One Theory on what would explain the unexpected retirement of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

It is mystery why Steve Ballmer decided to retire earlier than expected.  Talking to a friend he had an interesting theory that seems plausible to explain the event.

First let's take a time sequence of facts.

1. Steve Ballmer announces the One Microsoft Strategy on July 11, 2013.

2. On Aug, 23, 2013 Microsoft announces Steve Ballmer will retire within 12 months.

3. On Sept 2, 2013 Microsoft announces its acquisition of Nokia Devices and Services.

4. After the Nokia acquisition announcement the story is out that Microsoft has been negotiating with Nokia since Jan 2013.

I just posted about John Sculley discussing the role the Apple Board had in firing Steve Jobs.  When you read about the Microsoft acquisition of Nokia devices, there is no mention of the Microsoft Board approving the deal.  It would seem like the Microsoft Board would approve the deal.

What happened between July 11 (Microsoft announces reorg) and Aug 23 (Steve Ballmer Retires)?  The Nokia negotiations had been going on for 8 months could they have had an affect on Steve Ballmer's retirement?

This graphic has been used to describe how Tech companies are organized.  Could there have been someone who held a gun to the Microsoft Board to get them to push for Steve Ballmer's retirement?

Here is an interesting idea that one friend threw out.  What if Steve Elop who left Microsoft in 2010, put on the table with the Microsoft Board he wouldn't bring his Nokia team to Microsoft unless Ballmer was not the CEO.  The Board faced with the situation of investing in Mobile with a Nokia acquisition or keeping Steve Ballmer as CEO for 4 more years realized they needed Nokia's mobile expertise more than Ballmer.  At the same time this was going on, Ballmer was selling the Nokia acquisition as a strategic move Microsoft could not miss and he had a good deal on the table.  

There is no data I know of to support this idea. The above is a "thought experiment" on what could explain the surprise Steve Ballmer retirement announcement. I first heard this idea yesterday and it seemed worth throwing out there.

We'll see if the story comes out what happened at the Microsoft Board level for why Steve Ballmer was retired (or fired).  It took 26 years for John Sculley to tell the story of the Apple Board's role in removing Steve Jobs.  So, it may a long, long time before the story is told on why Steve Ballmer retired early.

John Sculley tells the rest of the story, How Steve Jobs was fired

I was at Apple from 1985 - 1992, and didn't have a meeting with Steve Jobs or John Sculley during that time.  I did meet with John Sculley in 1996 when I had my job at Microsoft and we discussed publishing technologies.  I still can't remember why or how I got a meeting with John Sculley.  Must have been at time when working for Microsoft meant a lot or maybe my job was a bigger deal than I thought.  Too long ago.  Can't remember. :-)

Forbes just posted a presentation where John Sculley provided a retrospective of what led to Steve Jobs leaving Apple.

John Sculley Just Gave His Most Detailed Account Ever Of How Steve Jobs Got Fired From Apple

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After years of silence, former AppleAAPL +1.61% CEO John Sculley has recently been moving more into retrospective mode.  On Thursday, Sculley gave perhaps his fullest public account ever of the circumstances surrounding Apple’s firing of Steve Jobs, spending eight extemporaneous and uninterrupted minutes on the most infamous human resource decision in business history.

The video is here.

The video can be seen here:

This article provides the rest of the story of what happened in the Apple Board room.

What happened in the Microsoft Board room when Steve Ballmer was asked to retire?  There is no way a Microsoft board members is going to talk to the press. Not unless they want to chance giving up their board seat.

The one area I would disagree with John Sculley is where John says the problem with the original Mac was Moore's Law and processor was not powerful enough.  The Mac Plus which came out 2 years later had the same processor, but 1MB instead of 128K, SCSI, and dual sided floppies which gave the IO speed and capacity to do more serious work.  The processor was not the problem.  But, John may be referring to when the Mac II shipped with a 68020 is when the money really started coming in.  My time on the Mac II was some of the funnest times.

The Reality of the Data Center, Do you let the people tell the truth?

One of the things I enjoy about the data center industry is talking to smart people in the data center industry.  

So what do the smart people, the intellects do differently than others?  They know the truth.  The difficult part though is whether the organization they work in supports the telling of the truth.  It is easy for us to tell the truth over a few beers when you are amongst friends who support the sharing of ideas and discuss the reality of the data center.

In many companies the politics, the agenda from those who are in power is to stay in power and be viewed as the smart ones.  The CEO needs to look like he is the smartest one in the company. This unfortunately can discourage the telling of the truth which influences perception of leadership.  Not following the agenda can go so far as telling the truth will put you on the list to be fired, in the next round of layoffs, or just passed over for the next promotion. 

An example of the type of behavior that many executives would not tolerate is what Noam Chomsky wrote in Feb 23, 1967 "The Responsibility of the Intellectuals."  

Intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions. In the Western world, at least, they have the power that comes from political liberty, from access to information and freedom of expression. For a privileged minority, Western democracy provides the leisure, the facilities, and the training to seek the truth lying hidden behind the veil of distortion and misrepresentation, ideology and class interest, through which the events of current history are presented to us. 

Unfortunately, Noam is discussing the ideas of the Intellectuals in the Western World where freedom of speech is the rule in society, not in a corporation.  Freedom of Speech in a corporation is too often used to flush out the trouble makers, those who aren't 100% behind the executive direction, and reduce their influence on others which includes laying them off.

Here is an example of how whistleblowers in the federal gov't are classified as "non-critical sensitive" which removes their ability to appeal personnel actions.

Critics of the court decision have said it allows agencies to retaliate against whistleblowers by placing the “non-critical sensitive” label on their positions and then taking personnel actions that could not be appealed.

A Test of How Connected you are in the DC Industry, when do you find out

Mike Manos has a post on a new job opening at big tech firm.

Mike Manos ‏@mjmanos6 Sep

#DCRumors Will not name who, but a Big Tech firm just created an opening for a new Infrastructure/Ops guru. Lord knows they need a good one!

I will also not name who.

In the old days you would go where those who know hang out.

The Old London Coffee House

Opened by William Bradford in 1754, the London Coffee House was built with funds provided by more than 200 Philadelphia merchants, and it soon became their meeting place. Here merchants, ship masters and others talked business and made deals that they often sealed with nothing more than a simple handshake. The governor and other officials also frequented the coffee house, where they held court in their own private booths. City residents came to get the latest news and to buy tickets for concerts, lectures and other public events. The coffee house was also a destination for weary travelers from other colonies, and countries, and for the businessmen and curious onlookers attending the auctions held regularly outside its front doors.

Now, friends talk, share information, don't use company e-mail, don't use full names.  This isn't the type of stuff the CIA would worry to break the encrypted content.  There is common sense of what you have on company e-mail and what you don't.

For the DC industry this gossip is much more relevant than Steve Ballmer leaving Microsoft.  Why the person is leaving, who the successor will be is much more interesting to talk about.  Who would be good at the job is speculated.  What will happen?  Will the Big Tech Firm executives figure out who the best in the industry are?  As people interview more data will show up.

Many of us will be at 7x24 Exchange San Antonio in November.  

It was interesting to see how quickly the news moved, and people were contacting those who should know.

There have been other executive changes that have occurred over the past couple of months from within the Big Tech Firms it is better the media doesn't know what is going on.

BTW, #DCRumors probably won't work too well as a Twitter hashtag as there are others who are using DC to mean DC Comics. :-)

What is next for Steve Ballmer? Sports Team, An Island, Ballmerville? (humor)

There is so much news about Ballmer's retirement it is numbing.

Here is a fun discussion.  I live in Redmond, WA, so I am surrounded by Microsoft employees.  I left Microsoft 7 years ago, so I can joke about things like Microsoft. 

What will Ballmer do next with his Billions of dollars?

One of the easy ones is Ballmer will bring an NBA basketball team back to Seattle.  This follows the footsteps of Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder who owns the Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Seahawks.  

Steve Ballmer-led group to buy Sacramento Kings, bring basketball back to Seattle

Rumors are that Alan Mulally was leaving Ford to be CEO of Microsoft.  A job exchange?  Ballmer runs Ford. and Mulally runs Microsoft.

Mulally says no plans to leave Ford early

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September 6, 2013 6:10 PM

BERLIN (AP) — The chief executive of Ford Motor Co. says he has no plans to leave the company early after reports that he might be tipped to take a leading role at software maker Microsoft Corp.

Buy an Island.  Larry Ellison has already done that.

Larry Ellison's Fantasy Island

One of the world's richest people, Larry Ellison is known for his colorful exploits. Now he's tackling one of his most ambitious and expensive projects yet: rejuvenating one of Hawaii's smallest inhabited islands.

One of the funnier ones would be if Steve bought a city.  What city?  How about his hometown of Detroit.  Price is at an all time low.

Ballmer was born in Detroit, the son of Beatrice Dworkin and Frederic Henry Ballmer, a manager at the Ford Motor Company.

And Steve could rename the town Ballmerville.  All computers will run Microsoft software. Only Windows Phones will run.  It will be a utopian society for an executive with 33 years of experience at Microsoft.