I spent the last two days at the Seattle Innovation Symposium. What a fascinating event. I was invited to share my observations around innovation in Microsoft. Those who know me and how I feel about some of the things that happen in my company would not have been surprised with my views regarding the lack of flexibility, the slow reaction in many cases, the “play it safe” mentality, the flawed progression and reward structure, etc. It was fun to disagree with my fellow Microsoft employee at the event 🙂 The Google folks didn’t turn up for the discussion panel, apparently after their PR didn’t allow them to.

It was one of the very few such meetings that I actually paid attention throughout. The people and the structure of the event captured my full attention (which translates to minimum email processing during the presentations and discussions). Many clever people talking about business, executive decisions, corporate culture, innovation, organizational structure. Hmmm… I wonder whether an MBA should be part of my future plans 🙂

It was totally worth my time!