Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

How do you manage a company from being a one-time market leader, crushing their competition, to a company that has become a  follower and only reacts to other companies' new products in the marketplace? That's the problem Steve Ballmer faces with Microsoft (MSFT), as they attempt to move to a company whose growth depends on advertising.

Ballmer recently said in Paris that over the next 4 to 10 years, 25% of revenue generated by the company will come from advertising. He was talking to a group of European advertisers at a conference.

When you consider Microsoft has been a follower for a number of years, it's not too difficult to figure out what the problems are.

If you're a follower, it means you are moving slow, that something in the business is causing it to happen.

The major things that involve slowing a business down are things getting too complicated, lack of communication and bureaucracy. All of these contribute to a company slowing down and our people getting discouraged. Last, holding on to something too long can also be a major barrier to being nimble and quick.

All the great managers talk about the need for speed. What may surprise some people though is the lack of moving quickly into markets will usually be systemic, rather than anything else.

By systemic, I mean barriers all across the business that makes it difficult to get things done.

Here's Three things Microsoft and any us need to do to compete:

1. Simplicity

If things aren't simple so people can understand them, it will cause confusion, which always hinders and slows things down. Just like a confused consumer won't buy, a confused person won't move ahead.

2. Flowing Communication

With communication, if we don't have an absolutely free-flow of communication across our company, information will end up getting stuck somewhere in a way that it isn't accessed by the right people. We must allow our people to have access to all information needed to get the job done, so they work like they have ownership and entrepreneurs, rather than mindless employees.

3. Remove Barriers

Third, any barrier in the way of our people should be one of our highest priorities to take action on. One of our main jobs should be a relentless lookout for anything that will hinder our people from doing their jobs, and getting rid of it.

Microsoft, and any company, will need to have leaders that are committed to these areas if they want to move creatively and quickly in markets. Jack Welch has proven when he was at General Electric (GE) that it can be done with a huge company. It's a matter of seeing its importance and committing fully to it that will bring the desired results.