Organizational Cultures that Squelch Innovation
February 11th, 2010There was a fascinating read in the New York Times last week about Microsoft’s lack of innovativeness (see Microsoft’s Creative Destruction, ht Sean). Interestingly, Dick Brass, the author of the piece, and a former Microsoft employee, does not attribute Microsoft’s technological tribulations to a lack of talent on staff or a dearth of ideas. Although there have been some high-profile exits, he argues that the pool of talent at Microsoft is on par with that of the broader tech community, and that there have been some ground-breaking technologies developed within Microsoft. The problem is that many of the innovations never see the light of day. This is because, according to Brass, Microsoft has a corporate culture that breeds internal turf battles that quash innovation.
AS they marvel at Apple’s new iPad tablet computer, the technorati seem to be focusing on where this leaves Amazon’s popular e-book business. But the much more important question is why Microsoft, America’s most famous and prosperous technology company, no longer brings us the future, whether it’s tablet computers like the iPad, e-books like Amazon’s Kindle, smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone, search engines like Google, digital music systems like iPod and iTunes or popular Web services like Facebook and Twitter.
It [Microsoft] employs thousands of the smartest, most capable engineers in the world…And yet it is failing, even as it reports record earnings.
Microsoft has become a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator. Its products are lampooned, often unfairly but sometimes with good reason.
What happened? Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for innovation. Some of my former colleagues argue that it actually developed a system to thwart innovation.
Full disclosure: I have never worked for Microsoft, so I cannot verify whether Dick’s story is reflective of Microsoft’s reality. However, this outcome is not uncommon to large, bureaucratic organizations, …especially monopolists.
Anyhow, I’ve provided the teaser. I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. Fascinating stuff!!
