This week on Social Media Philanthropy I am donating ideas and opinions to big companies. Today I want to offer an idea to the Microsoft Corporation.
Regarding Steve Ballmer
Have him step down as CEO, take over as CFO, and promise to never speak in public ever again.
Steve Ballmer is a numbers guy, plain and simple. What he is NOT, is a visionary leader. He also exemplifies “public relations nightmare.” This is why with Steve Ballmer at the helm, you have a recipe for a company that performs about as well as Microsoft is.
It’s not doing poorly, but it’s not knocking it out of the park and the tech field right now is ripe for companies to make money, especially those that have traditionally been successful but have the vision to take risks. Microsoft is virtually a non player in a field they once were quite dominant in: mobile.
I think if you look at Steve Ballmer as an ambassador of Microsoft, he embodies characteristics that are off-putting to geeks and the average Joe alike. From his infamous “Developers, Developers, Developers” antics that he will never live down, to the more recent flubs about “I’m going to f*@king kill Google” and his comments about the iPhone and iPad, Ballmer doesn’t have the good judgement to know when he’s been beat. Here’s why that’s a problem…
You can’t buy Trust
Trust is something you develop over time. Over time, many people have come to trust that Google will return the search results they want. People have grown to trust that Apple will put out a good product and will provide good customer service. Not all people, but general sentiment would show that people tend to trust Google for search and Apple for hardware. So when someone like Steve Ballmer comes out and publicly mocks a competitor, that has built that trust, it diminishes trust in Microsoft. When Ballmer makes claims that they are going to basically out-innovate the innovators, it diminishes trust.
The reason Microsoft has trouble selling these new devices and products is that in spite of the enormous marketing budget, they have not built trust, they have an image problem…they are pushing the boulder uphill. If you want to build trust again as Microsoft, you need to do two things:
1) Tell an entirely new story. Start from scratch.
What do you do after you install those critical Windows updates? You Reboot. That’s what Microsoft needs. Do some public polling about Microsoft and you’ll likely find that the sentiment is less than stellar. Don’t get me wrong they’ve done plenty right but they are not being held in the same esteem as other tech companies. They have an image problem not necessarily a product problem.
Microsoft needs to appoint a new CEO; someone charismatic and with the vision to see how various business units fit together to create the most valuable products for customers. I’d say they should look in the Xbox Division, one of the company’s brightest spots.
Admit what hasn’t worked. Admit that Microsoft has dropped the ball in the innovation department. Re-iterate the commitment to built something extraordinary. Microsoft needs a new story.
2) Re-enforce the commitment to products people trust
People love Microsoft Office. People really do want to continue using Windows. The Xbox is far and away the most popular gaming platform. These are the products that Microsoft needs to keep promoting and developing. One thing they could do to become more customer-focused in these endeavors is to simplify. No one needs 7 versions of Windows, 2 should be sufficient: Home and Pro. Better yet, create one version, a base package and build in an “app store” that makes it easy for people to buy anything from Office to additional features to Games. People like that model, embrace it, acknowledge Apple for popularizing it. That way when you copy it, it’s not a copy but embracing a model people already like.
3) Acknowledge a competitor
As I said, one of the biggest PR issues the Microsoft faces is insulting a competitor and then basically copying them. Even if it’s not a direct copy, the minute Microsoft insults a competitor people look for the similarities, since they now expect an even better product. Is the Zune better than an iPod? Some might say yes, but enough to back up a claim that the Zune will revolutionize mp3 players when it is so similar to the iPod. Is the Windows Phone 7 going to kill the iPhone? Unlikely,and when Ballmer laughs at the iPhone for not having a physical keyboard and then puts out a phone with no keyboard, it raises a few eyebrows.
I’m not commenting on those products but rather the approach that precedes them. Microsoft should come out and acknowledge that Google is doing great things in search, that the iPhone is a great platform. This approach allows Microsoft to find revenue opportunities in partnership or beat them at a different game without polarizing the conversation.
Admittedly I’m a fan of Apple products, I like Google and I’m obviously big into the cloud and social software. All of these things are fairly anti-Microsoft but…in truth I really like a number of Microsoft products but for me, I take HUGE issue with that way they carry themselves and I think that stems from the top. Re-organize for success!
Anything offend anyone here? Did I nail it? Anything to add? Sound off in the comments.