Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter (Part 7)

After her time as CEO of Wink, Maggie’s next move was to Microsoft where she helped them with their interactive television business. Her background in cable and software was certainly an advantage, however her talent for cultivating and developing relationships with partners is truly an incredible asset that she is famous for in the industry.

SM: After Wink you went to Microsoft? MW: I did. Microsoft had owned 10% of Wink. We had great investors in Wink. Paul Allen owned 5% of the company, GE owned 5% of the company, Microsoft owned 10%, and General Instruments which is now part of Motorola was also one of the investors. We had great strategic partnerships to really help us in the business. It gave me, as the CEO, the opportunity to get to know a number of the principals in those companies, which is how I got to know the Microsoft folks. When I sold the company Steve Balmer had given me a call and asked what my plans were.

I told him I was thinking about taking a month or two off before I decided on my next move. However, he insisted that I come up and spend some time talking with him and Bill Gates and Craig Mundie to see if there were some opportunities for me to help them in their interactive television environment. At the time, if you recall, they had purchased Web TV. We at little Wink had a lot more success in the marketplace than they did in terms of getting distribution. One options was for me to go up and help them figure out how to put together successful partnerships and have a stronger customers focus.

SM: You could also leverage your personal relationships from your cable days and Wink days, which they did not necessarily have, right? MW: That is true, but as I said to them, it is all about building relationships and learning how to make that part of the culture work. When I went to Microsoft and talked to Bill Gates and to Steve, I indicated to them that I really wanted to run another company but I would be willing to do this for a year or so to help them out with their global business strategy.

I wound up staying two years. The second year I was at Microsoft I ran the government and education business world wide for the company. For Microsoft, being a global company, their largest or second largest customer in every market is government and education. It was a great opportunity for me to help build relationships and forge alliances in these different countries around the world, especially in a number of developing countries where software and capabilities that Microsoft had could really help grow the economic environment by making education more affordable and accessible. This is especially true on the technology side.

[to be continued]

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
[Part 4]
[Part 5]
[Part 6]

This segment is part 7 in the series : Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter
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