How Do You Motivate Staff? (Steve Ballmer)

• Wikipedia - Steve Ballmer
• YouTube - Steve Ballmer Goes Crazy (1 minute)
• YouTube - Steve Ballmer: 'Developers, Developers...' (19 seconds)
• YouTube - Steve Ballmer: Developers Music Video (3 minutes)

WHO?
Steven Anthony Ballmer (born March 24, 1956 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. Ballmer is the first person to become a billionaire (in U.S. dollars) based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In its 2007 World's Richest People ranking, Forbes Magazine ranked Ballmer as the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion ...more

JUICE?
I have four words for you: I LOVE THIS COMPANY! YEEEEEAAAAAS! Just watch, listen, laugh and reflect!

REFLECTION!
How do Microsoft staff keep themselves motivated (with the exception of their nice salary and perks!)? Although, 99% of us use Microsoft solutions, we will almost always have something bad to say about them. We simply love to hate them (and sometimes for valid reasons! Hmm, I suppose die-hard haters would probably say 'Always'!).

Now, how would you keep yourself motivated working for probably the most hated company in the world? If you look and listen to Bill Gates, I am not sure that will be the most motivating experience (Except for admiring his amazing wealth and achievements!). Yes, he might be the super brain behind Microsoft's success, but I suppose he is not the one keeping their staff working day and night trying to outsmart the super geeks from Google, Yahoo, Apple, Sony, and so on.

If you ask me, and watch Steve Ballmer in action, there is no doubt that his brand of explicit enthusiasm and passion for the company is contagious to the staff. I am not sure why they are motivated (Fear,Money, Passion or Joy!), but I suppose his 110% commitment and passion plays a key role (Sometimes you need a bit of emotional outbreaks to bring out the best in your staff!). Although, I have read about many Microsoft staff migrating to Google, it seems to have little effect on their bottom line (profit!) until now.

Finally, the main reason for sharing with you these videos, is that such videos are excellent to get your students engaged and motivated for dynamic discussion sessions about issues such as leadership, management, entrepreneurship, personality, enthusiasm, passion, etc. If you got problems downloading YouTube videos, you can for example use this Online Flash Video Converter (by vixy.net) or download them directly from here.

Hmm, I am not sure a Steve Ballmer passionate monkey dance outburst would work very well in Malaysia or Singapore, but you will never know until you have tried :)