Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter (Part 8)
Check other articles in the series...During her time with Microsoft, Maggie ran global business development and strategy, followed by the Government and Education businesses worldwide. Among her most challenging issues were protecting intellectual property rights and convincing governments in underdeveloped countries that IP was an issue that would hinder their development.
SM: Did you work with China and India? MW: Absolutely! China, India, Brazil, Russia, the Bric Countries, they were all a big focus for us. We worked a lot in the Middle East trying to build economic development and access the capabilities there. We also worked in our traditional markets such as Europe and Australia, and we worked in many of the countries in Africa. Of course it goes without saying we were in the US and Canada.
SM: How did you deal with the piracy in China? MW: It was not easy. One of the evangelisms we did at the government level was constant explanation that intellectual property is extremely important to any company, especially a western company, to come to India and China and unless the governments put in place mechanisms to protect intellectual property it would hold back growth in these very high-growth opportunity countries. In these countries it takes a long time to work with government on these subjects, and I am very pleased to see China being a lot more proactive on the intellectual property front over the last several years. India has been very good as well.
SM: So you stayed at Microsoft and helped them with strategy in the government and education area for two years. Was the interest in Microsoft because they were recruiting you, or did you also want to gain something out of that move? MW: I think whenever you decide to take a position it has to be a win / win for the employee and for the company. I felt I could bring a lot to the table and add value in terms of building business through relationships, how to reposition the company from a strategic perspective, how to help in the government an education space. In addition, I had the tremendous opportunity to work with some of the great leaders of one of the top technology companies of all time. It was a gift to be able to work with Bill Gates, Steve Balmer and Craig Mundie, among others.
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