Microsoft – The Inside Story
Some may recall my unfortunate experience with someone representing the Microsoft brand at Open Gov West. Well today, my perspective of this company has changed. Here’s why. I was contacted by John Weigelt, National Technology Officer (NTO) for Microsoft Canada and we had a very pleasant phone conversation and yes we did briefly talk about the Open Gov West incident, as well as, my subsequent blog posts. What better way to learn more about what Microsoft is really doing than from a top inside source? That was my thought in Seattle, and that didn’t turn out so well. This second opportunity, a vastly different experience altogether. Apparently, John had heard from a trusted source in the Canadian Federal Government about some of our work in the Open Government space and wanted to discuss some things related to an upcoming event he was organizing in Ottawa – Canada Gov Camp. The conversation progressed to a point where I thought it was relevant and appropriate to request an interview for Escape Velocity, my book on Open Government to which John graciously agreed. Coincidently as it turns out, he was presenting at Technocon here in Edmonton so we had a ready-made opportunity for an in-person interview.
What I learned today about Microsoft is fascinating and most certainly refreshing. The general public, including myself (until today) has little to no idea what Microsoft is “really” up to with respect to Open and the rest of their business. I now at least have had a glimpse. Others only have what I would consider to be a stale perception of the brand to some degree, and I was one of those masses. In that context, today was a definite eye-opener on many levels and John admits there’s still much work to do to combat the brand perception issue. I can’t speak for all of the approximately 90,000 Microsoft employees around the world, but if they’re anything like John Weigelt, this company and their many initiatives around the world are in really good hands. Also, I feel no remorse here in saying that you’ll have to wait for my book to get the full story that came out over lunch at Original Joe’s Varsity today. However, I’d like to share one strong Microsoft brand related sentiment here and now.
I left today’s interesting discussion with John thinking, “this is not the same company Bill Gates ran day-to-day when a company I was a part of was a development partner way back when.” That’s neither good nor bad, just different. Evidence of this was present as I opened up my Macbook, put my iPhone down beside it and pulled out my iPad for good measure just for a reaction. John said jokingly with a smile, “don’t worry my wife has the larger one (Macbook) and I’m not allowed to touch it.” John certainly didn’t jump up and down in his chair when I pulled out all that Apple hardware, and that’s all I’ll say about that. From what I heard today, this is also not a company that would be caught up in another anti-trust lawsuit because it’s bent on forcing decisions on the marketplace. Especially in the context of the corporate culture. John allowed me to peer into this culture through his passionate examples, and it’s fascinating stuff. Maybe it’s the flavour of the Kool-Aid? I’m not sure, but something has certainly changed at Microsoft, and in my estimation, for the better. John bestowed on me, several examples of how through his work and that of his 29 other NTO colleagues around the world, are working to enable digital economies, strengthen online and offline communities by helping people, businesses, governments and their agencies export their strengths in ways that may not otherwise transpire. That’s not to say that an “Open Microsoft” is void of internal or external competitiveness brought on by as John describes it, an enterprise-wide “entrepreneurial culture,” because that drive and determination certainly still exists. There resides the big difference between Open government, “a model evolving from what is (in the case of Canada) well over a 140 years of “structure and process” which we both agree has yet to be truly defined and a more transparent and collaborative way of doing business.
So how do you describe this Open Microsoft? John explains today’s Microsoft not as a “tanker” as I first suggested, but rather as a “flotilla” of various sized ships and speed boats representing various products and services which look to collaborate not only internally as a team but externally with communities, organizations and businesses of all types and sizes. There is flexibility within the larger organization that we don’t always see and there in-lies part of the branding challenge.
Challenges like the one I asked John to describe related to the Microsoft brand. That related “perception” baggage that tags along with them as they enter conference rooms. Rooms or in one case, airport security, like the time John laid his Windows 7 bag down to be checked by security only to hear the sneering comment, “Windows 7 huh? You’ve got to be kidding me, what do you work for Microsoft or something?” Little did that airport security agent know that they were talking to someone who works to bridge global and digital communities, businesses and opportunities EVEN IF there isn’t Microsoft products and services as part of the package.
“Open” really is permeating throughout Microsoft on several levels according to John, and that my friends is very good for all of us, yes, even Mac users. A lesson I think Steve Jobs, Apple and Adobe need to pay attention to and learn from as well.
Do you have a Microsoft story you’d like to share? Feel free, John says that it’s important that Microsoft reach out to hold conversations about the brand and this is clear evidence of that. Oh and something else John pointed out to me today, you know they’re serious about conversations because according to a recent survey, Microsoft employees are the most social media savvy in the world. Hmm, imagine that.
