Writing

Microsoft's approach to employee ranking

Suppose you are in a unit with 10 other people. Your boss thinks every one of you is spectacular. Well it doesn’t matter because at Microsoft, you have to designate two of them as spectacular, four of them as mediocre, and then the rest as terrible. What you’ve done is create a system where every employee is not only trying to do their best, but every employee is trying to make sure that their colleagues don’t. Creating that environment is the exact opposite of what you want to do in terms of encouraging innovation.

The downfall of innovation at Microsoft | Marketplace.org

This sounds only too familiar, sadly.

The five myths about contemporary classical music Tom Service, guardian.co.uk Contemporary classical music is devoid of melody and appeal, all noise and no fun. At least, that’s the cliche. But this is music that is very much at the heart of our modern world... The five myths about contemporary classical music Tom Service, guardian.co.uk Contemporary classical music is devoid of melody and appeal, all noise and no fun. At least, that’s the cliche. But this is music that is very much at the heart of our modern world…

Perfect summation of an open minded approach to music appreciation. Music is, after all, music…

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