Ballmer: I Could Be a Winning Basketball Coach
Could you imagine Steve Ballmer as your coach?
Steve Ballmer isn’t a graceful man, but there’s no disputing that he’s passionate. Ballmer is able to get people excited with his enthusiasm (and sweat), which is part of the reason why he’s leading the way at Microsoft right now.
In an interview with the New York Times, Ballmer was asked what the hardest part of his job is. He replied, “Finding the right balance between optimism and realism. I’m an optimist by nature, and I start from the belief that you can always succeed if you have the right amount of focus combined with the right amount of hard work.”
“So I can get frustrated when progress runs up against issues that should have been anticipated or that simply couldn’t have been foreseen,” he added. “A realist knows that a certain amount of that is inevitable, but the optimist in me always struggles when progress doesn’t match my expectations.”
Those who have seen Ballmer’s presentations or listened to his interviews know that the man likes to talk and think fast, often throwing in bold statements. Everyone knows that he’s good at the talking bit, but he’s working on becoming a better listener. How? By slowing down his brain, of course.
“My brain races too much, so even if I’ve listened to everything somebody said, unless you show that you’ve digested it, people don’t think they are being well heard. Sometimes you really don’t hear because you’re racing,” the Microsoft CEO admitted. “It’s just the way my brain works. My brain is just chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.”
Steve Ballmer has been at Microsoft for 29 years now, but what would he be doing if he hadn’t met Bill Gates?
“Education, probably. I like working with young people, and I think it’s really important to encourage talent,” said Ballmer. “I love basketball, so I could see myself as a high school basketball coach. I think a basketball team that I coached would have a really good chance of being a winner.”
- Blaster Transformer Disguises as Laptop, USB Hub
- Media Companies to Pirate Bay: We Want More $$
- Microsoft Cancels EU Antitrust Hearing
- Apple Faced With Protesters in Taipei
- QOTD: What's the Oldest Console You Still Play?
- Cool Your PC or Laptop with Ionic Wind
- Researchers Find Way to Put 1.6 TB on a DVD
- Microsoft Penalized $200M for Word XML Patent
- Pirate Bay Bias Reviewer Removed for Bias
- Intel's Linux-based Moblin 2.0 OS Goes Open Beta
- QOTD: Which Steve: Ballmer or Jobs?
- • Women Attracted to Scent of Anti-Static Bags
- • 7 Gaming Systems that Were Epic Failures
- • Teachers Twitter Lessons for Jaded Youths
- • AMD to Win Cyberdyne Systems CPU Contract
- Tom's Hardware Italy Lands 3DMark Hall of Fame
- Microsoft to Invest $80M in Advertising "BING"
- Microsoft Puts Limits on Windows 7 Netbook Specs
Now presenting:
Balmer gone Wild!
18 hours of pure uncut footage, with some of the hotests microsoft blow-ups! And if you order now, you'll get a 13 hour bonus sweat edition! Watch Balmer drip and glisten!
I love this guy, even though it's weird to be so excited about.. software...
Ballmer could have been a coach, but he's made to be visible 
Would you see him selling cars? MAN that'd be awesome!! Remember Crazy Earl from Weird Al Yankovic's UHF: "People come to me and say, Hey, WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THOSE CARS!!! I tell you what, if nobody comes down here and buys me a car in the next hour, I'M GONNA CLUB THIS SEAL! I'M GONNA CLUB A BABY SEAL TO MAKE A BETTER DEAL! You know I'll do it, cause I'm crazy!"
Hahaha I love this line
I think he should leave MS and become a basketball coach. Someone with ADD has no right to be the head of one of the biggest companies in the world. He probably can't concentrate on one thing more than 5 seconds. Its good to see someone who is excited about a product, but Bill Gates was excited without looking like he's going to have a heart attack.
Ballmer reminds me of this character I saw on a recent Law and Order. They guy was a schizophrenic roller skater street performer. Even when they had him in the interrogation room he couldn't sit still. lol
His head would make a nice basketball. It's about the correct shape and size.
Ballmer is a freak.
Thats some battle scream?
If not for microsoft i think he would be a nut in a huge fruitcake storage and when allowed to get out of his jacket he might run a fantasy baseball league.
Seriously i thinks its cool people can get excited about the things they like but to take this guy serious is almost like being a bigger nut yourself.
I think he is more of a cheerleader than a coach in that vid
Not that I don't love me some Ballmer, but where is the news here? Did Tom's do an interview, or was this something he just said recently and you stuck a new quote at the end of several paragraphs?
I wonder if he'd be paired with Isiah Thomas as GM.
Just watch that video and tell me Ballmer isn't the missing link in human evolution. You can't, because he totally is.
Really missing it's monkey(*) dance - NOT
It makes you think twice, before sinking one more cent in m$, just to make this fat clown richer (of course it loves it's ca$h-cow) - mr. "yummy" (have you checked you're tongue lately? it's wearing off fa$t) and m$ fankiddies are, of course, excluded.
*: my excuses to all monkeys, they are intelligent beings
and they say white men can't dance...
"I love this company YEEEAAHHHHSSSSS" could also be considered 5 words.... just a thought...
this is when i start thinking damn we should clone gates....
Just watch that video and tell me Ballmer isn't the missing link in human evolution. You can't, because he totally is.
No,
He's the next step.
Oh, he's such a great leader, and a visionary: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance"
And this is not a reaction, and an attitude worth of a Microsoft CEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo
Either he's really out of touch with the reality, or he's just talking for the gullible ...
Oh, he's such a great leader, and a visionary: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance"And this is not a reaction, and an attitude worth of a Microsoft CEO:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvoEither he's really out of touch with the reality, or he's just talking for the gullible ...
Yeah, because Jobb's opinions on netbooks have been completely spot on.