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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DJBEINO who wrote (30105)	1/30/2000 2:42:00 PM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Energize your organization "What is it about a management system, which is really a human system, that is going to allow an organization to succeed when others with many of the same resources will fail?" asked John Stopford, Professor of International Business at London Business School, UK, in his introduction to the session. How does it meet the twin objectives of adaptability and efficiency? How do you cope with the tension between empowerment and coherence? The panellist shared their varied experiences with participants, and all agreed that it takes passion and commitment. John A. Ross, Chief Executive Officer for the Americas at Deutsche Bank Group, feels the most important challenge is creating a true partnership between management and employees. It requires a real, personal sense of ownership ? both economic and personal. The economic part is relatively easy and can be accomplished through stock ownership and bonuses; the true challenge, he added, is the emotional part. Eric Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Novell and a Global Leader for Tomorrow 1997, talked about some advice he received when Novell did a quick turnaround right after he took it over. It was suggested that he should find the smartest person in the company and that person will know all the others. "I went looking for that mythical smart person," he recounted. In fact, a conversation on a plane which Schmidt inadvertently overheard revealed that person. He asked the man to write down the names of the ten smartest people in the company. He then arranged impromptu meetings with these people, at the beginning of which he had to assure them they weren't being fired. With those first ten he got additional lists of ten, and soon he had identified 100 key people in the company. Schmidt now has many of these people in power with a clear set of objectives. Stressing the importance of creativity in a world of quarterly objectives, Schmidt said, "I still miss the randomness of disorder." He added, with particular reference to Silicon Valley: "Often the people with the greatest insights are least suited for management." These people need to be tolerated and possibly paired up with others in the company. Novell has created "pipelines" which bring together teams from different parts of the company, and they are given a clear order to come up with ideas. Schmidt also places high importance on consistency of training and sales management programmes used throughout Novell's operations as a way to maintain coherence. "Everything keeps me up at night," declared John W. Sidgmore, Vice-Chairman of MCI WorldCom, USA. He contends that without fear it is almost impossible to foster a culture of change, which is vital to the success of a company in his view. He cited the example of his own company: "AT&T did not see us coming. Who's next?" The MCI WorldCom Vice-Chairman isn't worried about his large competitors so much as the small startups. It's all about speed, Sidgmore observed. Successful large companies will be those that can act like small ones. "Some nerd in a garage is going to come up with a way to bypass Visa. We have to think of it before he does," Malcolm Williamson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Visa International, told participants jokingly. He talked about ways to spearhead dramatic change in a large organization. It requires strategy, people and, above all, communication. Change at the top is important, he stressed, and you may have to recruit outside in order to create a "team of disciples" to communicate direction throughout the organization. Williamson keeps the reigns tight at first, playing the role of coach, until he is comfortable delegating power. There is a cadre of very smart people in the technology business, Williamson remarked, and companies need to recognize them. "They have to know they're on the high flyers' list," he said. Others may need to be kept through financial arrangements. Sidgmore noted that his company is not able to offer the same potentially lucrative stock options for staff as much smaller startups. The same concern was echoed by a participant from another large company competing with technology startups for talent. weforum.org!OpenDocument

To: DJBEINO who wrote (30105)	1/30/2000 11:57:00 PM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Patches will now take the place of the daily "rebuilds" of Windows2000 as the "Rapid Deployment" test sites continue to put the new OS through the paces. There's an interesting marketing issue someone could capitalize on here - MSFT has always said that W2K was late because they wanted it to be "the best work they've done". Well, what happens when it's more of the same old same old? Windows2000 will be a good upgrade from Windows NT 4.0. Will it be so good that everyone will drop all other server OSes? I don't believe so. If it was, people would not have bought/upgraded to NetWare 5.0 in the last year and the momentum behind Linux would not be as it is today. Just some personal views. Peter J Strifas (PS - did anyone read Fortune this week? Interesting article on MSFT, Gates and Ballmer - the next generation of Windows is going to be very daring. From the author's perspective, the next generation of Windows will be developed to control the internet as MSFT does the desktop.)