Many of us have worked for organizations that have suffered through a period of low levels of inoovation. At times it takes a management shakeup to drive product or service innovation to their previously high levels. In other cases it may be greed on the part of new management that drives innovation into the dumps.
A recent article by Bob Evans outlines some of the details behind the rise and fall of innovation at Microsoft. The article reminds us of the time where it seemed that Microsoft had everything going for it. Now they are loosing their most talented people and market share with them. It turns out that Microsoft is eating itself from the inside out, promoting or tolerating an environment of backbiting and bickering. I find it ironic that Apple was mentioned in the article, and organization that was also down for the count until Steve Jobs showed up back at the shop to kick innovation into high gear again. The result was the iPod, iPhone, Macbook and other innovations that are on fire.
No company can go very long releasing new products in an attempt to fix issues with the previous version of an existing product. The market is too smart for that in the long run.
What will it take to get Microsoft back on track? How about a return of Bill Gates?
