I just watched the 1+ hour video. I must say the whole thing was uninspiring and capping it with that comment at the end just made took it from bad to worse.
Across the board, the answers he gave seem to have no aim. They were answers for the sake of answers. The comment about women and raises came right after a story he told of a female boss he had who told him to calm down and not expect promotions/raises. He took that answer and let it cloud his thinking when he answered about women and raises. I.e., he was told to be quiet and wait for the company to promote him. Why would his answer for women doing the same be different.
I don't know what good comes out of saying you had a woman boss who told you to not push for your career. He seemed to want to say that as to say there have been women in his professional life. He didn't think as to why telling that story would advance any cause for him.
His answers for technology and future were extremely uninspiring. May devices around the cloud getting smarter and helping you get more done. I know that is his strategy and that of Microsoft but in a public forum, there needs to be more angles to this that is exciting to hear. That is what you may say to employees but who in the general audience wants to hear that?
It was an interesting contrast to listen and watch the interviewer, Dr. Klawe who is on Microsoft board. She was herself. She was genuine. And she had 100% direct advice for the audience. She was comfortable on stage. Granted, this was her kind of event but still, the CEO of a major corporation should have come across better, much better. Not less.
I agree that the company just got blacklisted and will have a hard to time enticing women to the company at senior positions. When I was there, the women kept secret scores of which VP was better to work for and they would all jump at any chance to work for that VP. And shy away from any with reputation otherwise.
