Re:The Engineer-Driven culture at Nokia and its problems
by kiiski on Saturday February 12, 2011 @07:33AM
(#2209908)
Perhaps he thinks it's better to make sure that everyone is clear of the direction and committed to it rather than (potentially) wasting hundreds of thousands of hours of work on useless platforms.
Re:The Engineer-Driven culture at Nokia and its problems
by stcredzero on Saturday February 12, 2011 @07:47AM
(#2209925)
The tricky part is the "committed." Tell me, have you tried to get someone who feels like they've just been slapped in the face by you to follow you? (Outside of discussions on the Internet, of course. Mea culpa!)
What if they didn't just have to follow you, but had to apply themselves to something difficult, challenging, and creative?
Sometimes a slap in the face is what's needed. Care should be taken to avoid backfire, however. This is why a slap in the face is a method of last resort. (Outside of discussions on the Internet, of course. Must eat own dogfood.)
Considering Nokia still has strong sales over the entire world, I don't think a slap in the face was really warranted. WWMD? (What Would Machiavelli Do? Actually, WWMWAD: What would Machiavelli write about doing?) The CEO should've been a lot smarter by being a lot sneakier.
Stephen Elop should've taken a play from Steve Jobs' playbook. Instead of making such a huge announcement, he should've quietly started a project within Nokia with backing from the highest levels, just like Jobs did with the Macintosh. This might've generated smoldering resentment and jealousy, but it would not have generated a 1000 employee walk-out and enough negative publicity to drop the stock price by 15% in under 24 hours.