Ministry of Innovation / Business of Technology

Microsoft is a “2.5-trick pony” according to Steve Ballmer

That's 1.5 tricks more than you need to be considered a genius, Ballmer says.

In conversation with Steve Ballmer at Saïd Business School.

Most companies fail, and successful companies are often one-trick ponies, but Microsoft is a two-and-a-half trick pony, according to former CEO Steve Ballmer, speaking at Oxford's Saïd Business School.

He was responding to a question about why Microsoft had failed to innovate in the mobile space, particularly given that it had invented the tablet computer way before it was popularized by Apple.

"Most tech companies fail," Ballmer replied. "They are zero-trick ponies. They never do anything well and they go away. You are a genius in the industry if you are a one-trick pony. You get some innovation right and then spin it. I am very proud of the fact that [Microsoft] has done at least two tricks. Tricks are worth billions and billions and billions of dollars."

He described the first "trick" as inventing the modern PC with Windows and Office. The second was "bringing microprocessor technology into the data center." He later referred to Xbox as being the additional half trick.

"I won't try to tell you that our record of innovation is perfect, but I'd say we've done more tricks than anybody else," he said. "Apple's done two, we've done two-and-a-half—half for Xbox."

When it comes to mobile, he admitted that "we got a bit behind," but that instead of giving up, Microsoft has tried to work out where it went wrong and find out how to build its assets. This led to Surface, Windows Phone, and the Nokia acquisition, which he described as "very important to us."

"With 20/20 hindsight, I regret that we didn't put the hardware and software together soon enough," he added, describing the "magical" way the PC came together with a Microsoft operating system and IBM hardware, or how Android and Samsung have benefited each other.

When asked what the toughest decision he had to make at Microsoft was, he said that the top five were all about "hiring or firing somebody." He said he had "more angst" about those decisions than that to buy Nokia.

The Nokia acquisition was particularly significant as it is a major hardware play. "The name of the company is Micro-soft," he said, referring to the company's software roots. "Xbox, Surface, and phones mean a pretty fundamental change to the way we self-identify and express our value-add."

The notoriously effervescent executive also told the audience that he was "quite a shy kid." The "most transformative" thing that he did to address this shyness was to be the team manager for the Harvard football team, a thankless administrative task. "You had to get up in front of the team every day and tell guys what to do," he said. "Footballers are not nice to managers, so I had to get myself pumped up. Since Microsoft I've had a lot more practice."

One of the final questions he was asked by an audience member was: "What's the best perk of being immensely wealthy and powerful?" After a raucous laugh from Ballmer—who owns four percent of Microsoft—he said that it was the fact that he can "play about any golf course" he wants on the planet. "I get a real kick out of that," he said. "I'm a lousy golfer, but I really love it."

"You thought it would be something bigger and more cosmic," he said, "but noooooo!"

This story originally appeared on Wired UK.

Listing image by Erwin Boogert

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