Outside Innovation

Microsoft’s Next CEO?

It came as no surprise that Steve Ballmer is “retiring” as CEO of Microsoft. The board had no choice but to show him the door. Microsoft’s performance has been terrible. The company has consistently missed capitalizing on all the major technology waves since the PC OS, with the exception of gaming. Even worse: Under Ballmer’s watch Microsoft has lost the trust and loyalty of enterprise and business customers as well as consumers. Putting Steven Elop in charge of Microsoft would be a big mistake, although it’s a temptation, since the company’s current challenge is gaining share on mobile devices. Attracting a strong female tech CEO might garner some PR, and it might counter Ballmer’s testosterone-driven “crush the enemy” ethos. But it’s not going to revitalize Microsoft’s culture. There’s only one person who can restore Microsoft and set the company back on the right path. And that’s obvious: Bill Gates. Let’s hope that BillG is ready to come back to rebuild the culture, win back customers’ trust, and come up with mobile networked solutions that customers (business and consumers) actually want to make part of their lives.

How Not to Run a Customer Advisory Group

I am currently the member of a community advisory group put together by our local hospital management. The purpose of the group is to provide input into the “transition” from being a full-service hospital to being a walk-in urgent care center and physical and occupational therapy center. This group is a perfect example of how NOT to do a customer advisory group. Here are all the things they are doing wrong. Use this as a checklist to make sure you are not falling into the same traps:

CAB Don't's:

Don't form an advisory group to provide advice AFTER you’ve already made up your mind on what service/product changes you’re making. Instead, form the group 12 months before you plan to introduce service and product changes. 

Bezos Buys Washington Post

When I read that Jeff Bezos had bought the venerable Washington Post newspaper from the Graham family in the same week that John Henry, owner of the Red Sox, bought the Boston Globe, it definitely got my attention.

© 2013: The Washington Post

I could (and probably should) write about how Bezos’ instincts for interactive marketing and content delivery will help the Post continue its evolution into the digital age. But I won’t. What interests me more about this particular acquisition is the possibility of Bezos taking on our broken political processes by owning the ink in D.C. If Jeff Bezos had bought a newspaper in Seattle, I would have considered it the act of a patron of journalism. But I’m hoping that there’s more to it than that.

Yeah! Red Sox Owner, John Henry, Just Bought the Boston Globe!

When I wrote about the Globe's amazing coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, I was really impressed with the reporting, but also with the editorial team's use of social media to help them in their round the clock coverage. The Globe used social media to correct misinformation, to gather tips from citizen journalists, and to communicate in real time with the millions of concerned people around the globe. See: Boston Globe Masters Social Media in a Crisis.

At that time, the newspaper was for sale, and had been for some times. The New York Times had bought the Globe from the family who had owned it for a long time. But the Times wasn't willing or able to invest to keep this amazing and innovative team going.

One of the things that the Globe has going for it--more than many other papers--is the fanaticism of its local sports fans -- as well as those of us who no longer live in Boston, but are scattered all over the Globe.

After writing that case study, I started thinking about the best buyers for the Boston Globe. In my blog post, "Who Should Buy the Boston Globe?", all of my top candidates were local and passionate about Boston culture and would be equally passionate about preserving and amplifying the quality of the Globe's journalism. John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, was one of my top choices back in April. I'm SO glad that he stepped up to the plate. I believe this is both an emotional and a sound economic investment.

Today's metropolitan newspapers have a real challenge in finding a business model that keeps them profitable. But the Globe's current editorial team and local managers have shown themselves to be truly innovative, scrappy, and hard-working. They are an amazing team. And now they'll be run by an executive team that knows how to nurture talent.

Did We Give Consent for Government Surveillance?

We Are All Under Surveillance

Edward Snowden has slipped out of the Moscow airport to a hide-away somewhere in Russia. I wish him well. I also hope he can remain safe from assassins and would-be persecutors and extraditors.

Edward Snowden is a hero to me. He is a young man who has given up his freedoms and his home, family, and country in order to alert us to the fact that our government has unleashed warrantless electronic surveillance on all of our electronic communications. This is not trivial. We can’t just fix a few lines of code or pass a new law. That’s why Ed Snowden made the sacrifice he did. There are trillions of terabytes of your information and mine that are already captured, analyzed and stored away for future use (or abuse).

Snowden has passed the baton to Glenn Greenwald, a young American columnist at the Guardian, who is carefully disseminating the information that Snowden entrusted to him. Greenwald was scheduled to testify in Washington D.C. yesterday, on July 31st 2013, via Skype. But President Obama was afraid of what would happen, so he called a conflicting meeting for all Democrats. At the same time, James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, provided newly declassified documents to selected members of Congress to rebut the Snowden/Greenwald assertions. But, not appeased, Obama called a special meeting in the Oval Office with Democratic and Republican leaders and Intelligence officials. The problem is that the party leaders are beholden to their corporate paymasters—the many corporations who profit from the huge multi-billion dollar surveillance industry.

Here’s my take on what Snowden’s leaks actually mean to us:

Have We Consented to Government Surveillance?
Do Citizens, Residents, and People in Other Countries Have a Right to Privacy in the Digital Age?