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Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

(danluu.com)
371 points greggyb | 3 comments | 28 Oct 24 21:48 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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aaronbrethorst ◴[29 Oct 24 03:13 UTC] No.41979002[source]▶
I worked at Microsoft from 2003-2007, and left a couple months after the iPhone launched (for totally unrelated reasons, but I wanted to situate the timeline).

Steve was a terrible leader. He helped the company grow moribund, lazy, and self-absorbed. Stack ranking was a cancer[1]. Employees were far more interested in stabbing each other in the back than building world-class products.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/12/5094864/microsoft-kills-...

replies(1): >>41979501 #
nextworddev ◴[29 Oct 24 04:54 UTC] No.41979501[source]▶
Kind of unrelated, but stack ranking is very much back now across the board now in big tech.
replies(1): >>41979699 #
1. aaronbrethorst ◴[29 Oct 24 05:37 UTC] No.41979699[source]▶
That’s appalling.
replies(1): >>41979821 #
2. ripvanwinkle ◴[29 Oct 24 05:53 UTC] No.41979821[source]▶
Its cyclical, a lot of companies over hired and are trying hard to cut down
replies(1): >>41979834 #
3. aaronbrethorst ◴[29 Oct 24 05:55 UTC] No.41979834[source]▶
Cyclical processes and appallingness aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact they may well be related.