track. We just went with something simple like a computer for every desktop. Everything fell into place right after IBM turned us down.

Ballmer: Things are a lot more complex today. We are an extremely large matrixed organization. So many devices, so little time. That's why we have to move more in that market-driven direction after missing out on Search.

Gates: Good point. I love playing bridge with Warren on my Surface tablet. You think we can sell more of those?

Ballmer: Someday, maybe. For right now, let's keep updating Windows.

Gates: Sounds like a plan. So who is on top of the resume list, anyone more interesting and connected than me?

Microsoft currently does not have anyone technically filling the CEO position. It's been that way since last August when previous CEO, Steve Ballmer, announced his retirement. A firm re-branding as a leadership company with an interim CEO is currently assisting with the search.

See more here: http://povblogger.blogspot.com/2013/12/searching-constantly-searching.html.

 

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Great advice from new GM CEO

By now, unless you've been living under a rock in Nepal, you probably are aware that General Motors named a woman to be CEO late last year. Her name is Mary Barra and she's the first female executive to run a major car company. In an ABC News interview celebrating GM's double coup, winning top car and truck at this year's Detroit auto show, Barra conveyed the following piece of golden career advice to interviewer, Rebecca Jarvis: "I always approached each job like it was the one that I would do the rest of my life." Now, 30 years later, she holds the automaker's top job.

What a refreshing perspective. During a time when everyone is moving rapidly on to the next thing, or so they think, someone who has risen to the top offers up some timeless truth. Do the best job you can right now at this moment, stay focused (another theme emerging early in 2014) and quit worrying about the next job. The next opportunity will form one way or another.

As an aside that buffers these comments, contrary to how it may seem, workers used to change jobs a lot more than they do today. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report reported by CBS Marketwatch, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-less-likely-to-change-jobs-now-than-in-1980s-2014-01-10?link=MW_home_latest_news, workers are more loyal now than they were 10, 20, or even 30 years ago. Whether that's out of economic fear, genuine desire or combination of all the above remains an open-ended question.

Bottom line: Keep working hard, and when nothing else is working, try a different angle or tact.

Microsoft CEO Search: Score one for fleeting loyalties

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/09/why-alan-mulally-ended-his-flirtation-with-microsoft/

The Wall Street Journal is first again with what now seems like an obvious development in the Microsoft CEO saga: After one of the most public non-pursuit pursuits of a brand name executive job in recent history, Ford's Alan Mulally has "ended his flirtation" with the top job. According to the Journal, he evidently was disappointed with leaks emanating from the process -- as if Mulally was in control of the process from the beginning. The most disappointed party? That's easy. CNBC, the primary media feeder of speculation that became so pitched that Business Insider starting duping pix depicting the Ford executive in front of a Microsoft banner. See previous post for more: http://povblogger.blogspot.com/2013/12/searching-constantly-searching.html

This "startling" development has swung the balance of power back to Microsoft's board, which is a mixed bag to say the least. There's a major founder-in-chief fluttering in the shadows and an activist investor who appears ready to ride the trends in their special interest favor. Trying to do a discreet search now will be close to impossible. It didn't have to be this way but will be now.

 

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2014 Battle Royale: Specialists vs. Generalists

Editor's Note: This originally appeared as a client e-letter last month.

December 23, 2013

Dear Clients and Colleagues:

As the year winds down, here are a couple questions to consider for 2014: Are you a specialist or a generalist? Better yet, do you know when the difference matters?

Here is a personal anecdote to help set the table. A couple months ago, my 1999 Audi A4 developed a unique German engineering problem that involved having to take the dash apart to get to a heating coil system issue. Anyone that has ever owned a foreign born car knows that that type of repair ain't cheap. The certified mechanic who works on a lot of different cars completed the job but failed to re-connect the radio properly. So looking for a better fix, I called the specialist shop that's run by someone who looks like something straight out of ZZ Top. After explaining the issue, he asks, "so who worked on the car? It sounds to me like a wire wasn't re-connected properly." Really? You don't say. It's been great getting reacquainted with my CD collection.

As someone who has heavily specialized for the past 10+ years, my eyes and ears have become super sensitive to marketplace questions falling out of chosen branding specialty. Evidently the rest of the world is not. Specialists are everywhere, at every corner, in every industry. Few know how to converse in language outside of their own specialty. Worse yet far fewer even care while some claim so many industry specialties that they represent masters of none. Generalist CEOs are now being replaced with financial specialists, or highly trained CFOs who excel at finance but often can't speak or connect in every day language. Consulting firms that have specialized their way through the Great Recession now find themselves trying to grow beyond chosen niche, which often never leads anywhere other than back into the niche. A lot of old fashioned ink has been dropped on this subject this year. If you have pay wall access, see of this year's best summations by the Financial Times' Andrew Hill:  http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3385b7da-423d-11e3-bb85-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2oJt26ys9. If you don't, try another related piece from Harvard Business Review  http://hbr.org/2013/10/consulting-on-the-cusp-of-disruption/

It's unclear who ultimately will win this post new normal battle. But here are a couple observations to help move a little closer. The first is the old stand by truth: Know where you are and with whom you are speaking. Chances are they don't really care about your niche specialty unless you're a heart surgeon or bankruptcy lawyer, which are two service providers you probably don't want to have to engage with anyway. Generalists also tend to come back into vogue during better economic times. In my view, specialists have to be even better generalists than the generalists themselves, especially in situations like the one outlined at the top. There's really no better time than when someone else besides yourself is in need. And that may be the whole point, which says end on a high note.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

JG