Scott McNealy is the Chairman of a computer technology organization named, Sun Microsystems. The company was co-founded by him in the year 1982 along with four other people, Bill Joy, Vinod Khosla, and Andy Bechtolsheim (Wikipedia, 1). Scott was born on November 13, 1954, in Indiana, the U.S.A in the city of Columbus. As far as his education is concerned, he did his BA in Economics from Harvard University in 1976, and MBA from Stanford University in the year 1980 (Robot, 1).
Scott McNealy met Joy, Khosla, and Bechtolsheim during his MBA at Stanford University; where these people worked under the computer project named, Stanford University Network. The name of the company ‘SUN’ is derived from that network. Going back to the year 1984, Scott McNealy started to serve as the Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of Sun Microsystems, where he worked with heart and soul and guided the company towards the constant modernization in open, network computing.
His motivation for letting the company achieve continuous motivation was the need to build Sun Microsystems as a strong competitor. Although he was from a business background, still he was very efficient and had great knowledge regarding high technology programs, networking, and software; and that could be the reason that he is working as a chairman of Sun Microsystems.
He remained the CEO of the company till 2006 when he stepped down from the post and assigned the job to Jonathan Schwartz. In his huge tenure of 22 years, Scott McNealy turned around the company by making it one of the leading companies to provide networking computing infrastructure. The company – worldwide – had employees of around 37,900; moreover, he positioned the company in such a way that portrays it as the sculpture of corporate integrity. He created the Sun as one of the most outstanding technology companies that traded publicly.
What made him one of the most significant and extensively quoted leaders in the fast-moving and multifaceted IT industry is his vision and business wisdom to do more and achieve more. He has managed the deployment of excellent products of the company; along with that, he ensured the presence of security in every Sun product considering the effect of the network on privacy and safety. His leadership qualities were outstanding, which helped Sun Microsystems to outclass its competitors, to gain an upper hand over them, to innovate and learn from the market, to make the most of the opportunities from the economies whether they are favorable or not, and to claim his responsibilities to make the company as one of the great technology companies in the world.
Not only this, McNealy’s contributions to the industry are worth considering; he supported the agenda of the industry through his vision and need for constant innovation. Scott McNealy tackles the controversial issues firmly and without hesitation; moreover, he stood the company in a sound position in today’s souk because of his firm belief in innovation and continuous Research and Development. He always fights for openness; he once said, “Without choice, you have no innovation. Without innovation, you have nothing” (Sun, 1).
These days – as the Chairman of Sun Microsystems – Scott McNealy continues to enforce his vision and leadership for the betterment of the company and to encourage the competitive practices and learning process within the organization; moreover, he is working with Curriki which is worldwide learning and education community and is committed to delivering the vast access to knowledge.
As far as the publications of Scott McNealy are concerned, he has not written any book in the last five years; however, he has delivered several lectures and interviews on many occasions such as, at universities, colleges, and seminars. The podcasts of such lectures and interviews can be accessed online.
Talking about his physical appearance, he looks like a robust and sturdy man with small hair, great height, fair color, and a big smile on his face. A true Entrepreneurial look comes in his appearance, which depicts him as one of the persons who have a high ambition, vision, great need for achievement, and also success with his work.
A book has been written by Karen Southwick that talks about the inside story of Scott McNealy and the rise of his company, Sun Microsystems. The book tells us that Scott McNealy felt the threat from Microsoft to his company and the overall industry, he criticized Microsoft several times and has adversarial relationships with it. He initially focused on the company by reshuffling the production and minimizing the costs of workstations; he built strong relationships with Java to give Microsoft a hard time.
The foundation of the success of Sun Microsystems can be understood by its journey which is an example of how to do things properly; especially when it comes to piercing in the market, reinventing the company, and promoting innovation and increased R&D. The book tells us that the company has a remarkable history – that took on several challenges and finds the path to success – which is the foundation of Sun’s remarkable achievements and increased competition (Southwick, 1999).
Works Cited
Photo of Scott McNealy. 2009. Web.
Robat. C. Scott McNealy. Thocp. 2009. Web.
Southwick. K. High noon: the inside story of Scott McNealy and the rise of Sun Microsystems. Illustrated edition. John Wiley and Sons, 1999.
Sun Microsystems. Scott McNealy: Chairman and Co-founder. Sun Microsystems. 2009. Web.
Wikipedia. Scott McNealy. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Web.