Dan Woodman — the guy who got a Blue Monster tattoo with the internal Microsoft slogan “Change the world or go home.” — has been laid off by Microsoft in its first wave purge of 1,400 employees.
He’s obviously hoping to be hired back, so his response is still vaguely sycophantic:
Working at Microsoft has been the greatest experience of my life and I have no desire to forget about it. And even if I don’t get back into Microsoft right away (which is, by the way, my plan!), then I have a reminder that even outside of Microsoft, I need to do my best to change the world every single day.
That’s a pretty awesome attitude, so good for him. This does seem a bit heartless on Microsoft’s part, I have to say. But for those that think firing a guy who tattooed his loyalty in his flesh is bad Microsoft cricket, let’s think about things for a second: if you were a Microsoft manager, and one of your employees was the Zune guy, wouldn’t he be one of the first guys you’d get rid of?
It Is With Great Sadness… [Dan Woodman via Crunchgear]
I’m sorry, but anything less than branding just isn’t sincere enough.
It’s not like they singled him out. Would you keep an employee on salary just becuase he had a tattoo anyhow? Does that really seem like a wise business decision.
looks like someone chose one of those options for him. (hint: it was the latter)
Strikes me as an object lesson in why you should never make any permanent marks upon your body that you may not want to live with (and by) for the rest of your life.
Never assume that loyalty is commutative. Either direction can break down.
The second guy would be the guy responsible for Games for Windows Liv- oh, wait, they’ve done that already, haven’t they?