[52.0] microsoft minds

homosocial exec relationships

Ok something of a lighter post/more of an annotated reading/palate cleanser this time around because, admittedly, I’ve been spending a lot of time swimming in lakes and making up for atrocious Vitamin D deficiencies (thank you Pacific Northwest!) through thoughtless screen-free time outdoors. 

But this is so important; here’s former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer selling Windows 1.0:

https://twitter.com/LibertyRPF/status/1668214987007852544

The video, for me, fulfills every one of the tiers on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and more. The chaos! The outfit! The Miami Vice reference! The ambiguous Nebraska shoutout! 

Ballmer’s quite the kooky character and reminds me of the Pixar behind-the-scenes videos I’d watch in the special features part of the Lilo & Stitch DVD. So I decided to do a little digging into this man and his pseudo-sermonistic proclivities. 

The Washington Post has this fascinating profile of Ballmer and his more famous (but only slightly richer) colleague, William “Bill” Gates. The article itself is a fascinating time capsule for early aughts tech journalism, replete with “new economy” jargon and other laudatory linguistics. But I loved reading these snippets in sequence the most: 

By now, Gates has achieved the stature of an icon, both for computing generally and Microsoft specifically. But throughout his life he has always picked out an alter ego, someone who could nourish less-developed sides of himself while matching his brainpower and zeal. He and Ballmer have been friends since they were Harvard dormmates 26 years ago. Since Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980, the two men have come to function almost as a single executive…

As Gates and Ballmer grew to adulthood, they passed through a new-economy version of an old boys' network. At the exclusive Lakeside School in Seattle in the late 1960s, Gates met not only his best friend, Kent Evans, but also his Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. Gates met Ballmer at Harvard, which they attended with future computing leaders Scott McNealy and Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems…

In building Microsoft, however, Gates and Ballmer became a network unto themselves. They are stylistic opposites, both open to caricature: Gates has the nasal voice and pasty complexion of the petulant nerd. Ballmer, 6 feet 1, 225 pounds, bald and loud—his vocal cords once required surgical repair from excessive shouting—is the corporate evangelist.

A fascinating and arguably Freudian dive into how two bluechip leaders became the people they are today. For one, a dependent attachment style, according to a former Microsoft exec, with Gates entering “mind-meld” relationships with trusted colleagues. (Feels very Elon brain implant-y.) 

Then also just plainly stated low-hanging fruit: 

"There are three monopolies in high tech—Cisco, Intel and Microsoft—and only one has an antitrust problem," [a tech-founder friend] says. "They have failed to internalize that they're the world's most valuable company." Gates and Ballmer "are like huge teenage boys who don't know how big they've gotten, and they keep knocking things over."

Ok so petulance is endemic! (And this: “Both got perfect scores on their math SATs and shared an interest in Napoleon.” Ok sounds like rabid billionaire ambition marches on its stomach!)

Fascinating to think about the raw power of nepotism here! As well as the sheer number of brilliant ideas that won’t come to fruition because the bajillion dollars shared between these two men create an informational “mind-meld” oligopoly where their way goes. Idk, makes me think more about how physical products would be better if tech workers had unions and healthier workplaces. Even a co-op or two could be nice and ~*innovative*~.

Divine Innovation is a somewhat cheeky newsletter on spirituality and technology. Published once every three weeks, it’s written by Adam Willems and edited by Vanessa Rae Haughton. Find the full archive here.