Microsoft

I've had some great experiences at Microsoft and have worked with almost every team or discipline.

I've had the unique opportunity of getting mentoring from some of our (useful) C-level leadership.

I've worked with some of the smartest people I've ever met and have seen history made.

Two words: Stack ranking.

I've watched people who were staggeringly good at some roles and/or technologies demonstrate it.

Too bad for them that, while in the company's best interests, it wasn't in their job description. This issue also sets people up to fail if you're dependent on another team or person to get your deliverables done.

They don't meet their commitments or deadlines; you don't meet yours.

Guess who gets penalized?

You can do their job to get yourself unblocked, but that's strongly discouraged.

A meeting to talk about having a meeting to get unblocked is strongly encouraged.

Think before you act.

Make sure you have the right people in the room when decisions are being made.

Far too often, multi-million dollar mistakes are made when having just a single operations person in the room would tell them it's a huge mistake and that they shouldn't do it.

SteveB has decided to move on, and the Company Meeting will likely have at least a half-hour tribute to the man. That half-hour would be better served reassuring employees that whoever is next in line won't make the same mistakes.