←back to thread

Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

(danluu.com)
371 points greggyb | 10 comments | 28 Oct 24 21:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.509s | source | bottom
1. lysace ◴[28 Oct 24 22:03 UTC] No.41976931[source]▶
Wow, gotta love the recent MS fanfic.

Ballmer was just an average sales jock along for the ride.

Edit: Seems like I was proven wrong. Assumptions are... assumptions :).

replies(2): >>41976996 #>>41982410 #
2. FanaHOVA ◴[28 Oct 24 22:12 UTC] No.41976996[source]▶
I don't have a strong opinion on his tenure at MSFT, but I don't know many sales jocks with a 1600 SAT score and a degree in applied math from Harvard.
replies(2): >>41977029 #>>41977043 #
3. lysace ◴[28 Oct 24 22:15 UTC] No.41977029[source]▶
Good point.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/6/4/personable-ballm...

> In high school, Ballmer scored a 1600 on his SATs and was a National Merit Scholar.

Would the Crimson verify this or just trust the claim?

replies(1): >>41977085 #
4. mixmastamyk ◴[28 Oct 24 22:16 UTC] No.41977043[source]▶
Effective sales and marketing is more dependent on math than most people realize.
replies(1): >>41977150 #
5. vlovich123 ◴[28 Oct 24 22:20 UTC] No.41977085{3}[source]▶
He's listed on their page:

https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&...

replies(1): >>41977097 #
6. lysace ◴[28 Oct 24 22:22 UTC] No.41977097{4}[source]▶
Thumbs up.
7. lysace ◴[28 Oct 24 22:27 UTC] No.41977150{3}[source]▶
...how?

I get that it correlates with intelligence, but with math, specifically?

replies(1): >>41977439 #
8. mixmastamyk ◴[28 Oct 24 22:57 UTC] No.41977439{4}[source]▶
Lots of metrics to analyze and statistics to crunch. Knowing where to focus the schmoozing is as important as the schmoozing itself.
replies(1): >>41999236 #
9. itsoktocry ◴[29 Oct 24 10:50 UTC] No.41982410[source]▶
>Ballmer was just an average sales jock along for the ride.

Classic "nerd" prejudice; Ballmer was not dumb.

replies(1): >>41988568 #
10. lysace ◴[30 Oct 24 19:32 UTC] No.41999236{5}[source]▶
:-)