Carolina MilanesiAfter my vacation in Sardinia last week came abruptly to an end at 7.30 am on Friday morning when I received the first call from the press on Nokia’s new CEO. I am gearing up to go into London for Nokia World that starts tomorrow.
With OPK not on stage and Anssi Vanjoki resigning today I wonder how many in the audience will pay much attention to what will be said? Although the first announcement was planned I doubt the second was. The result might still be a good one for Nokia. At the end of the day, any product announced tomorrow is likely going to follow in the footpath of the N8 – the best N series device Nokia has had since the N95 but still a long way away from an iPhone. We know this because we know Nokia needs Symbian ^4 to make radical improvements on the user interface. So I argue that any more promises made on stage tomorrow about what is to come would have not helped Nokia much with or without OPK and Vanjoki. Seeing the old guard leave will however help Nokia show they are serious about making changes.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 S.Suri September 13, 2010 at 10:48 am
OPK’s departure from Nokia was no surprise to anyone with his/her antenna tuned to the right frequency. To be quite honest Vanjoki’s position was also the subject of much speculation. Only the timing and manner of his exit was a surprise. And I am sure it was a surprise to even Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila. Although he must have expected some sort of a protest by defeated insider Vanjoki for having been sidestepped for the second time in the contest for the post of Nokia CEO, the timing of Vanjoki’s resignation was not according to Ollila’s original manuscript.
However, Vanjoki should be praised for his boldness and daring to tell openly the reasons behind his decision to leave Nokia after having been a member of Ollila’s original “Dream Team” ever since Ollila became Nokia’s CEO in 1991. The original team had about 8-10 members to begin with. Over the years all else have left Nokia for some reason or the other. The only surviving and active members of this so-called “Jorma’s gang” were until last Friday OPK, Vanjoki and Ollila himself.
Now Ollila is left alone. Ollila bowed to investor’s pressure in late May although he defiantly defended and supported his long-time buddy and colleague OPK at Nokia’s AGM in early May. Now, Ollila admitted last Friday, that the search for OPK’s replacement began in late May this year. After long deliberations Nokia’s board decided to bring in Stephen Elop from Microsoft.
Nokia’s new General Stephen Elop will surely need all the cooperation he can possibly get from Nokia’s personnel and his own lieutenants. But the dramatic exit of senior VP Anssi Vanjoki casts an ominous shadow on Elop’s efforts to steer the Flagship of Finland’s economy successfully out of the storm even before he has put his hands on the steering wheel of this large and heavy Titanic- like ship.
Is Vanjoki’s unexpected and dramatic jump overboard to be interpreted as an early warning signal about the high winds and turbulent weather conditions that Stephen Elop should expect on the top floors of Nokia’s glass- walled headquarters in Espoo on the seashore of the notoriously unpredictable Baltic sea?
2 S.Suri September 15, 2010 at 5:22 am
This morning( 15 Sep.) management “gurus” and experts( professors) warned in a televised discussion of the risks involved in bringing about sweeping changes at Nokia. Loss of motivation, defections, avoidance of taking responsibility and a sense of pessimism and contagious depression were among the risks awaiting Nokia according to these experts if Nokia brings about radical changes in its management structure or strategies.
So, it is a question of choice for new CEO Stephen Elop. Either make the urgently needed changes and risk all the above mentioned consequences or let the status quo continue for some time so that he gets to know and learn about the working of the Nokia machine better from the inside?
Bringing in an “outsider visionary” would be considered by experienced Nokia managers and top executives as another intruder or in medical terms another artificial graft. That would trigger a violent graft rejection reaction. The exit of Anssi Vanjoki is a perfect class book example of such a violent reaction.
Can Stephen Elop afford to take such a risk? If the devilish scenario as envisaged by Finland’s leading management experts materialises, then Elop’s days as head of Nokia will be numbered.
The choice for Elop is: choose between the devil and the deep sea.
3 Funky Santa Clause September 15, 2010 at 10:45 am
May i ask you a personal question..?
What color of bumper you prefer on you new expensive Apple smartphone, is it black, orange or a green one..?