Reference no: EM131532248

Question: TAMMY SAVAGE AND THE NETGENERATION

Tammy Savage joined Microsoft's New York City sales office straight out of Cal State, Fresno, when she was 22. A marketing whiz, Savage soon gained a reputation as an expert in understanding the needs of under-30 Internet users-the "Net Generation" or "NetGen." She became a central figure in the New York sales of- fice's dealings with programmers back at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters, and her knowledge of the NetGen led to her promotion. She became a manager in Microsoft's business development group, and she moved to Redmond. Business development keeps a company's products alive and up to date with changing customer needs. Savage used her new more senior position to reevaluate the whole of Microsoft's business development efforts for the NetGen. Her conclusion was that Microsoft was missing the boat and risked losing the NetGens to rival companies like Yahoo! and Google whose instant messenger services were already very popular. Savage's goal was to earn back the loyalty of the NetGen and thereby increase the popularity of Microsoft's own Internet service and instant messaging system. The goal was to come up with a product that the NetGen would just "have to have." Savage used her new power and position to begin a major research program to find out what needs NetGens were trying to satisfy and develop software to meet those needs. Savage presented her new ideas to Microsoft's top managers, including Bill Gates. She explained that the kinds of products NetGen customers wanted were not being made by Microsoft and that it risked losing an entire generation of Internet users if it could not provide a product that inspired them and met the principal needs they were satisfying-the need for online companionship and socialization. Microsoft's top brass heard her out; they knew she had a track record of success, yet they were not persuaded by her arguments.

They could not understand why it was so important to NetGen that they have a product they could use to share their experiences and foster friendships on the web. Luckily for her, though, Microsoft Group VP Jim Allchin did understand what Savage was driving at. He was persuaded by her vision to develop a new generation of Microsoft Internet software that would attract young people. Savage was made the manager and leader of a project team put together to develop the ideal NetGen web software and began to recruit new college software graduates and "NetGeners" to join her team. From the beginning, she adopted the approach to leadership that Microsoft is well known for-a participative and achievement-oriented approach. Since she was recruiting people who were highly competent, showed a drive for achievement, and would have to work in teams where cooperation is vital, Savage knew she had to adopt its participative and achievement-oriented approach. Savage made it clear to team members that if they worked together to push the development of the product quickly along, they would see the results of their efforts right away. In other words, it was up to them to work together to find new ways to develop superior software quickly and take back the NetGen. The result of Savage's team's efforts was the 3-degrees Windows peer-to-peer networking application that allowed users to listen to a shared play list, send digital photos, and initiate group chats with MSN messenger.

The goal of this new kind of "relationship" software was to further the development of online relationships. Its users were able to build a "club," so to speak, of up to ten friends. The software allowed them to create a unique identity for the "club" through shared images, sounds, and animations called "winks." Whenever club members had something interesting to say, he or she could share it with the others and instant message everyone simultaneously. Members thus built online "togetherness" by sharing their music, feelings, and experiences with one another using the software. When the 3-degrees team debuted the new software on Microsoft's internal website it proved to be highly popular. Thousands of Microsoft employees got into the game, forming online clubs to get to know each other better. Microsoft incorporated the 3-degree software into its online offerings, and has made many subsequent improvements to the software so its Hotmail, Windows Messenger, Bing, Windows Live, and other online offerings can compete against those of Google, facebook.com, Twitter, and so on. Questions for Discussion

1. How would you describe Tammy Savage's approach to leadership?

2. What kinds of skills do you think Savage possesses that have made her an effective leader?