Its worth reading this careful, thoughtful, amazing post, from a believing Microsoftie (his name is Robert Scoble). He took a week off and good grief!!!!

Read it very carefully, and consider this is a company driven by a fellow who was lying on the garage floor scribbling code in 1980 (Bill Gates in case you can't guess) … you are a Bank probably born 100/ 200 years earlier, so what chance do you have?

If you study the words .. Bureacracy. Politics. Committeeisms .. which Bank can lay claim to having solved that problem. Oh, and Mini-Microsoft is a well meaning employee who believes Microsoft is fat and inefficient.  Read on …..

Scobleizer – Microsoft Geek Blogger » How Microsoft can shut down Mini-Microsoft

Apologies to Martin Luther King.I have a dream. I dream of a Microsoft that no longer has anything for Mini, or his commenters to complain about. I dream of a day where every Microsoft employee feels like they are part of a mission, a positive mission for the improvement of all humankind. Where they feel like they are being compensated fairly, and if they don't feel it's fair, that they at least see what behaviors will bring better compensation. Where Microsoft customers and shareholders feel excited by our vision, marketing, and service execution again and will go on blogs and in BusinessWeek and say "they turned a corner."

See, employees tell me they hit too many policies. Bureacracy. Politics. Committeeisms. And too much centralization of power and decision making authority. They also tell me they don't feel like we're on a mission to improve the world, like Gates led in the 1980s with his cry "a computer should be on every desktop." That they don't feel pride in our advertising and marketing and naming. That they feel we aren't making the kind of "bet the company" bets that Microsoft had in the past, like when a strategic decision had been made to go with Windows over OS/2.

So, I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks. How do we tune up Microsoft's economic engine and get ready for the 2010's?

He talks of the people in High School and what they expect.

In September a new generation will enter high school. I call it the "Second Life" generation. They live in a world of always connected high-speed broadband. In a world that has computers that have more graphical power than our most powerful ones just 10 years ago. Where ubiquitous computing isn't a far-off-dream, but something pushed in their face every minute of every day as they see digital displays in classrooms, in shopping malls, in airports, and at movie theaters.They expect their cell phones to do a lot more than just phone their parents. They carry around laptops or Tablet PCs or, maybe soon, ultra mobile PCs that are hooked up through increasingly uniquitous wireless networks. I saw a guy yesterday who was building wifi networks for poor areas in Africa. By 2014 I can't imagine many places in the world without wireless access.

He talks of generational change as he watches his son, Patrick, evolve. If you are reading this, there is a fair chance (50/50) you could be a baby boomer … read this part very carefully, and consider from the others vantage point. (PS.. I am a boomer)

In September a new generation will enter high school. I call it the "Second Life" generation. They live in a world of always connected high-speed broadband. In a world that has computers that have more graphical power than our most powerful ones just 10 years ago. Where ubiquitous computing isn't a far-off-dream, but something pushed in their face every minute of every day as they see digital displays in classrooms, in shopping malls, in airports, and at movie theaters.They expect their cell phones to do a lot more than just phone their parents. They carry around laptops or Tablet PCs or, maybe soon, ultra mobile PCs that are hooked up through increasingly uniquitous wireless networks. I saw a guy yesterday who was building wifi networks for poor areas in Africa. By 2014 I can't imagine many places in the world without wireless access.

Traditional markets wonder how they can capture their share of myspace.com. Scoble says:

MySpace looks passe to this new generation.

Then having painted the generational picture, Robert rightly goes on make it specific to Microsoft. His vision which will happen by the way .. this isn't a dream, its real … will impact how people think and act, and how they bank … yes, everyone who interacts with this vision has a Bank account, so we had better be ready to fulfil our part of the vision. We are not separate, as Moby so well said.

Growing in numbers
Growing in speed
Can't fight the future
Can't fight what I see

Ok, back to reality … Roberts final point resonates with all companies and especially banks, and its all about transparency.

Force marketers to explain their decisions — in public on their blogs.

Say a marketer names something. Like, say, changes the name "Sparkle" to "Expression Interactive Designer." That person should have to explain their changes in public and sign their names to those changes. If it's a group, the group must sign their names. And must leave comments open so they can take the public scorn if names aren't good.

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