Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has cracked the code for a successful second act

admin July 29, 2024

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Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has cracked the code for a successful second act

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores leadership practices drawn from interviews with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages ofInc.againFast company.If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to receive it every Monday morning.

Being a CEO these days is tough: Pressures include satisfying shareholders, managing rising costs and solving ongoing supply chain problems, and creating great workplaces. But for many managers, beinge.g-The CEO presents his own set of challenges. Some are struggling to cope with the loss of benefits and status that comes with the job, while others feel obligated to follow the well-trodden path to private equity or corporate boards.

“Each year, thousands of executives retire from long and successful corporate careers. But few are ready for the journey they are about to embark on,” said former Frontier Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter earlier this year.Harvard Business ReviewAn essay, written with career coach Rick Smith and hunter Dennis Carey.

Life beyond Microsoft

Another former company executive who seems to have found his place is former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion in 2014 and recently unveiled the team’s new home, the Intuit Dome. (Fast companyhe calls it “Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion playground for LA Clippers fans.”)

The team and the platform have given Ballmer a sense of purpose, which has, in some ways, transcended his experience at the tech giant. “I worked on a lot of products when I was at Microsoft, and I loved them all,” Ballmer said during an interview this month at the Intuit Dome in front of an audience that included members of Young. The Association of Presidents and construction workers who helped build this building and their families. “But … in the development of this building, I probably had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, and I was very satisfied, not only because it was good, but [because] it’s an investment in the community, too.”

The Intuit Dome was a passion project for Ballmer, who wanted to make sure all fans had a great experience. Every seat is designed with easy access to concessions and toilets, power for phone charging, and ample leg room, all without the price of a ticket.

Ballmer’s big investment is paying off. The Clippers won 51 games in the 2023-2024 season, finishing fourth in the NBA Western Conference. (The Dallas Mavericks eliminated the team from the playoffs.) And Ballmer regularly ranks as one of the NBA’s top owners in fan polls.

He is an unlikely example of post-CEO life. His retirement from Microsoft in 2014 after 34 years at the company and 13 years as CEO was emotional and painful. Although profits nearly tripled during his tenure, the stock tanked, and the company missed an opportunity to become a player in mobile devices and Internet services. Under pressure from the company’s board, Ballmer sought to restructure the company before finally deciding that he was not the best person to take Microsoft forward. A journalist who reported on his departure from Microsoft described him as “very sad to leave the company.”

CEO, reinvented

Part of what makes Ballmer a second success story is that he didn’t try to recreate his corporate life. Instead, he seized the opportunity to acquire the Clippers after former owner Donald Sterling was denied ownership of the team or affiliation with the NBA. “Having too many choices can lead to decision fatigue, reverting to default options, or even avoiding making a decision altogether,” Wilderotter and his co-authors said, advising former CEOs to instead redefine their purpose or identity. (Ballmer is also the founder of USAFacts, a nonpartisan data company.)

Bill George, the former CEO of Medtronic who returned to leadership after retirement, said that successful CEOs are those who find ways to “create or improve things that will outlive them.”

During our on-field interview, Ballmer echoed this sentiment. “Someone once told me, ‘No one has ever had a basketball team. Take care of it. He shepherds it, and he delivers it,’” he says. “The Intuit Dome can be a small part of what I do to shepherd this team. Because it’s owned by the fans at the end of the day, and we take care of it.”

Are you a one-time CEO in the second act?

Are you a former CEO who found purpose in your second act? How did you go about finding a new identity? Send your information and anecdotes to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I will share some great examples in an upcoming newsletter.

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