Mini-Microsoft Cutting Room Floor

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Greedy Cake - New comment on Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Looking Forward - Reviews, The Company Meeting, and Then Some...":

a comment for the espp engrossed:

why are you all so worried about espp when you should be worrying about how to work smarter and develop products that raise the f-in' stock price period? you are all so consumed with making money versus making products and enjoying your careers that i'd prefer you just leave the company. focus on doing great work and making good decisions and the money will come later. as a shareholder, i cry each time i look at at how the stock price plummets and wonder - what the hell are they doing over there? then i read your greedy comments and say - ah that's it, they are all trying to figure out how to make money for themselves even though they aren't doing great work. yeah, it sucks that you think work hard and aren't being rewarded through espp - WHICH IS A BENEFIT. boo-hoo.

ever think that actually making changes instead of just bitchin' on mini's site might actually be a better idea? maybe working and getting rewarded through reviews?

the last thing i want to hear you folks moaning about is espp. do the work to make customers and stockholders happy and we'll reward you by increasing your stock price. it'll pay off in espp AND your stock awards.

man, i could totally understand if you're upset about your hard won stock awards, but this takes the cake.

(Chicken, egg, vicious cycle and motivating benefits. How does it all come together? Don't you have to have stock to be motivated to raise it? And don't you first need to be motivated to buy / acquire stock?)

1 Comments:

  • Mini, thx for linking to this one or I would have missed it. But unsure why you pulled it? He/she is angry and I guess used an expletive or two but makes several points which I see as valid. Shareholders have underwritten $B's since 00 in various plans aimed at insulating employees from the stock's chronic underperformance (e.g. additional options, the massively expensive options trade-in program, increased salaries, no-risk grants, the one-time dividend grant price reduction, the recent perks package, etc, etc.). Some of these made sense to ensure that morale stayed high, but at some point it's pay for performance, not subsidizing failure. Personally, I think that point is long past, and the company and employees now need to start delivering results and driving the stock vs saying they need still more incentives in order to do so. The latter is the real loop to be worried about: weak performance > more cries for additional incentives > higher costs and less profits > weaker performance > more cries for additional incentives...etc.

    By Blogger MSFTextrememakeover, at August 24, 2006 at 10:08 AM  

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