That is the trust thing. Lets say Ballmer anoints Mundie or someone else to 'fix' the overall vision thing. That person then sets down a plan for moving the company forward and if it means that the Office guys have to so suck their thumbs because it won't help their product then so be it.
What happens in these situations is that the powerful subgroup does its sort of machination move and tries to ambush the guy in some meeting or email or something. At that point Ballmer has to basically shoot the ambushers and allow the vision guy to exit untouched with this plan in place, up to and including firing someone on the ambush team. That is how you send the message through the highly politicized environment, you shoot people who try to put roadblocks in front of "your guy" (or gal). It works really well.
However, and its a real problem, Ballmer has to realize he has to do this, he has to get the vision guy on board or promoted, and then he's going to have to shoot some of the political party leaders publicly in order to get the others to fall in line. Now if he can't do that, then he's missing an important skill as CEO.
What happens in these situations is that the powerful subgroup does its sort of machination move and tries to ambush the guy in some meeting or email or something. At that point Ballmer has to basically shoot the ambushers and allow the vision guy to exit untouched with this plan in place, up to and including firing someone on the ambush team. That is how you send the message through the highly politicized environment, you shoot people who try to put roadblocks in front of "your guy" (or gal). It works really well.
However, and its a real problem, Ballmer has to realize he has to do this, he has to get the vision guy on board or promoted, and then he's going to have to shoot some of the political party leaders publicly in order to get the others to fall in line. Now if he can't do that, then he's missing an important skill as CEO.