Perhaps it has become a tradition. Perhaps it is the slow news season. Perhaps there is an actual reason why Steve Ballmer’s leadership role at Microsoft is under scrutiny and why he is being attacked so harshly lately. At a closer look, Steve Ballmer should, in fact, be thinking about a possible life after Microsoft and not be counting on another decade as CEO of the company. Is Steve Ballmer the best CEO Microsoft does not need? In the end, it may come down to the question how many hits can he survive.

Steve Ballmer is one of the last people on this planet you need to feel sorry for. But I bet there aren’t many people these days who would be willing to trade roles with him. Do you enjoy reading how great of a failure you are, that you are too old and incapable to lead Microsoft into the future? There are countless articles that are utter nonsense and what we usually describe as Google News Bait, including the “100,000 Reasons Why” series some of you may be just as sick of as I am. Steve Ballmer had his fair share in those reasons-why articles, reasons why he is obsessed with something, reasons why he is a failure and reasons why he should resign.

The current tone in the media makes you wonder. Where does the shelling come from? Does Ballmer deserve it? How much can he take? Can the media force him to step down? What makes him stay? Is Microsoft better off without him?

History: The Microsoft We Know Today

Steve Ballmer has to thank Microsoft for everything he is today. In turn, Microsoft has to thank or blame Steve Ballmer for most it is today.

He joined Microsoft in 1980 and celebrated in June his 30th anniversary with the company. He was in charge of a range of business units before becoming CEO in January 2000. Besides Bill Gates, there is no other person on this planet who knows more about Microsoft, its successes, its failures, what works and what not than Steve Ballmer. If there is one person who can talk about what Microsoft is and what it is not, besides Gates, then it is Ballmer. There is a good chance that any Microsoft product you have ever used was touched, influenced and approved, in one way or the other, by Ballmer. Everything we hate and love about Microsoft has to do, in some way, with Ballmer.

Yet we do not identify those products with Ballmer. Ballmer has remained almost invisible over his career and remained virtually inapproachable.

On a personal basis, I can’t quite remember how often I have asked over my 15 year career for an interview with Ballmer and was routinely told that some PR person was seriously looking into it. Eventually, I was always told that he is a very busy person and would not have time to talk to me. Of course, that has to do with effective placement and Business Week and the New York Times usually have worked better for guys like Ballmer than the smaller IT publications for which I have enjoyed writing. I have listened to and admired Ballmer countless times on stage during countless keynotes and business speeches, which may not be everyone’s taste. However, they were always perfectly orchestrated with flawless rhetoric and a pointed message. And you can’t ever claim his speeches are not entertaining.

I don’t have a grudge against him, even if he and Larry Hryb flat-out lied about what he said during one speech last year at a small event in Chicago. I reported, Larry basically said I must have had tomatoes in my ears when I heard Ballmer saying that a new Xbox 360 was coming in 2010. Today we know that 2010 brought a new Xbox 360 and not just Kinect. This may have been an extreme case of the image Ballmer has. Not only did I feel that he was disconnected from Microsoft, but, more importantly, his placement in the media has created an image of a person only a few really know.

In a time where we want to be best buddies with everyone on Facebook and Twitter, Steve Ballmer is still the distant CEO of a company that wants to influence our life everywhere we go and that may be a bit of a problem. I believe that, in the not too distant future, Steve Ballmer will regret that he has not talked to the small blogs that have gained so much PR influence, blogs that are personal and touch our lives. As successful as Steve Ballmer may be and as inadequate he and Microsoft PR may believe a chat transcript on a small blog may be, the more he will represent someone we simply don’t know. The NYT or WSJ may be more reputable, but it’s tough to create passion for Microsoft through those publications. Imagine what a meetup with bloggers could do for Microsoft. Steve Job’s occasional email to a stranger, as arrogant as those messages may be sometimes, go a long way and create a proximity to average people. A proximity Microsoft and Steve Ballmer lack.

Steve Ballmer: Just Gates’ Apprentice?

When Ballmer took over as CEO, he reportedly told other Microsoft executives that he was ready to be CEO and that he would not need Gates, which was a rather foolish statement and rather naïve, if he actually believed it.

When Bill Gates left Microsoft to spend more time with his charity about two years ago, I wrote the following lines for TG Daily:

“I am personally a bit concerned about the Microsoft Bill Gates leaves behind. The Microsoft we will have next Monday is a company that has lost its charismatic face and that is exposed to more challenges than ever before. Microsoft is in danger of losing the Internet race against Google, it has a struggling operating system with a successor that does not appear to be able to turn things around, the gaming and entertainment business lacks focus and there aren’t any significant new ideas coming out of Microsoft that could spark passion for the company. Steve Ballmer may face the perfect storm in the next two years and I wonder if he will be able to sail through it. It seems that Microsoft these days is more vulnerable than ever before and Ballmer will have to come up with solutions that will prevent Microsoft from becoming the General Motors of the IT industry. Somehow it appears that it is this time that Microsoft would need Gates the most. But sometimes you just need to be thrown into the cold water and learn to swim. This is what Ballmer and Microsoft will need to do starting next Monday.“

I would argue that Ballmer continued to do exactly what he had done for Microsoft in the preceding 8 years, but he did not understand what it means to be the CEO of Microsoft without the help of Bill Gates, as arrogant as that may sound on my part. Steve Ballmer has always been Gates’ apprentice. He would have needed to grow past that apprentice role to free Microsoft from the legacy Gates had left behind.

Gates is Microsoft. He is remembered as founder, as creator of Windows, as the visionary behind Microsoft. What will Steve Ballmer be remembered for? In those 30 years and especially in the past 10 years, Ballmer missed to grow past Gates and tie his face to the Microsoft we know today. If you have been around for some time, then I would argue that one of the first things you will remember Steve Ballmer for is his monkey dance and his words “I love this company.” There is more to those words than we may have known at the time. In some way, Ballmer may have given himself up and given many people a chance to grow inside Microsoft, but he missed the chance to become the selfish jerk who would claim the most important successes for himself and establish CEO immortality.

In the end, Ballmer never dropped the shadow of Gates. Until today, Microsoft is identified with Gates, not with Ballmer. Conceivably, if Ballmer left Microsoft today, would you miss him? For what?

Read on the next page: Successes, failures. Who Can Succeed Bill Gates?

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