Microsoft’s Future Is Dual?

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I won’t even try to sum up this great article on why Microsoft is in trouble.  Go read it yourself.

Anyway this article got me thinking on Microsoft’s strange mixture of effectiveness (the XBox) and meandering (where IS Office for iPad?).  The more I analyzed it, the more I came to an interesting conclusion: Microsoft’s best future is two futures.

First, Microsoft has the XBox, which is, frankly, a great machine.  It’s my current gaming console and it’s a solid product that really delivers.  Microsoft HAS won in console entertainment.  They should focus on entertainment.

They also make a bunch of money via Microsoft Office, if only due to sheer legacy usage.  They could leverage that as well.  They could focus on office products (and say what you will, but I think Excel is one of their triumphs).

I’m thinking Microsoft’s future is split straight down the middle.  They’re the serious office software people, AND the entertainment people.  Perhaps that’s why Microsoft does strange things or gets entangled in odd ventures, perhaps that’s why acquisitions aren’t always leveraged – Microsoft hasn’t acknowledged that it has two futures in one.

Plus, let me add if they do straighten this out, they’ll be a hell of a powerhouse.  For that matter, imagine an XBox with productivity tool options . . .

– Steven Savage

Cuts In London Banking Jobs

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OK, it’s not exactly geeky on the surface, but man are there some cuts coming in the banking jobs in London.

I bring this up for a few reasons:

  • Holy cr@p that’s a lot of jobs.
  • It’s a reminder banking cuts aren’t just in New York.
  • It’s a reminder the UK is not as isolated as we often treat it.
  • It’s a reminder financial problems are not just, well . . . Greece.

– Steven Savage

How Your Safe Career Isn’t Sustainable

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A good career is one that’s sustainable.  It can take hits and return, it continuously evolves to more stability, and of course keeps paying the bills.  It’s like a sustainable agricultural practice, or use of raw materials, or what have you.

The thing is we mix it up with “playing it safe.”  There’s a big difference between a stable career and playing it safe.

Playing it safe is about doing things the same old way you did them because innovation seems threatening.

Playing it safe is about holding on to things no matter what – even if you don’t need them.

Playing it safe is about not taking chances even when taking chances is what’s needed.

Playing it safe is about not changing your goals even when they no longer form an overall, sustainable, picture.

Playing it safe . . . is usually stagnation.  Stagnation doesn’t last, just the same way stagnant water gets rather disgusting.  You career ends up all green and sludgy and attracts mosquitos.

OK, I sort of lost the metaphor there.

Anyway, when you’re playing it safe in your career, there’s no guarantee it’s sustainable – and quite likely it’s not.  You need to think of what you have to do, what you have to learn, to make sure the good state of affairs continues and improves.  The same old same old won’t cut it.

Your Next Step?  Look at your career and ask how sustainable it is, and what you have to do to improve that state – even if it scares you.

– Steven Savage