Ballmer Used To Bring A Baseball Bat In Company Meetings

February 14, 2013
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Oh, boy this is rich! Hoho, baseball bats? Company meetings? You’ve got to be kidding me! Almost everyone on planet Earth knows that CEO Steve Ballmer is a highly dynamic personality.

The guy gets excited fast, and often channels the energy in peculiar ways. How peculiar, you ask? Well how does bringing baseball bats into meetings at Microsoft sounds?

Joachim Kempin (yeah, who else) in a recent interview said that Ballmer used to play the bad guy role during company meetings. But when he was really happy he often bought a baseball bat with him.

Talking to ReadWriteWeb, Kempin revealed:

“Steve sometimes walks down the hallways bouncing a basketball. Or if he’s having a really good day he’s swinging a baseball bat. Do you think that sends a signal? Sometimes he brings it with him into the conference room. Is it symbolic? Maybe. I don’t know. I would never do that.

For me it doesn’t send the right message. The man has some nervous energy and that’s how he gets rid of it. Have I heard him yelling? Yeah, I have.”

Still, he says that Ballmer used to regret some of his explosive outbursts, and usually apologizes whenever he crossed the line in front of his colleagues. So yeah, a good guy, just far too animated:

“Most of the time he apologizes afterwards. He’s just a very high-strung guy. He’s not a bad guy. He just goes overboard sometimes.”

Anyway, this highly dynamic personality may be one of the reasons why Kempin actually never went back to Redmond after leaving the company to catch up with Ballmer.

Oh well, we can always do with some behind the scene gossip like this at how things are run at one of the biggest computing firms on the planet. Let’s see what more Mr. Kempin has in store for us in the coming days and weeks.

Article Categories:
Microsoft · Steve Ballmer

Mike Johnson is a writer for The Redmond Cloud - the most comprehensive source of news and information about Microsoft Azure and the Microsoft Cloud. He enjoys writing about Azure Security, IOT and the Blockchain.

All Comments

  • Ball-mer and his collagues need marketing lessons (damn, Win.8 and Surface could use some better moves)

    Robert Trance February 14, 2013 8:47 am Reply
    • Haha, Ball-mer, funniest thing I’ve read all week! 😛 Made my day!

      Fahad Ali February 14, 2013 9:12 am Reply
      • Always a pleasure!!

        Robert Trance February 14, 2013 11:59 am Reply
  • I think these comments just collaborate what I expected. This guy has a personal vendetta against Ballmer. Is Ballmer unusual? Absolutely.
    But to me the thing is clear, if the only time he carried a bat was to meetings, and he never said much during them, I would take it as meaning that dissent is not allowed. However, If he walks the halls with it and other sports items, I would think it shows a highly intelligent, unothodox mentalilty. This alone does not say a lot. I think it is just a single point in what is probably a pretty complicated person.
    I would like to know more about Ballmer personally before coming to any judgement. Things to look for are how he treats people walking the halls. Does he greet them? Does he remember their names? Remember people all work differently. Some dont take any other opinons then their own. Other take opinions openly. While others dont take publicly stated opinions well, but may be open to them if expressed privately and respectfully. Socially intelligent people can discern who falls into what categrory. My guess is that Ballmer fits in the last one, but I certainly dont know him well enough to be sure.

    Rex February 14, 2013 6:16 pm Reply
    • I agree, but then again a lot of people seem to have something personal against Ballmer. As you put it, he is unusual, and I am sure this fact has got a lot to do with it.

      Fahad Ali February 15, 2013 10:40 am Reply
  • I think these comments just collaborate what I expected. This guy has a personal vendetta against Ballmer. Is Ballmer unusual? Absolutely.
    But to me the thing is clear, if the only time he carried a bat was to meetings, and he never said much during them, I would take it as meaning that dissent is not allowed. However, If he walks the halls with it and other sports items, I would think it shows a highly intelligent, unothodox mentalilty. This alone does not say a lot. I think it is just a single point in what is probably a pretty complicated person.
    I would like to know more about Ballmer personally before coming to any judgement. Things to look for are how he treats people walking the halls. Does he greet them? Does he remember their names? Remember people all work differently. Some dont take any other opinons then their own. Other take opinions openly. While others dont take publicly stated opinions well, but may be open to them if expressed privately and respectfully. Socially intelligent people can discern who falls into what categrory. My guess is that Ballmer fits in the last one, but I certainly dont know him well enough to be sure.

    Rex February 14, 2013 6:16 pm Reply

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