High Noon Lib/E: The Inside Story of Scott McNealy and the Rise of Sun Microsystems

by Karen Southwick, Sneha Mathan (Narrator)

Author Karen Southwick has pulled off an impressive feat: She's written "the inside story" on Sun Microsystems and its unconventional founder, Scott McNealy, without actually talking to McNealy. While the reasons for McNealy's reticence aren't explained in any detail, his absence is barely noticeable once you get into Southwick's fast-paced, well-written account. Based on conversations with a variety of sources, including company insiders and competitors, the author creates a lively portrait of Sun and its head honcho. The book is designed to appeal "to managers interested in applying Sun's innovative techniques to their own companies, as well as to anyone intrigued by the compelling story of this unique Silicon Valley company."

Highlights:

Illustrates how McNealy is a study in contrasts. Example: He has degrees from Harvard and Stanford, but is also a wisecracking master of the 10-second sound byte. (He once called Bill Gates and his right-hand man, Steve Ballmer, "Ballmer and Butt-head.") Describes how Sun's corporate culture reflects McNealy's own personality, and shows the advantages and disadvantages of this. (On one hand, the company has a minimal level of defined processes and a predilection for chaos. On the other, it means "the Sun culture is for neither the thin-skinned nor the anal-retentive soul who prefers a carefully ordered existence.") Discusses the struggle within the company to keep its creative juices flowing, while also implementing the business processes needed to manage the company's rapid growth. Explains why Sun, Java and McNealy have been locked in combat with Microsoft and Gates.

Advantages:

Offers a comprehensive look at how McNealy uses a "highly coupled, loosely aligned" structure to succeed. Shows why successful companies can't be afraid to take chances. For example, "McNealy's fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants management style has guided the company more than once into storms of controversy ... Sun has emerged, if not unscathed, at least wiser for its mistakes."

Related Titles:

For an in-depth examination of Java, try Not Just Java. For a behind-the-scenes look at Sun's rival Microsoft, check out Barbarians Led by Bill Gates.

Reviewed by MH - November 1, 1999

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

8 pages, Audio CD

First published August 13, 1999

Reviews

[Kurt Geisel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I became interested in the culture of Sun after hearing a talk given by an ex-Sun employee, which lead me to read the farwell memo Scott McNealy wrote to his employees after Oracle agreed to purchase the company. The informal internal motto, "Kick butt and have fun," is in fact not a bad distillation of that culture. I also find it can be interesting to read "rise of" accounts before the "fall of" account has been written. It often highlights what the blindspots really were, without the full benefit of hindsight.

Unfortunately, I struggled to find depth of insight in this account. It purports to focus on McNealy and who he was. Plenty of time is spent on McNealy's tendency towards hyperbole and showmanship and his obsession wih competing with Microsoft. His appearances on stage as "Java Man", or wearing a full hockey uniform are described in detail. But I found very little on his decision-making process.

There are plenty of hilarious quotes of historical naivite. For example, the early days of consumers embracing the Internet promised the prize of "the Internet and its nearly one million users" (!). And yet, I didn't get a good sense of what were the blindspots that were going to emerge as forces in the eventual downfall of this once-great company.

Thankfully, there is attention given to the other significant players at Sun, including the original founders as well as recognized software giants such as Bill Joy and James Gosling.

Overall, I accomplished my goal of traveling back to 1998 to revisit that picture of the industry, but I was left wanting for deeper insight and a richer read.

[Metin Ozsavran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written well. I don't get the negative reviews. Karen foresaw most of today's buzzwords from 2 decades away.

[Asher Mancinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was unfortunately a bit shallow and light on technical details, which is unfortunate because the history of Sun is quite interesting.

[Laurie Monahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it 10 years ago, but remember I thought it had good insight into growing a business