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The following post was originally published in 2015.

When Strategies Shift

In 2008, at the start of the economic crisis, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner was stepping off an airplane in New York City.

As he approached the car that would take him into the city, the porter carrying his luggage commented that the stock market’s decline had continued that morning.

It struck Kevin that if a porter, who had no obvious reason to follow the stock market, felt the decline was the most important news of the day, the crisis must be far more severe than people thought.

If he was right, if the crisis was deeper and would last longer than many anticipated, Microsoft would need to shift its sales strategy, prioritizing value products rather than premium.

Because he oversaw the company’s 30,000-person sales force, it would rest in his lap to do so.

Getting a 30,000-person organization to align to a new strategy is never easy. To do so mid-year rather than as