5 ms·
>> I bleed Microsoft — have for 34 years and I always will. No matter what you think about Ballmer you have to admit his passion for Microsoft is unrivalled.
by k-mcgrady 12y ago
>> I bleed Microsoft — have for 34 years and I always will.
No matter what you think about Ballmer you have to admit his passion for Microsoft is unrivalled.
- sp3000 12y agoHe's just an inherently passionate person. His energy levels are just off the charts. One day we will map the Ballmer genome and see where exactly all this energy comes from.
- thinkpad20 12y agoI... love... this... company YEAAAAAHAHH
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- keithnoizu 12y agoThe Ballmer impersonator free runner a few years back at the company meeting was good.
- CamperBob2 12y agoHis spelling needs a bit of work, though. There's only one 'e' in 'bled.'
- jusben1369 12y agoWhy are you past tensing him though?
- noir_lord 12y agoIt's a joke (I think). In the old days Doctors used to bleed a patient who was ill to let out the poison "I bled him but unfortunately he died". That or he is implying that he did nothing but suck the blood for 30 years while others did the actual important work.
- jusben1369 12y agoGood point. Opaque but that does make snarky humor sense.
- zheshishei 12y ago"Bleed" is fine. He's referring to both the past and present. You can replace "bleed" with "ooze", if that helps.
- 3Pi 12y agoMy first thought too - had to re-read to see that he wasn't saying he'd bled it dry.
- tempodox 12y agoYou mean, like in: “I bled MS to death”?
- serve_yay 12y agoSure. I would argue that that "passion" led him to make some poor decisions, though.
- NickWarner775 12y agoAnytime you care desperately about a cause or entity you branded as "yours", a certain irrationality has to go hand in hand with that. Without that emotional attachment to something that leads you to make those decisions, you wouldn't get some of the best gut decisions either. Give and take.
- serve_yay 12y agoWhat I mean is that the company would be in a better position now if he had left five or more years ago, because he is not a very good leader.
- hackinthebochs 12y agoHow are you measuring leadership ability? If it's just stock price then I think there are far more appropriate words to use.
- soperj 12y agoI'd argue that he'd likely make a poor decision regardless of the passion involved.
- AVTizzle 12y agoPotentially rivaled. I submit: Howard Dean's "BYAHHHH"[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FzCeV0ZFc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FzCeV0ZFc
- rburhum 12y agoHaving been at Microsoft in the past, I always remember this infamous video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc
- dredmorbius 12y agoSteve Keen on sincerity (a close proxy for passion): Class was largely open discussion, the instructor rarely engaged. Except for one session, where students were discussing a politician, and said, "Well, at least he's sincere." And the class sort of murmurs, "Oh, yeah, nobody can deny the guy's sincere." The teacher, who normally kept quiet, piped up from the back of the room, "Don't overrate sincerity. The most sincere person you'll meet in your life is the maniac chasing you down the road with an ax trying to chop your head off." Renegade Economist interview http://fixyt.com/watch?v=7F2FKxxN_IE http://fixyt.com/watch?v=7F2FKxxN_IE