There was no missing the unveiling of Apple's iPhone last week. It electrified the media and had the audience at Macworld whooping. Almost eclipsing the phone itself was Steve Jobs, and his vision for applying ease-of-use and aesthetic design principles to every device his company produces.
A cult of personality was not evident in the presentation by Bill Gates in the same week at the Consumer Electronics Show, however, and the media reaction to Microsoft’s flagship announcement,
Microsoft’s new operating system has generated interest, but not enthusiasm. While there are passionate exchanges among a certain set whenever Microsoft does anything, the mainstream emotion has been one of resignation about the software giant’s ability to brute force its OS into the market.
The contrasting appearances by two giants of the technology world provides an excellent opportunity to think about the role that vision plays in a company’s strategy, and a leader’s responsibility to establish and maintain that vision.
The Globe & Mail’s Simon Avery picked up on this opportunity to offer a useful discussion on the styles of Jobs and Gates. In the article, he quotes Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc., a research firm in
Where Jobs sets a strategy based on a vision of innovation and elegance, Gates has positioned Microsoft to be a “fast follower,” letting Netscape or Google develop a market and then moving in to dominate it.
Famously, before it followed Netscape, Microsoft pursued and then overtook Apple. This story is told in the remarkable PBS documentary “Triumph of the Nerds.” The series not only documents the birth of the rivalry between Jobs and Gates, it also reminds us that the vision on display from both men was present when they conceived their companies decades ago.
Consider this statement from Jobs: “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste…I don’t mean that in a small way I mean that in a big way. In the sense that they don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their product… if it weren’t for the Mac they would never have that in their products and so I guess I am saddened, not by Microsoft’s success - I have no problem with their success, they’ve earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products.”
According to Apple’s ex-CEO, John Sculley, Microsoft succeeded because, “The problem was the industry wasn’t measured by who has the best selling personal computer or who has the most innovative technology. The industry was measured by who had the most open system that was adopted by the most other companies and the Microsoft strategy ultimately turned out to be the better business strategy.”
The unique qualities of Jobs and Gates could foster admiration more than emulation. But while few of us possess the intelligence, ego, insight, charisma, and drive required to transform industries, the success of both men teach valuable lessons about vision and strategy that we can all apply:
- First, a strategy requires a vision, and it’s the leader’s responsibility to ensure it exists, whether she creates it or facilitates her team to do so.
- Second, it requires a commitment to sustain the vision even when the external environment changes. The same focus on design principles that drove the Mac is guiding the iPhone today, just as Gates is promoting a world of networked entertainment.
- Third, the leader can’t allow the organization to deviate from the vision, especially by trying to emulate a competitor’s strategy. Jobs may begrudge Microsoft its success, but stays focused on inventing products with culture. Gates may admire the elegance of the iPhone, but he’s not going to be first to market with one.
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