I am feeling somewhat nostalgic now that Sun Microsystems is being swallowed by Oracle. Sun was a great place to work. But it was also a very hectic and unfocused organization. Sun was among the best and worst places I have worked.
That said, these experiences taught me a lot. In reflecting on the lessons I learned there, I have captured the following key points:
1. A Small Group of People Can Change the World(java)
2. Founder CEOs should have term limits of 10 year.
3. Bad executives do enormous amounts of damage.
4. Good executives can get organizations to achieve more than they were naturally capable of.
5. No amount of “vision marketing” can move you out of an uncompetitive position
6. Never take a job with “Strategy” in the title.
7. Bad organizations can make good people behave badly
8. Threats from Management Are Failures By Management
9. Beware the “game changing” new product release.
This is a preliminary list, and I will be updating each of these with a paragraph or 2 of exposition/explanation. If you are a Sun refugee and would like to add your 2 cents, please do.