Former Microsoft exec says CEO Ballmer wrong man for the job
SEATTLE -- A former Microsoft executive says CEO Steve Ballmer is not the right man for the job right now.
Ballmer leads a local workforce of nearly 41,000 -- and more than twice that worldwide -- and his leadership directly effects the local economy.
But former executive Joachim Kempin said the company has gone astray and needs to get back to its roots.
"It's no longer a nimble company," he said.
When Kempin started at Microsoft there were just 400 employees. When he left that number had skyrocketed to 50,000.
As senior vice president in charge of sales to PC makers, Kempin saw a lot and made a lot of money.
But now, 11 years after he left, Kempin has written a rare tell-all book about the senior levels of Microsoft and the mistakes he believes they've made.
For one thing, Kempin doesn't think the Xbox gaming console is worthwhile to the company.
"I think it's a mistake," he said.
He believes Bill Gates had the right attitude about getting things done, but also said the current company is faltering.
"There's no real technical leader inside the company," he said. "That's a real issue that they have."
He puts much of the blame on his former co-worker, Steve Ballmer.
Asked if he thinks Ballmer is the right man for the job, Kempin said, "I think he's a great COO. as CEO I think he needs to have more of a technical vision."
Ballmer has been under fire from Wall Street for Microsoft's flat stock performance, but the company still makes billions in profits from its core software, such as Windows and Office.
Ballmer and Microsoft are betting big that the Xbox and its a new Surface tablet will be profit centers. But German-born Kemplin, who knows the PC market extremely well, said it's a bad bet.
"Hardware margins are extremely thin compared to software margins," he said.
He believes Microsoft needs to stick to making good software not just for Windows, but for all platforms, including social media.
"When it comes to social media in particular, Microsoft is nowhere," he said.
Kempin said when Gates was CEO, employees were allowed more freedom to innovate. Under Ballmer, he said that's not the case.
"Steve likes to control you more, and that was a huge difference, at least for me and other people," he said.
He said Ballmer stymied innovation, rather than fostering it.
"Sometimes he comes into a conference room with a baseball bat, right. I can take that, but some people can't," he said.
Kempin's critics say he's more than a decade removed from Microsoft and doesn't know the current inner workings. Still, he continues to be a company booster. He said he just wants to revive that start-up spirit he experienced when was there.
Microsoft declined to comment on Kempin's remarks and his book, called "Resolve and Fortitude."
Ballmer leads a local workforce of nearly 41,000 -- and more than twice that worldwide -- and his leadership directly effects the local economy.
But former executive Joachim Kempin said the company has gone astray and needs to get back to its roots.
"It's no longer a nimble company," he said.
When Kempin started at Microsoft there were just 400 employees. When he left that number had skyrocketed to 50,000.
As senior vice president in charge of sales to PC makers, Kempin saw a lot and made a lot of money.
But now, 11 years after he left, Kempin has written a rare tell-all book about the senior levels of Microsoft and the mistakes he believes they've made.
For one thing, Kempin doesn't think the Xbox gaming console is worthwhile to the company.
"I think it's a mistake," he said.
He believes Bill Gates had the right attitude about getting things done, but also said the current company is faltering.
"There's no real technical leader inside the company," he said. "That's a real issue that they have."
He puts much of the blame on his former co-worker, Steve Ballmer.
Asked if he thinks Ballmer is the right man for the job, Kempin said, "I think he's a great COO. as CEO I think he needs to have more of a technical vision."
Ballmer has been under fire from Wall Street for Microsoft's flat stock performance, but the company still makes billions in profits from its core software, such as Windows and Office.
Ballmer and Microsoft are betting big that the Xbox and its a new Surface tablet will be profit centers. But German-born Kemplin, who knows the PC market extremely well, said it's a bad bet.
"Hardware margins are extremely thin compared to software margins," he said.
He believes Microsoft needs to stick to making good software not just for Windows, but for all platforms, including social media.
"When it comes to social media in particular, Microsoft is nowhere," he said.
Kempin said when Gates was CEO, employees were allowed more freedom to innovate. Under Ballmer, he said that's not the case.
"Steve likes to control you more, and that was a huge difference, at least for me and other people," he said.
He said Ballmer stymied innovation, rather than fostering it.
"Sometimes he comes into a conference room with a baseball bat, right. I can take that, but some people can't," he said.
Kempin's critics say he's more than a decade removed from Microsoft and doesn't know the current inner workings. Still, he continues to be a company booster. He said he just wants to revive that start-up spirit he experienced when was there.
Microsoft declined to comment on Kempin's remarks and his book, called "Resolve and Fortitude."
One would think that Balmer would be gone by now but... He must have something on somebody to still be CEO with MS current track record.
Matt, your second sentence should be "affect" not "effect."Â Â
I agree, I do not see any technical vision coming out of Ballmer. Since he has been in charge, Microsoft is a follower instead of a leader. I figured it out and I am really not that technical.
"Â A former Microsoft executive says CEO Steve Ballmer is not the right man for the job right night."
Maybe Ballmer would be better at his job if he did it during the day!
KOMO is loosing it.
@JCCBlvu  Losing it not "Loosing it"
Total pet peeve of mine..... :/
@Eastsider Yeah I caught that too..... but "my edit time" had been exhausted
Asian companies take American technology, then copies it and makes it even better and cheaper; Microsoft tries to do the same but is horrible at it.
This is old news, but with new misspellings.
Quick you have 4 minutes to edit..... oooops its been 8 hours now..
"A former Microsoft executive says CEO Steve Ballmer is not the right man for the job right night".
  Komo............... Can you at least get the first line of the story edited correct.  Geesh!
@Seahawker that would be "edited correctly".Â
This is old news...how many years did it take him to figure that out?!?!
One needs to know little about MS to know they tread water in the innovation department. They re-badge Windows every couple of years with no new features or functionality, just tweak the desktop interface and hide the old menus enough to frustrate grandma for a few weeks until she learns "the new Windows". Zune, Surface and whatever dysfunctionional bastardization of Apple's successful product is currently being developed on the Redmond campus. FLAT stock price for years. They don't need a tech expert to lead that company, they need someone with common sense to give thumbs up or down to whatever is currently in development. My dog could've saved them a lot of time and embarrassment by preventing the launches of Zune & Surface.
@HawkEye Zune is a bad example to use here. A lot of people actually liked their Zunes better than their iPods, but because it didn't have an Apple logo on it a lot of people seem to assume that it just automatically sucks.
@Vexorg @HawkEye: Zune is an excellent example. Remember the "Plays for Sure" fiasco? Microsoft promised all its partners that if they signed onto Microsoft's plan, they would have Microsoft's support. Then, MS brought out the Zune and dumped Plays for Sure leaving the partners out in the cold.
And the Zune... it was brown. BROWN for God's sake! And it had a fake click wheel. I'm sure some people thought it was great, but the reality is that it was a poor product. Apple's product was beautiful. Microsoft's was brown. The Zune software was ok, but it wasn't any better than the iPods (and many would argue that it wasn't as good).
And while I'm at it, I'll mention the xBox. I love my 360. But getting into the consul wars was a bad idea. Even after all these years, the xBox program still hasn't paid for itself.
Who cares? We all have bosses who we feel are not "right for the job". Don't see their names listed here.
Blamer walks into a meeting carrying a baseball bat? Oh that really encourages free discussion and exchange of ideas. Microsoft is nothing more than a copycat company. Following in the footsteps of the true innovators, one step behind. We dumped our MS stock a long time ago. Never regretted it. Blamer has got to go, but the Board has no balls. Gates needs to come back for a couple years, like Apple's Steve Jobs.
@Hagar I guess I need to sell mine too. But the dividend is nice. The big growth story has long been over however. Stock price is stuck in rut.