Thursday May 01, 2008 
Thursday May 01, 2008 Springtime, that old hag of good and bad news, has struck again. Tuesday we had a fantastic day in Second Life, with thousands of employees joining in the virtual fun. And today, Thursday, we had our earnings announcement, which was the antithesis of a good time.
The story, in brief, is that the U.S. economic blues have done a number on our top and bottom lines, and after seven quarters of really terrific momentum, we hit a speed bump. Which means that some jobs will be impacted.
Now the news was not all bad - we had outstanding performances around the world, great gains in the sales of some products, and a strong push forward in our open technology strategy. But if you're a communicator and you're trying to tell a balanced story, there's always this fear in the back of your mind that you might come off like David Brent in the BBC comedy, The Office, and his memorable performance where he tells his team that they've been made redundant but he's been promoted:
"There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is Neil will be taking over both branches and some of you will lose your jobs…
On a more positive note the good news is I’ve been promoted - so every cloud… you’re still thinking about the bad news aren’t you?"
He goes on to express bewilderment at why people are sobbing because after all, isn't a promotion good news?
So what I don't want to do is express bewilderment at why employees are upset at our results because after all, aren't great gains in products sales good news?
Turnarounds are a tough business. Two steps forward, one step back. One day you're a hero, the next day a goat. Our turnaround has been built on tough decisions on where to invest and where to disinvest, on a strategy that in the short-term is controversial but in the long-term is the key to our future. And like any war, there are losses on the battlefield. It's too early to say who will be impacted by the cost-cutting, but it's not too soon to say that there will be pain in the process.
I take my hat off to our CEO, Jonathan Schwartz, who chose to tell our employees, via an impromptu video, what happened this quarter, why and how we'll move forward. If you watch it, you'll see neither defensiveness nor arrogance - just a leader talking quietly and authentically to his extended team of 32,000 employees around the world. And I'm confident that the rest of his team will follow his lead in this kind of open conversation with employees. No anger. No blaming. Quiet acceptance of responsibility and strong resolve to make the changes we need to make to succeed.
It's the kind of communication and maturity that gives me hope and keeps me going. Because we're in this together - win, lose or draw.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( May 01 2008, 01:16:17 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]
Trackback URL: http://blogs.sun.com/tmac/entry/the_best_and_worst_of
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Great blog Terry. I also think that Jonathan's video is excellent. I continue to be impressed with the way Sun does communicate these tough messages and how we are so open to the ensuing dialogue-good or bad. Kudos to all of us!
By the way, I really like how you characterized turnarounds-one day you're a hero, the next day you're a goat. I hate goats!!!
Posted by Gina on May 02, 2008 at 10:42 AM PDT #
Yeah, quite the bummer. Just when I was starting to like earning annoucements...
I bet Jonathan isn't looking forward to the BoD meeting....I imagine it's like getting called to the principle's office in grammar school.
Posted by JP on May 02, 2008 at 06:10 PM PDT #