"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy
HEADLINES: Print-Friendly Version
"I had to change" Notes Bill Gates -- and thus the relationship between Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer was saved. Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft June 27. Please take five minutes and read this insightful June 5 WSJ article by Robert A. Guth on how Gates and Ballmer made their relationship work and how they've handled the delicate transition of power -- it's a Master Class on succession and finding the right #2. Thanks to Jimmy Calano (founding board member of YEO) for turning me on to this article.
Someone You've Known a Long Time
-- this is one of my favorite moments in the article "Their
relationship started at Harvard University in the mid-1970s, where the
two played poker and thrived by pushing their intellectual limits. Once
they skipped a graduate economics class for the entire semester, then
teamed up a few days before the final exam to try to learn the material
all at once. Mr. Ballmer recalls he got a 97; Mr. Gates a 99." Later in
the piece Ballmer notes "I think brothers tend to argue a lot, and
somehow they stay brothers and stay connected," he said. "I think Bill
and I have figured out how to do all of that." My research indicates
that the best #2 is someone the entrepreneur has known for quite some
time (and played a lot of poker with!), which is why the Michael
Dell/Kevin Rollins partnership blew up as did all of Howard Schultz's
(Starbucks) CEOs.
Max Weber on Charismatic Authority
-- Guth notes in the piece "Looking for guidance, Mr. Ballmer says he
cracked open a book from his college years by Max Weber, the German
sociologist, on how organizations handle the disappearance of
'charismatic leaders'....One way for a firm to retain the charisma of a
departing leader, Mr. Weber wrote some 100 years ago, is for the leader
to name his own replacement." I found an interesting Wikipedia piece on
Max Weber and his theories around Charismatic Authority -- worth another five minutes.
Speaking of Microsoft and Leadership
-- congratulations to Sam Goodner for being named the 2008
Entrepreneur-of-the-Year for his region. Goodner is President & CEO
of Catapult Systems, a
250 person Austin-based IT consulting firm focused exclusively on
Microsoft solutions. His firm has also been named the "Best Place to
Work" in Austin and was listed as the #2 Best Place to Work in Texas by
Texas Monthly. And check out this photo -- proud to see Sam's One-Page Plan prominently displayed in the background!! Congrats Sam and everyone at Catapult.
#1 Customer Service Book and interactive DVD -- and congratulations to customer service guru John DiJulius (and Sales Summit superstar) -- his new book What's the Secret: To Providing a World Class Customer Experience is the #1 ranked customer service book on Amazon this week. In most cases it's superior service that is the main differential advantage growth firms provide their customers and John lays out ten simple commandments for doing this inexpensively and well -- and his four hour training program is now available on an interactive DVD which you can view/demo at www.gazelles.tv -- just scroll down until you see the product.
Houdini's Metamorphosis -- and forgive a little fatherly pride, but those of you that attended the last Growth Summit saw me perform some less than smooth illusions. Well, my son Cameron is learning the art and performed his first major stage illusion last Friday in his school's talent show -- Houdini's famous "Metamorphosis" illusion. Here's a link to the YouTube video (he's dressed in black, his friend Charlie in white). Thanks to Shep Hyken, who preformed some real magic at the Summit, for all his assistance. And stay tuned as I prepare a major illusion for the upcoming Growth Summit, October 21 -- 22, in Atlanta.