Maybe something's changed in the four-and-a-half years since I left, but people were pretty ok with Lisa Brummel when I was at Microsoft. People gently made fun of the fact that she always wears shorts, but there was never anything mean-spirited in that.
She was seen as a huge step up from the guy she replaced, who was rumored to have been having an affair with an underling[1] at the same time that he recorded a video admonishing us to never have inappropriate relations with subordinates. He was also responsible for the infamous towel debacle, which came to define the worst aspects of penny-wise, pound-foolish cost-cutting at the company.
Edit: Thx to, uh, moron for pointing out the new Mini-MSFT post that includes this:
Is she really the most universally hated executive?
I don't know about that, but she certainly slipped away from being loved.
Thousands of employees used to cheer for her. Now?
No. If that wasn't bad enough, that same system requires managers to rate a certain number of worker as sub-standard each year even if they already fired all their sub-standard workers during that same year.
And that gets to the rub of the problem: A good manager will recognize and get rid of bad employees.
A rigid system that codifies the assumption that managers are doing a bad job will force them to do a bad job. For example, by having to choose between putting good employees on the chopping block, or always keeping around a pool of bad employees (as a buffer to keep the good ones off the chopping block).
Wow that's hilarious and depressing at the same time. Intentionally maintaining a buffer of bad employees to keep your good employees around is the pinnacle of big company crap culture. If I ever have a company large enough for this type of problem I'll make sure that every manager can anonymously warn me if they start thinking like this.
Minimsft's post today seems to suggest feelings toward her have changed:
"Is she really the most universally hated executive? I don't know about that, but she certainly slipped away from being loved. Thousands of employees used to cheer for her. Now?"
She was seen as a huge step up from the guy she replaced, who was rumored to have been having an affair with an underling[1] at the same time that he recorded a video admonishing us to never have inappropriate relations with subordinates. He was also responsible for the infamous towel debacle, which came to define the worst aspects of penny-wise, pound-foolish cost-cutting at the company.
Edit: Thx to, uh, moron for pointing out the new Mini-MSFT post that includes this:
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2012/07/microsoft-fy12q4-result...[1] In the (admittedly anonymous) comments: http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2006/06/locked-doors-martin-tay...
[2] http://www.scribd.com/doc/39324385/Towels-Talent