Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addresses Trump immigration order in employee Q&A

 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has already weighed in on Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on refugees in a LinkedIn post, but now the company has made public additional thoughts on the subject from its top executive. On its official corporate blog, Microsoft shared an answer provided by Nadella during a corporate Q&A regarding the order and Microsoft’s stance on the… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/31/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-addresses-trump-immigration-order-in-employee-qa/?ncid=rss

Missed it by that much

I got to the gate just as they closed the door and the plane began to back away.

It was thirty years ago, but I still remember how it felt. I think we’re hard-wired to fear these painful moments of missing out.

Deadlines don’t cause death if missed, but sometimes we persuade ourselves that it’s almost as bad. As a result, marketers and others that want us to take action invent cliffs, slamming doors and loud buzzers.

We put a rope at door, a timer on the clock and focus on scarcity and the fear of missing out. And as a result, consumers and students and co-workers wait for the signals, prioritizing their lives around the next urgency.

When everything is focused on the deadline, there’s little time to work on the things that are actually important.

When we build our lives around ‘what’s due’ we sacrifice our agency to the priorities and urgencies of everyone else.

More important is the bigger issue: Time is running out.

For all the things you might want to experience, not merely the ones that are about to leave the gate.

Time is running out for you to level up or connect or to be generous to someone who really needs you.

Time is running out for you to become the person you've decided to be, to make the difference you seek to make, to produce the work you know you're capable of.

Set your own buzzer.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/265277388/0/sethsblog~Missed-it-by-that-much.html

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says Trump’s immigration order “is one we do not support”

 Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has come out strongly against the executive order issued by Donald Trump regarding immigration and blocking certain refugees from entering the U.S. Amazon had previously expressed support for employees affected by the order in an email from HR VP Beth Galetti, but the new message from Bezos expresses opposition to the executive order in general, and also details steps… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/30/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-says-trumps-immigration-order-is-one-we-do-not-support/?ncid=rss

Amazon and Expedia to support Washington state lawsuit on Trump immigration order

 Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Monday that he’s filing suit in federal court against Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and select senior Trump administration officials, seeking a declaration that key portions of Trump’s Executive Order on immigration be declared unconstitutional.  Alongside the lawsuit, Washington-based tech companies Amazon and… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/30/amazon-and-expedia-to-support-washington-state-lawsuit-on-trump-immigration-order/?ncid=rss

Make believe problems

We focus on them and elevate them on our priority list.

Sometimes, we invent a fake problem and give it great import and urgency as a way to take our focus and fear away from the thing that's actually a threat. These fake problems have no apparent solution, but at least they give us something to fret over, a way to distract ourselves and the people around us.

And sometimes, we pick a fake problem that has a convenient and easy fake solution. Because, the thinking goes, we're taking action, so things must be getting better.

Short order cooks rarely make change happen. And denying reality doesn't make it go away.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/264858632/0/sethsblog~Make-believe-problems.html

Friction and traction

It's fashionable for designers and marketers to want to reduce friction in the way they engage with users.

And sometimes, that's smart. If someone knows what they want, get out of their way and help them get it. One-click, done.

But often, what we want is traction. The traction to find our footing, shift our posture, make a new decision. The traction to actually influence what happens next, not merely slip our way toward a goal of someone else's choosing.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/264480278/0/sethsblog~Friction-and-traction.html

Top Microsoft execs weigh in on Trump’s immigration ban

 Slowly but surely, the tech world is reacting to a sweeping executive order signed by Trump on Friday that closes the United States’ borders to refugees and citizens from a number of countries. Some have shared personal stories or reflected on the ways in which such policy will negatively impact the Silicon Valley, where so much of the work force has immigrated from around the… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/28/microsoft-immigration-ban/?ncid=rss

Microsoft offering legal help to employees affected by Trump immigration order

At first, President Trump’s immigration order looked like it would mostly affect refugees from seven majority Muslim nations (which itself is shameful). The order is so sweeping, however, that it also includes any green card and visa holders from these countries. So if you were a citizen of these countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan. Libya, Yemen and Somalia) and had the bad luck of… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/28/tech-companies-react-to-immigration-ban/?ncid=rss

Just the right amount of data

The digital sign at the train station near my home could show me what time it is.

It could tell us how many more minutes until the next train.

Or it could announce if the train was running on time...

Instead, it shows me today's date.

What am I supposed to do with that data?

Or consider the typical hotel bathroom scale. Accurate to plus or minus five pounds, it's worthless, because it doesn't help the user know how much weight has been gained (or lost).

In this case, the absolute number doesn't matter, it's the trend over time.

Information is data with a purpose and a context.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/264120970/0/sethsblog~Just-the-right-amount-of-data.html

Shared reality, diverse opinions

We're not having a lot of trouble with the "diverse opinions" part.

But they're worthless without shared reality.

At a chess tournament, when the newcomer tries to move his rook diagonally, it's not permitted. "Hey, that's just your opinion," is not a useful response. Because, after all, chess is defined by the rules of the game. If you want to play a different game, begin by getting people to agree to the new rules.

In physics, it doesn't matter how much you want a ping pong ball to accelerate faster, your opinion isn't going to change what happens.

It's tempting to race right into our plans to solve a problem, but too often, we wrap our version of reality tightly into that proposed solution, without thoughtfully getting buy in on the reality before launching into the solution we're so eager to describe.

Shared reality is the foundation on which we can build trust, make promises and engage in a useful discussion on how to achieve our goals.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/263671812/0/sethsblog~Shared-reality-diverse-opinions.html

Microsoft Q2 earnings edge higher on Office and cloud services growth

 Microsoft reported financials for its fiscal second quarter today, posting earnings of $0.83 per share on $26.1 billion in revenue. That compares with Wall Street’s forecast of $0.79 per share on revenue of $25.3 billion for the quarter, and earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $25.7 billion a year ago. Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/26/microsoft-q2-2017-earnings/?ncid=rss

Watch Microsoft Accelerator London’s Demo Day Here

 TechCrunch is pleased to offer Microsoft Accelerator’s London Demo Day today at 4:00 p.m. GMT, 8:00 a.m. PST. The Microsoft Accelerator is a six-month program aimed at helping entrepreneurs scale to global markets. There are seven accelerators located around the world, from Seattle to Beijing, from London to Tel-Aviv. The Microsoft Accelerator in London has a diverse mix of… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/26/watch-microsoft-accelerator-londons-demo-day-here/?ncid=rss

Appropriate complexity and risk

The best time to experiment in the kitchen is if you don't have 11 guests coming for dinner in three hours.

Or, at the very least, be sure to have some decent frozen pizzas on hand, just in case.

We often sign ourselves up for long, involved entanglements, and a good thing, too, because they can enable us to produce real value.

But our promises matter, and there's no need to raise the stakes at the same time that we're figuring things out. 

Professionals leave themselves an out.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/263271722/0/sethsblog~Appropriate-complexity-and-risk.html

Crunch Report | AppDynamics Acquired for $3.7 Billion

Cisco acquires AppDynamics for $3.7 billion, Facebook launches a Snapchat story clone in its app in Ireland, Amazon owns more of its shipping logistics, Apple isnt giving up on India, and Apple hires Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy. All this on Crunch Report. Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/crunch-report/?ncid=rss

Microsoft is killing Xbox One’s Snap mode

 I always really, really liked the idea of “Snap Mode” on Xbox One. Alas, the feature’s real world execution kinda sucked. It was slow and kludgy to the point that third party apps like Netflix ditched it a few months after launch. Now Microsoft is nixing Snap Mode outright — but will it get a replacement? Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/microsoft-is-killing-xbox-ones-snap-mode/?ncid=rss

Amazon adds ocean freight to the pieces of the shipping puzzle it controls

 Amazon has begun shipping products from Chinese merchant partners to its U.S. warehouses via ocean freighters, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is something it used to outsource exclusively, and another piece of the overall shipping and logistics picture that it’s now controlling directly, at least in part. Amazon doesn’t own ships, or employ crews, but it now acts as a… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/amazon-adds-ocean-freight-to-the-pieces-of-the-shipping-puzzle-it-controls/?ncid=rss

A tale of two employees Eric D. Brown

I was recently talking to a CIO friend of mine.  She has a really good team of people working for her and has recently gone through a hiring spell where she has six new-ish employees on her staff. All six have been at the company from anywhere between 1 month to 7 months.

While talking to this CIO, she was relating some stories of a few of these employees. She was telling me of a recent experience that has her rethinking the employment of one of these new people.

The first of these we’ll call Joe for discussion purposes. Joe’s resume is spectacular (I’ve seen it) and his experience over his career seem to be perfect for someone on the ‘fast track’ to move up through a company.  Additionally, the recommendations from previous employers are some of the best that I’ve seen.   He’s a rockstar on paper.

The CIO also told me of another employee. We’ll call him Bill for ease of discussion.  On paper, Bill is an average employee. His resume looks good and his experience over his career shows an employee who goes to work and does his job and goes home. There’s nothing that screams “high achiever” with Bill, but he’s a good employee. An average employee, but a good one.

Apparently, things came to a head over a recent holiday.  As is usual, during this holiday, there were some folks from the IT operations group on call in case something happened at the office.  That’s the life of IT operations.

During this holiday, one of the people on call got an alert about one of their systems. She dutifully logged into the VPN and started reading the logs.  Apparently, the problem was one that required a broader call-out of other team members to resolve, so she sent out there messages to the other on-call team members to start fixing this issue. Neither Joe nor Bill was as part of the on-call team members.

As the team began working through the issue, they realized that they would need to bring someone in from the development team brought to make sure some of the configuration changes they were making wouldn’t affect some of the software platforms. They reached out to the head of development and asked him who they should reach out to.

The director of development reached out to both Bill and Joe via text message to ask for some help. Within a few minutes, he had received responses from both employees. I’ve paraphrased them below.

From Bill:

Happy to help. Should I come into the office? Tell me who to reach out to.

From Joe:

Its a holiday. Why are you asking me work?

Here we have “Joe the Rockstar” unwilling to put in a little extra time and effort and “Bill the Average” willing to do what he needs to do to get the job done.

Which of these employees has my CIO friend rethinking their employment?  A ‘rockstar’ on paper means little of that person isn’t able or willing to get the job done.

 

from Eric D. Brown http://ericbrown.com/a-tale-of-two-employees.htm
http://ericbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/08-31-2015_Tale-of-Two-Employees-249x300.jpg

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is joining the Starbucks board

 Satya Nadella is set to join the board of Starbucks. The Microsoft CEO was announced as one of a trio of nominees who, if approved by shareholders, will increase the size of the coffee brand’s board to 14 people. Starbucks said Nadella was put forward for his “invaluable insight in international operations and distribution” and, of course, his potential to strengthen… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/satya-nadella-starbucks/?ncid=rss

Microsoft partners with Trimble, University of Cambridge to make HoloLens a better tool for the construction industry

 Microsoft has long positioned its HoloLens augmented reality (AR) helmet as a tool for the enterprise. One of the verticals the company has been especially interested in is construction and late last year, Trimble’s $1,499 SketchUp Viewer became the first commercial HoloLens application for the construction industry in the Windows Store. Since then, Microsoft has partnered with Trimble… Read More

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/microsoft-partners-with-trimble-university-of-cambridge-to-make-its-hololens-a-better-tool-for-the-construction-industry/?ncid=rss

A listening device

Jacqueline Novogratz points out that the market can be an efficient listening device. If you go to a person and offer charity or even a gift, there's not a lot of choice. But if you offer to sell someone something, you'll hear very clearly what's wrong with it, whether it's worth it, and how it can be improved. The transaction engages both sides in a discussion, and sometimes, the market causes the supplier to listen. Co-creation over time transforms problems into opportunities.

In fact, this is the single best explanation for why markets work. Voluntary engagement and the exchange of resources can solve many problems, particularly if coercion is avoided.

As soon as an organization achieves significant market power, though, it's tempting for it to not listen any longer. Coercion and market power feel more efficient than engaging and leading. Apple stopped listening to its biggest fans and focuses on the stock price instead. Companies with near monopolies (like telecommunications, Google, Fedex, etc.) begin to lose the listening skills they'd developed and instead respond by expressing their power. Extraction companies focus on lobbying instead of innovating.

This willful ignorance and lack of engagement can last a long time, but it never lasts forever. Someone who listens better eventually shows up and changes the game.

If you hold the small end of a megaphone up to your ear, it acts as an amplifier, helping you listen more carefully.

And if you want to be heard, you can turn it around and share your ideas. Persistently, consistently and often.

The best way to complain is to make something.  The second best way is to say something.  And if you can organize others to say it with you, even better.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/262798964/0/sethsblog~A-listening-device.html