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It showed me that you must always have respect for your competitor, but don’t be in awe. Go and compete.
within, and so I knew that it wouldn’t carry us very far down the path to true renewal. We could also motivate ourselves through competitive zeal. Microsoft is known for rallying the troops with competitive fire. The press loves that, but it’s not me. My approach is to lead with a sense of purpose and pride in what we do, not envy or combativeness.
CEO of Microsoft needed to do several things very well right away, during the first year. Communicate clearly and regularly our sense of mission, worldview, and business and innovation ambitions. Drive cultural change from top to bottom, and get the right team in the right place. Build new and surprising partnerships in which we can grow the pie and delight customers. Be ready to catch the next wave of innovation and platform shifts. Reframe our opportunity for a mobile- and cloud-first world, and drive our execution with urgency. Stand for timeless values, and restore productivity and
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With benefit of hindsight, I know now that anyone who feels like an outsider can be successful, but it requires both an enlightened management and a dedicated employee. A manager can be demanding, but must also have the empathy to figure out what will motivate employees. Likewise, an employee is right to put his or her head down and work hard, but they also have the right to expect a pathway to greater responsibility and recognition when they do. There must be balance.
In Chapter 7, I will explicitly explore the notion that trust is built by being consistent over time. It’s built by being clear that there are places where we are going to compete to be best in class, and there are places where we can work together to add value for each other’s customers.
Trust has many other components as well—respect, listening, transparency, staying focused, and being willing to hit reset when necessary. We have got to be principled about it.
That’s the classic innovator’s dilemma—to risk existing success while pursuing new opportunities.
