From IBD:
Scott McNealy may be the only chief executive who really seems to irk the richest man in America, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates. And for good reason.
McNealy, chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc., is on a mission to tear down a Berlin Wall that, he says, protects the Gates empire.
The two often lob verbal grenades at each other in public appearances, acting out their companies' tug-of-war over the future direction of the computer industry. McNealy believes Microsoft's present dominance, through its Windows operating system, is nothing more than a ''planned economy'' doomed to fail.
''When there's a privately controlled specification (Windows), you funda- mentally set up a single-vendor planned economy, where all the innovation comes out of one place,'' McNealy said. ''All the empirical evidence suggests market economies work better.''
In other words, tear down the wall.
If it can be done, Mountain View, Calif.-based Sun is the company most likely to pull it off. Co-founded by McNealy and three other 27-year-olds in 1982, Sun has grown to become a $7 billion manufacturer of computers and software through nonconventional ways of thinking.
Sun played an influential role over the last decade in getting the computer industry to cast off its proprietary approach to building computers. This has allowed companies to buy freely from many computer and software vendors without worrying about system compatiblity.
Sun is unconventional in many ways - no doubt reflecting McNealy's energy and creative thinking. His fanciful methods of building company morale are legendary. Perhaps no one else but McNealy would be the commanding general, dressed in gym clothes and an army helmet, for a squirt-gun war between employees.
To help keep them informed, a year ago McNealy started being host on a twice-monthly, half-hour radio show that employees can hear through Sun's computer network. McNealy calls it a ''fireside chat-on-demand.''
For the show, he's interviewed company directors and shareholders - or he'll randomly telephone an employee.
''I talk about what's cool at Sun, or what tickles me, or maybe read an e-mail message from a happy employee,'' he said.
Anyone at Sun - and customers, too - can send McNealy an e-mail message. A lot of them do. McNealy spends up to three hours a day reading them.
April Fool's pranks are also a tradition at Sun. The one McNealy enjoyed most was when employees put a 60-foot arrow straight through the headquarters building, including his fifth- floor office window.
The idea for the prank came about after McNealy gave a speech on the need to focus. He told employees, ''Let's get all the wood behind one arrow.''
And no one else but McNealy's staff would create and distribute his ''Doer's Profile,'' with a photo of McNealy dressed in hockey gear.
The fictional ad reads in part: ''Age: 41. Last Book Read: Judge Sporkin's review of Microsoft consent decree. Favorite food and drink: Pizza and beer. Latest accomplishment: Shot 75 from back tees on morning I got married.''
It's classic McNealy. Cool, boyish, open-hearted, with a passion for winnning - but only if he and all 17,000 Sun employees have fun along the way.
Perhaps more than any other company, Sun personifies the image of Silicon Valley as an area that defies conventional ways - again, with McNealy in the lead role. Recently receiving an award for exemplary leadership from a prestigious university, he showed up at a posh hotel dressed in khaki pants, a blue blazer and a red cowboy shirt. He was the only one without a tie.
He spent more time talking to people after the ceremony - handing out business cards and telling them to e-mail their resumes - than he did on his acceptance speech.
''I'm just an ordinary guy in some pretty extraordinary circumstances, surrounded by very talented people,'' said McNealy. ''I really mean that.''
His plans to change the course of the computer industry are also deadly serious. Beating Microsoft at its own game won't be easy, he admits, ''but it's still early.''
Achieving that goal will depend on the success of a Sun-developed software language called Java. Programs written with Java will work on everything from supercomputers to TV set-top boxes. And it's available to anyone who wants it.
''I'm a silly optimist,'' McNealy said. ''I take satisfaction in seeing my employees win and customers doing good things with our technology.''
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Copyright (c) 1996 Investors Business Daily, All rights reserved.
Investor's Business Daily - Leaders & Success (12/12/96)
Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy - CEO's On A Mission To Beat Microsoft - And Have Fun
By Brian Deagon |
