6 ms·

I think we are seeing that leaders really make a difference. Microsoft made some leadership changes - game changing. Apple - they have done a lot of supply si

I think we are seeing that leaders really make a difference. Microsoft made some leadership changes - game changing. Apple - they have done a lot of supply side management (own chips, great supply chain). Has let them continue to pump out insane quantities of cutting edge parts (ie, watch / macbooks / M1 etc) on cutting edge nodes etc at insane margins. Cook is more of the financial / supply chain guy? So we've seen optimization on that side (vs huge new product catagories). The payoff $ wise is amazing, not sure though if he can do the jobs -> new product catagory type move.

GDC7 5y ago
> Microsoft made some leadership changes - game changing. Microsoft was forced to make a leadership change back in 2000 to avoid being broken up. Gates had to step down because he was the reason why the DOJ went after Microsoft. Nadella wouldn't be at the helm if it wasn't for the first forced change from Gates to Ballmer
- colejohnson66 5y ago
  You’re confirming @slownews45’s post: that they had leadership changes that were very impactful in day to day operations.
  - dzhiurgis 5y ago
    What's weird is Balmer was part of MS from the start, yet he managed it so badly.
    - GDC7 5y ago
      Well to be fair he had the toughest act to follow, not just at MS but the whole history of corporate America. Nobody had to come after Rockefeller at Standard Oil, but at MS there was Ballmer after Gates. That and also Microsoft was priced for perfection, both financially and socially. Once you ship Windows 95 there not much you can do, there will never be a leap as big and so a natural slowdown in the rate of innovation feels like going backwards
      - Nevermark 5y ago
        There was no reason to slow down. Microsoft was deeply aware of the opportunity in mobile, long before iOS and Android scooped up that market. But Ballmer and a "Windows everywhere" mentality held them back, with several massive failures and right offs on the orders of billions of dollars. There was nothing natural about Microsoft's slow down in the OS market while the computing industry was going through profound form factor and OS changes, and rocketing sales, for a decade or so.
        GDC7 5y ago
        > There was no reason to slow down There was. The DOJ is the reason. A huge part of the setback was the morale hit inside the company. Kinda like "what's the purpose of all this work? If we are successful in the way we want to be, they'll break us up"

GDC7 5y ago

> Microsoft made some leadership changes - game changing. Microsoft was forced to make a leadership change back in 2000 to avoid being broken up. Gates had to step down because he was the reason why the DOJ went after Microsoft. Nadella wouldn't be at the helm if it wasn't for the first forced change from Gates to Ballmer

colejohnson66 5y ago
You’re confirming @slownews45’s post: that they had leadership changes that were very impactful in day to day operations.
- dzhiurgis 5y ago
  What's weird is Balmer was part of MS from the start, yet he managed it so badly.
  - GDC7 5y ago
    Well to be fair he had the toughest act to follow, not just at MS but the whole history of corporate America. Nobody had to come after Rockefeller at Standard Oil, but at MS there was Ballmer after Gates. That and also Microsoft was priced for perfection, both financially and socially. Once you ship Windows 95 there not much you can do, there will never be a leap as big and so a natural slowdown in the rate of innovation feels like going backwards
    - Nevermark 5y ago
      There was no reason to slow down. Microsoft was deeply aware of the opportunity in mobile, long before iOS and Android scooped up that market. But Ballmer and a "Windows everywhere" mentality held them back, with several massive failures and right offs on the orders of billions of dollars. There was nothing natural about Microsoft's slow down in the OS market while the computing industry was going through profound form factor and OS changes, and rocketing sales, for a decade or so.
      - GDC7 5y ago
        > There was no reason to slow down There was. The DOJ is the reason. A huge part of the setback was the morale hit inside the company. Kinda like "what's the purpose of all this work? If we are successful in the way we want to be, they'll break us up"