What would happen if the top teams of the world’s leading companies were challenged to do a better job of living their values at work?  Are top teams’ passion and authenticity about their personal values a competitive advantage in the 21st century marketplace? According to an article in Fast Company, Microsoft’s top team received this [...]

business · community · culture · excellence · leadership · Microsoft · people · profit · value · values

A piece in last week’s Economist profiles the challenges for Microsoft and for Intel as the technology landscape unfolds.  Once locked in the effective “Wintel” partnership that linked Microsoft’s Windows and Intel’s processors to dominate the PC market, both giants are worried by the rise of Apple and Google, and the vast growth in the [...]

Apple · business · Cisco · customers · excellence · global · Google · Intel · leadership · Microsoft

This New York Times article reports that Microsoft is gradually gaining a following for its Bing search engine. Google is way ahead, according to the article, with a share of 62.6% in U.S. originated searches vs. 12.7% for Bing.  But the Times says Bing’s share is growing (if slowly), and Google’s is falling (if slowly). [...]

business · creativity · customers · excellence · Google · innovation · leadership · Microsoft · service · value

Despite a sense from some that the cutting edge of the technology market is moving away from its products, Microsoft reported a strong quarter last week.   Revenues were $16.0 billion compared to $13.1 billion in the year-ago quarter (up 22%).  Profits were $4.5 billion vs $3.o billion in the year ago quarter (up 50%), [...]

business · challenges · customers · innovation · leadership · Microsoft · profit

Microsoft is holding its Worldwide Partner Conference this week in Washington (July 11-15). Steve Ballmer yesterday delivered a Vision Keynote to that meeting.  I get some sense of the complexity of Microsoft’s business, especially through partners, and the challenge of moving from a massive installed base to a truly innovative vision. Also, the message gets [...]

Cloud · innovation · Microsoft · people · profit

A few weeks ago, Forbes published a list of the world’s 28 most reputable companies, as assessed by the Reputation Institute, a specialist consulting firm.  The Institute based its rating on a large scale consumer survey, where respondents were asked to evaluate companies on their reputations with respect to products and services, innovation, workplace quality, [...]

Apple · Coca-Cola · excellence · FedEx · Google · Hewlett-Packard · IBM · innovation · Intel · Johnson & Johnson · leadership · Microsoft · Nestle · Nokia · Procter & Gamble · reputation · Samsung

In late April, the blog Internet Evolution named its 100 most influential and innovative people on the internet.   Here are the representatives from our Communities of Leadership, offered here as a way of beginning to fill in our understanding of the leadership teams beyond the CEO.  The list is grouped by categories of activity/specialization. [...]

Amazon · Apple · Cisco · IBM · Microsoft · Walmart

The Financial Times reported today that Apple has surpassed Microsoft to become the most valuable technology company in the world.  As of the close of the New York Stock Exchange, the FT said Apple was worth $222 billion, second only in value to ExxonMobil. The FT article calls the achievement “above all a triumph for [...]

Apple · customers · innovation · leadership · Microsoft · profit · value

Adding to our list of interesting communities of leadership, I nominate Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, CEO; Bill Gates, eminence grise. My reasons for being interested in Microsoft include: For the at least the last ten years or so, Microsoft has been the world’s leading software company, with a dominance built on Windows and Microsoft Office. Now [...]

business · community · innovation · leadership · Microsoft · service · value