On Blogging as CEO

It's been a busy week. My heart rate seems to have slowed just to the point where I can taste food again.

I want to start by thanking Sun's global volunteers - who every day work to improve the communities in which Sun operates around the world. I had the option of cancelling my volunteer commitments given this week's events, but decided to keep it - and had the privilege to visit Blacow elementary school, and talk to a group of 1st grade students and their teacher about the internet. They showed me their StarOffice skills (no, I'm not joking), and when I asked how many of them had email accounts, about a quarter of the room raised their hand. These are first graders, mind you. (I asked one student who sent her email, and she said her Mom, but only when she travelled.)

So I'd like to thank the folks that organized my visit, Mrs. Lorenz for putting up with my questions about how many of her friends knew that OpenOffice was free (on Windows, too!) for all schools throughout the world, and the terrific first grade class for their outstanding presentations.

Earlier in the week, I hosted my first Leadership Conference as CEO. Sun's Leadership Conferences bring together our global leaders twice a year to exchange ideas, discuss priorities, and share best practices. This year was a little unusual - Scott and I communicated his stepping up to Chairman, and my stepping up to CEO. We did so in front of a global town hall on the first day - we had nearly 20,000 (!) employees on-line to watch the event. You've already seen the speech I gave - it's my last blog entry.

Emotionally, it was one of the toughest speeches I've ever given - and I want to thank those of you that added comments, and supported Scott on your own blogs, and throughout the media.

After my speech and a fairly thorough question and answer session, Scott left the auditorium - handing the keys to me, and saying, "I'm going to spend the next 90 days opening every door on the planet. Call me if you need me." And then it was my Leadership Conference. It happened that fast.

The theme of this year's event was simple: Growing. Through Pace and Transparency - it's not just our products that are speeding up this year. We're going to be driving unparalleled transparency into everything we do, precisely because it's the most efficient mechanism to accelerate change throughout Sun. Transparency enables everything to go faster, invites accountability (to which most folks in large organizations aspire), and drives dialogue between Sun and the communities we serve.

So to answer the obvious, for those that have asked the question, "as CEO, will you continue blogging?"

Absolutely yes - count on it. (We'll now be the only Fortune 500 company with a CEO that blogs - the first of many firsts to come.) It's just one of many ways we're going to turn Sun inside out - on our path to growing value (not just revenue or earnings).

And if you want to know who committed to redefining Sun Microsystems, it's these folks, the global leadership team at Sun.

I'm the guy in the center wearing the tie - and before you ask, no, the dress code isn't changing (and if you were going to be in a photo your mother would see (not this one, she doesn't read my blog), you'd wear a tie, too).

In upcoming blogs, I'll cover Greg Papadopoulos's new role at Sun; and my priorities in the next 30 days.

Posted on 08:11PM Apr 30, 2006 | Comments[35]

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When I First Met Scott...

I remember the first time I met Scott McNealy - I'm sure he doesn't remember it. It was in the board room in our old headquarters in Palo Alto. I was with one of the folks from the startup I ran, and we were meeting on the advice of a mutual customer. I think it was 1992 or '93. Before you could actually explain the internet to your parents.

I remember he talked about network computing in a very strange way - he just assumed the future, he'd already moved his entire mindset, and his lifestyle, to the network. He looked at the world through the network. And remember, the network didn't really exist back then. It was a twinkle in a terminal window.

We were talking about the state of the industry - he viewed it in terms of a world that hadn't been built. I viewed it (remember I was at a startup) in terms of what business I could close next quarter. I had payroll to make. And I can honestly say I'd never met anyone so plainspoken about the future. Or so facile with soundbites to describe it. He was confident in a cheshire cat kind of way, not arrogant or professorial. He was in on a secret: the network is the computer.

You may not remember what it was like in 1992, but Wall Street had Sun in its sights - Scott was getting all kinds of flak for not following the rest of the industry. He'd refused to endorse one particular technology, known then as the Chicago Project. A few of the pundits said, "The Chicago Project is the future, and Sun's fighting it." Scott didn't think so. They said he was religious.

But he wasn't making a bet. He was fulfilling a vision. A vision that was obvious to him, and a vision in which the Chicago Project would play a bit part - we had bigger things to focus on.

If you don't remember the Chicago Project it was the code name to Microsoft's Windows 95. The companies that adopted it - and replaced their own innovation - well, you can't name them any more. They lost their ability to participate in the future, to differentiate.

What happened to Sun? Scott, and leaders across Sun, changed the world - by making an unpopular, but wildly successful bet on the internet as a driver of demand for systems innovation. The network is the computer.

A few years after that meeting, Netscape licensed the Java platform, my company was acquired by Sun, and I began working for Scott's then CTO, Dr. Eric Schmidt. I saw the vision, the concept behind "the network is the computer," wasn't just Scott's - everyone that worked at Sun thought his vision was obvious. And back in 1996, it was becoming more true, but not the certainty it is today - the world back then was fundamentally changing. Capital was shifting. Huge numbers of companies were being started and staffed, all over the world. Businesses were being transformed, started from nothing and becoming global titans. Enormous wealth was being created - durable wealth, not the donut franchises or sock puppets folks love to hate. Companies like eBay, AOL, Amazon, Yahoo! and Google.

And it has been, since that time, a wild ride for me, and for all of us at Sun. We've seen a massive global buildout, that took a pause in 2001 - remember, bubbles always precede buildouts. And Scott, back in 2001, when our revenue - given how focused we were on startups, on financial services and on telco customers - was on its way from 18 billion down to around 11... Scott was far more focused on what was going to happen in 2006 than worried about that quarter. He had that same confidence in the future I first saw in 1992. Bet on innovation and innovators. Stick to your vision and your visionaries.

Which is why he preserved R&D, and jobs, when the world told him otherwise. Why we preserved our relationships with the developer community. Why we redoubled our investment in systems innovation. Why we increased our attention on key customers and partners. Even broadened it to include some unfamiliar faces.

And nearly two years ago, Scott forwarded me something a journalist had written about Sun, and about Scott personally. It wasn't the most positive note, and it was criticizing us for the bets we'd made, and for a vision that at that point, didn't square with the reality in front of us - the new Chicago Project of the day looked more attractive.

And I sent a note back to Scott. Every once in a while you end up as the morale officer for your boss, and it was one of the rare days at Sun where I was more enthusiastic than Scott.

And what I told him then - is what I'll tell you now.

There is no single individual who has created more jobs around the world than you. And unlike Henry Ford and some of the industrialists that preceded you, not all of those folks just work for Sun - I'm not talking hundreds or thousands of jobs, I'm talking millions. They ended up in America and India, Indonesia and Antarctica, Madagascar, Mexico, Brazil and Finland. They ended up everywhere. Everywhere the network travels.

No single individual has spawned so many startups, fueled so much venture investment, or raised so much capital without actually trying - just with a vision of the future that gets more obvious by the day.

No single individual has so effectively created and promoted the technologies at the heart of a new world emerging around us. A world in which the demand for network computing technology will never decline - as we share more family photos, watch more digital movies, do more banking on-line, build more communities on line, run our supply chains, automate our governments or educate our kids.

And no single individual, outside my family, has been a greater influence on my life - I am quite confident the same is true for millions of network consumers across the world. It's probably less obvious to them as it is to me. You have defined for me what tenacity means. What integrity, courage and commitment mean. Inside of work, and outside.

Which is why I'm thrilled you're sticking around for the next twenty years. To lend that confidence to the decisions I make, to help spot the next Chicago Project, and to send me the email boosts I've needed in the past, and I know I'll need in the future. It's not your fingerprints that will be all over our return to prominence, it'll be your footprints right underneath it.

As I said before, we are in a rare industry - in which demand for what we build, for the technologies that power the network, will never cease. Not even the oil industry can count on that. We have the same vision today as we did back in 1992 - a vision that only gets more true as each day passes, and only gets easier to describe to your parents, and to an ever younger population that seems to know that vision in their hearts.

The network is the computer.

Thank you, Scott, you are a hero to us all.

Posted on 10:45AM Apr 25, 2006 | Comments[67]

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The Brazilian Effect

I was honored to meet the President of Brazil last week.

I'm not one to name drop, but this is one of those extraordinary interactions I had to put in a first sentence - I'll return to why I met with him in a moment, but I was having a hard time with a graceful segue later in this post. So with that done...

I've given keynotes at Java One for many years, and one of the things I've grown to expect is what I'll call the "Brazilian effect."

Having just returned from a trip to Sao Paulo and Brasilia, I can confirm Brazil's one of the more progressive nations in the world when it comes to the use of free and open source software. It's got one of the largest, and most vibrant developer communities (great to see the OpenSolaris community putting down roots!),

and as a result, there's never a shortage of interesting projects for me or James to reference during our talks.

But whenever you mention Brazil or a Brazilian project, you have to watch out for the Brazilian effect, the total disruption of your speech by a contingent of flag waving (and wearing) Brazilians that, upon hearing their nation mentioned, break into hoots and hollers and whistles and applause. It takes a few minutes to die down, and the enthusiasm's contagious. And it drives a bit of competitiveness from folks all around the world who want to know why the Brazilians get to have all the fun. (Let's see more flags this year!)

Brazil's very focused on making Brazil a better place - and an open network is playing a big role. There are nearly as many mobile handsets in the market as there are credit card holders (the former are well on their way to being default micro-payment, as well as application platforms), and the number of Brazilians with broadband access is skyrocketing. There's a move to drive all of Brazil on-line, as a means of connecting Brazil to Brazil, and to the global market - and free and open source software is playing an instrumental role.

So I'd now like to say, "I understand the Brazilian effect." There is a distinct sense that Brazilians want a better Brazil, that there's a pride in its progress and evolution. There's a palpable energy, even and maybe especially within the halls of its government institutions (where it's sometimes harder to find energy in other nations). I had an opportunity to travel to the seat of power in Brazil, to Brasilia, a city with an interesting history.

And once there, I met with the Congressional President, and with President Lula himself. We talked about free and open source software, the future of the network, and how Sun could help bring more Brazilians on-line, while transferring the skills and technologies that create jobs and export opportunities. And not because Sun's a charity, but because it's good for our business, too - more Brazilians on-line drives more business for Sun, as a connected citizenry participates, with media companies, government agencies, financial institutions and one another. But Brazil knows it can't afford a connected society without the competition and opportunities brought about by free and open source software.

The Brazilian government is aggressively focused on digital inclusion, on bringing every segment of society to the 'net. They're making some of the world's largest investments in free software, leveraging it to deploy next generation network platforms spanning traditional telecommunication infrastructure to digital television. (One of the lead government IT folks was walking me through the lobby of their Congress, showing me their voting systems, and proudly said, "we're only running open source software now. We run Solaris.") The IPTV projects are really interesting - in scale alone (there are more TV's in Brazil than mobile phones, and go take a look at the size of the country if you're interested in network topology problems).

But the rollout of digital TV, and the internet itself, is threatened in Brazil by licensing authorities and patent holders, who are holding Brazil, and every other developing nation, hostage to royalty claims and licensing fees. Claiming that open source software isn't safe (it is, we indemnify our open source customers just like we did when our software was closed source), or that the foundation technologies will obligate Brazil to pay extraordinary royalties for each citizen or citizen access (not true, either).

Those threats are simple - patent holders (who have names very familiar in the IT world) and licensing authorities (sponsored by the same companies) are impeding the rollout of the network to developing nations. We were there to present an alternative, as we're doing across the world. Presenting those alternatives to drive progress, transparency, and ultimately demand for what we build.

Because bridging the digital divide is what gets us out of our seats, hooting and hollering. The network effect, after all, is Sun's Brazilian effect. And stay tuned on our progress - we're hoping to have some interesting things to announce shortly.

And once again, during a town hall in Sao Paulo, I was asked, "what are you going to write in your blog about your visit to Brazil?" My response, "I'm going to write about how great our team is." A great team, doing important work, not just important for our customers, but witness the meeting with President Lula, important for Brazil.

Congrats, Cleber and team - keep it up!

(with apologies for the folks who got cut off on the edges - next time, I'll be sure we've got a far wider lens...)

Posted on 11:05PM Apr 16, 2006 | Comments[5]

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