News quickly spread yesterday that J Allard and Robbie Bach were leaving Microsoft. For those that don’t know, Allard and Bach co-founded Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, so it came as a shock that the guys behind the Xbox, for example, were bidding adieu to Redmond.
Allard’s e-mail to his colleagues is pretty brilliant. The subject line alone “Decide. Change. Reinvent.” gives a wealth of insight into why J decided to do what he did. I’ll copy and paste the entire e-mail below but the following really stood out.
Please, put my headcount and that cardkey “invitation” to good use. Find a college student that claims we don’t get it and blogs tirelessly about our lack of agility. Track down an EE that has been focusing on fuel cells and has radical thoughts about power management. Or a social networking whiz who is tired of building little islands that go hot and cold and can’t break the mainstream. Hire a designer who’s given shape to 2 decades of beautiful automobiles and thinks we can sculpt technology to better connect to users. Infuse them with our purpose. Give them the tools. Give them lots of rope. Learn from them. Support where they take you. Invite them to redefine The Tribe.