Tuesday April 07, 2009 
Tuesday April 07, 2009 And this time, it wasn't Ralph Kramden. The person with the big mouth and total lack of integrity is he or she who felt compelled to leak the IBM story to the press. And I'd like to say to that person, “Why don't you go work somewhere else? Like for the competition?”
Consider the grief we've had since the story hit the Wall Street Journal. Employees have been distracted. Angst has soared. Productivity has taken a hit. As if we didn't have enough to deal with, laying off 1,500 employees last week. And for what? Nothing. The talks have ended, if you believe the papers (although that doesn't necessarily mean anything). So we're back to where we were before, but ... different. There's an uneasiness in the air that wasn't present before. We've had dirty laundry aired in public, and we've had to come to terms with our attachment to Sun, should we actually be acquired by another firm.
Employee communication 101 teaches us that to help employees through a transition of this size, you need to answer two basic questions:
Why is there better than here?
What will happen to me?
Neither question is possible to answer when you're in a state of limbo. Which puts managers in an impossible situation – not knowing anymore than the employees do, completely unable to answer questions and not able to paint a picture of the future. So the faster a company can move to a decision point, the healthier it is for employees.
But we had the worst of all worlds – unsubstantiated rumors everywhere we turned. Respectable journalists reporting the story. And enough details to the rumor to make it hard to believe someone wasn't just making this stuff up.
Which brings me back to our own Ralph Kramden with the BIG mouth. You're not the greatest, pal. And you're no friend of Sun's. “To the moon,” buddy, to the moon...
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Apr 07 2009, 08:34:24 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [15]
Trackback URL: http://blogs.sun.com/tmac/entry/someone_has_a_big_mouth
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If Sun and Sun employees had done a better job, then Sun wouldn't be shopping itself around to the competition and you wouldn't have to worry about anyone leaking news since there would be no news to leak.
Posted by Victor on April 07, 2009 at 09:34 AM PDT #
My guess would be that IBM started the rumors.
Posted by 192.18.43.225 on April 07, 2009 at 10:15 AM PDT #
Could well be... I've gotten several comments that I may be making a bad assumption here - that a Sunnie leaked the news. I really, really hope that's true - I hate to think of one of our employees being so unloyal...
Posted by Terry McKenzie on April 07, 2009 at 10:19 AM PDT #
Wow Victor - what a stupid thing to say. If Sun employees had done a better job. What a jerk.
I for one know I have busted my tail for Sun for a long time, and I can tell you point blank I *will not* take the blame for Sun shopping us around.
People like you are why our market is the way it is. Get some compassion and grow up.
Posted by 69.245.135.187 on April 07, 2009 at 10:26 AM PDT #
I believe the only source that was company-identified was a IBM senior VP talking about the desirability of Sun's customer base (in WSJ?).
Although it's natural to suspect the "mavericks" as being leakers, it seems to have been a strategic tactic out of the blue.
Posted by Derek Schwarz on April 07, 2009 at 10:37 AM PDT #
When I heard the story break on Sunday nite that the deal was off - I was thrilled. I felt like saying "ok, let's dust ourselves off and get to work - let's make this thing work - we can do it."
Why are we still referring to this story as a rumor? Are we truthfully able to say to the world that none of it happened? That seems a little far-fetched.
Yes it was extremely distracting, it was also disheartening to know that our leaders felt it necessary to sell us to the highest bidder. IBM? Are you serious?? How much more opposite in culture can you get from Sun? I think every Sun employee knows that if we were acquired by IBM there is not a chance that the company we've grown to love and the culture we value would be safe.
Our customers, partners and developers are confused too. Why should they continue to invest in technology that might not be around next year?
In the spirit of Sun's open policy - let's give employees, customers and partners the credit for having brains and be open about it. Why are we shopping around? Will we continue to look for the highest bidder or instead make strategic decisions that will move us forward?
Posted by 192.168.0.5 on April 07, 2009 at 10:43 AM PDT #
Good for you for bringing this up, Terry! The media speculation over the past two weeks was just terrible and is indeed a major communications issue both internally at Sun and externally. My biggest question is the 'source.' I would think that anyone involved in these talks would be under NDA and was obviously privy to material(insider) information. Such a shame that this person may just end up getting away with this bad behavior (and is probably laughing all the way to the bank) while shareholders suffer.
Posted by Sandy on April 07, 2009 at 10:55 AM PDT #
Great post Terry! Everything about this is sad!
Posted by Gina on April 07, 2009 at 11:45 AM PDT #
Whoever did tell tales out of school here, be it
IBM, Sun or another party has succeeded if his or
her goal was to damage investor and employee faith
in the one thing that has always set Sun apart from
the rest, our ethos of integrity and
openness.
I'd like to say to whoever began this
misadventure, be it real or entirely in rumour,
you have proven yourself as untrustworthy and
lacking in integrity as friends employed by other
vendors often lament their leadership having
become.
Posted by George on April 07, 2009 at 12:11 PM PDT #
What about the fact that it might have been leaked to raise the Sun stock price? Perhaps this was an orchestrated "leak."
Posted by Julie on April 07, 2009 at 02:08 PM PDT #
And I'd like to say to that person, “Why don't you go work somewhere else? Like for the competition?” ... Unfortunately, Terry, you essentially might be telling the chairman or the CEO to get a new job, because I know from experience that these guys are not above letting things leak when it benefits them (not as it relates to this matter, but certainly as it related to a host of other issues that benefitted them) ... Hey, letting advantageous leaks happen is a Silicon Valley exec favorite. ...Like the post though. Well said.
Posted by Cynical on April 07, 2009 at 03:56 PM PDT #
Julie: Seems very likely to me that it was actually IBM, dissatisfied with the price the Sun board was asking, decided to test the market, push the price down and prove to the Sun board (and notably SEAM, who probably wanted $14+) that a higher price was not justified. Terry is completely off-base blaming her colleagues like this. The real question is, what laws did IBM break and will they get investigated by the FTC?
Posted by T.C. on April 07, 2009 at 06:58 PM PDT #
well, how come the sun internal details like differing views between Jonathan and Scott, Sun board meeting tomorrow etc. coming out if it is just ibm who is/was leaking info. looks like more than one culprit, possibly from both sides.
Posted by none on April 07, 2009 at 07:22 PM PDT #
The great British political satire of the 80s 'Yes Minister' tells us that the ship of state is the only ship that leaks from the top. And that leaks nearly always have a strategic intent - nefarious or benevolent.
Posted by A.N.Other Julie on April 07, 2009 at 10:52 PM PDT #
Victor: "If Sun and Sun employees had done a better job, then Sun wouldn't be shopping itself around to the competition and you wouldn't have to worry about anyone leaking news since there would be no news to leak."
This is _really_ stupid. If the current financial crisis has taught you anything, it should have taught you that share price is completely unrelated to the real value of companies (which should equate to their IP and employees).
If a company with so little IP as Facebook could be valued at 15 billion whilst a company which has contributed as much as Sun could be valued at a third of that I think that it should tell you something...
Posted by Dominic on April 08, 2009 at 02:17 PM PDT #