Clinton in Redmond..Is Ballmer Stepping Aside

There are some rumors circulating that Steve Ballmer is about to step aside at Microsoft as its day to day operations head to make room for another president. Ken and I reported on this on KenRadio's World Technology Roundup earlier today.

Bill Clinton.

Here's what I know. Sources near Microsoft headquarters report that over the past few months the ex cigar smoking prexy has made trips to Microsoft headquarters and has been interviewing for the top slot as the company looks at ways to transform themselves for the future. Given the global implications of technology, having a leader that is an ex country president would be massive.

Why now? Well Ballmer has driven the company. His hard charging sales leadership style helped Microsoft during a time when that approach was needed. But Microsoft folks I've talked to admit those days are over and a new style is needed to be more change oriented.

Given Clinton's global stature and statesman status just imagine the possibilities of what that would mean to Microsoft.

But this is only a rumor now, and no one at Microsoft would dare to comment on this one, so why bother asking...if true, you can say you read it here first.

UPDATE--Some readers and other sources say Bill's visits to Redmond have had more to do with being on the Microsoft board than anything else...stay tuned.