"In Tuesday's (1/10/95) WSJ in the Marketplace section on the front page is an
excellent article with many excellent examples of how an employee at
Microsoft (Ms. Fries -- forgot her first name, last name sounds like
'freeze') had an idea for a new operating system for home computers and how
she eventually got Bill Gates to fund her project. An wonderful real life
story of how one person can MOVE an organization! This past week Microsoft
announced an easy to use operating system(no manuals!) named BOB.
"It appears that much of Ms. Fries 'wing flapping' was to network smart. She
slowly built a coalition of people that she knew could influence the funding
decision. She even got Bill G's wife, Melinda French, to be the product
manager! Although Melinda is an influential network tie...she would not have
signed on if there was not a serious alliance already built. I highly
recommend Wayne Baker's book NETWORKING SMART for those who want to start
excercsing their wings in their organizations."
And this points back to our brief discussion about Carl-Henrik Robert's very
successful approach to gaining momentum to develop a sustainable society one
"Natural Step" at a time.
Marilyn Darling
mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu