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We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we're in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There's no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.

Steve Ballmer

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Steve Ballmer
Age: 68
Born: 1956
Born: March 24
Businessman
Computer Scientist
Entrepreneur
Merchant
Detroit
Michigan
Steven Anthony Ballmer
Steve Anthony Ballmer
World
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Touch
Diverge
Unless
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More quotes by Steve Ballmer

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I have lots of sources of information about what's going on at the company. I think I have a pretty good pulse on where we are and what people are thinking.
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Everyone likes to differentiate between business and consumers but I don't see the difference really. Most people are people. I get personal and business mail and I have one set of contacts from my life. I don't want to manage two sets. I want one view of my world.
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All companies of any size have to continue to push to make sure you get the right leaders, the right team, the right people to be fast acting, and fast moving in the marketplace. We've got great leaders, and we continue to attract and promote great new leaders.
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500 dollars? Fully subsidized? With a plan? I said that is the most expensive phone in the world. And it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard. Which makes it not a very good email machine.
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Most people still steal music.
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You get some success. You run into some walls...it's how tenacious you are, how irrepressible, how ultimately optimistic and tenacious you are about it that will determine your success.
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All the consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry. And yet, the real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android.
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My children - in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod.
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I have never, honestly, thrown a chair in my life.
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I don't think anyone has done a [tablet] product that I see customers wanting.
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I’d like to own Microsoft shares until I either give something to charity or I die.
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Accessible design is good design - it benefits people who don't have disabilities as well as people who do. Accessibility is all about removing barriers and providing the benefits of technology for everyone.
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Developers, developers, developers, developers.
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Since I'm not a seller of the stock, I don't really care what it is today.
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Great companies with the way they work, first start with great leaders.
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This is a great opportunity for Don, and I wish him success. I am incredibly proud of the work and vision culminating in Xbox One. I'm particularly excited about how Xbox pushes forward our devices and services transformation by bringing together the best of Microsoft.
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It's how tenacious you are that will determine your success.
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We've grown from 18% of the profits of the top 25 companies in our industry to 23% of the profits of the top 25 companies in our industry over the last five years. Profits are up over 70%, where the industry profit is up about 35%. Pretty good.
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My wife spent a lot of time on what we do from a civic contribution giving perspective, for a number of years, I've really joined her in that. We're focused on issues in the United States, particularly issues with people who have been trapped in neighborhoods in what I might call intergenerational poverty.
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Google's not a real company. It's a house of cards.
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