Playing to "not lose"
I've said it before: I bet working for Microsoft is kind of like playing for the New York Yankees. Rich history, a rock star team, and an incredibly unrealistic expectation for your team to win every single game every year... usually against upstart teams who may not score quite as many runs as you do.
But there's a difference between those teams (the Angels, White Sox, Marlins, and others) and the Yankees. These guys are organizing and playing to win while the Yankees seem to be more interested in "not losing" nowadays. Maybe it's because the pressure to win is so intense or because they have too much at stake (payroll, tradition, etc.) Whatever it is, it seems like the Yankees take far fewer risks.
My point? Microsoft's corporate culture needs to change if we want to be back on top. Playing to "not lose" is not how you win championships. If the other team is beating you with the long ball, you need to learn how to adapt and play small ball. I've been in far too many meetings lately where people focus far too much on "not losing". You win by listening to your customers and doing everything you can to delight them regardless of what the other guys are doing. Take risks and leave your heart out on the field; win or lose. Pretend the other guys didn't exist, what would you be doing then?
While locking in on competition is as much a part of Microsoft's culture as "eating your own dogfood", I'm personally not here because I want to "beat" Google... or MySpace... or Yahoo... or Apple at their game. I'm here because I want to continually change the game we're playing. When you focus too hard on what's happening today, you miss all the goodness that may come tomorrow. What would the iPod look like today if Apple focused on the competition?
Statements like "Company XYZ does it so we should do it too" or "Company XYZ isn't doing it, so why should we?" simply don't fly with me. Sometimes I find myself falling into that trap (strong culture tends to do that) and I hate it.
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