Re: Oracle's Mission Statement

Mike wrote:

> Wouldn't be the first organization to struggle with the differences
> between a vision and mission...
>
> What's really interesting is their "implied" vision...
>
> Ellison would love to own the data centre from the database
> through to enterprise apps...
>
> As another example Gates wants each and every PC user on
> the planet to kick a grand his way each year and he'll cook up
> all the software they can eat...
>
> Neither implied vision seems to include principles around fair
> competition or anything tying to particular value to the customer...
>
> Still cynical after 20+ years in this industry...
>
> Mike

Both Bill and Larry are executives in for-profit US corporations. They are bound, and I do mean bound by law, to maximize shareholder value. If they do it they are doing what they have been asked to do. If they don't they get the boot like Phil Condit, CEO of Boeing, just did.

Am I happy with the way it plays out all of the time? No. Am I happy when people like Gates and Balmer cross the line into criminal activity? No. But lets be careful to criticize the real culprit here. And for the most part it is a system that only rewards those that do what Bill and Larry do. And it is we, the electorate, that has created and nurtured and legitimized that system. We need to blame the guy in the mirror too.

-- 
Daniel Morgan
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ext/certificates/oad/oad_crs.asp
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ext/certificates/aoa/aoa_crs.asp
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
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