David Tebbutt over at Teblog speculates that Scoble may have outlived his usefulness to Microsoft and so they are allowing him to wander around meeting people, setting up his er... Blogger Dinners and building up a powerful personal brand. David thinks that perhaps Microsoft is intentionally showing him how sweet it could be for him on the outside rather than on the inside.
Boy, it wold be great for me if that were true. Robert could self-create a one-person nonstop book tour and I could stay home and count the money. I also learned at Hitachi last week how much more enjoyable and valuable consulting companies about blogging with Robert could be with him than it is without him.
So, if Robert left, I would be about the biggest beneficiary.
But Microsoft would lose and they would lose big time. First, there are those third party developers, upon whose business Microsoft so fundamentally depends. They have come back to trust Microsoft and if he left that new, and not-yet stratified faith would be broken. These developers are part of the 2.8 million unique Channel 9 visitors each month, and without Robert behind the camera, asking great questions, showing the humanity and sometime genius of other Microsoft employees. Robert could be replaced in that slot, but it would never be the same and everyone knows it. David seems to forget that Robert gets to travel quite a bit because of his day job. Robert interviews Microsoft people all over the world. Then he sets up the blogging and speaking events around them.
If Robert left, am certain it would adversely impact the morale of Robert's fellow Microsoft bloggers, many of whom told me when I interviewed them for Naked Conversations that they saw Robert as a leader. Not just the bloggers. An HR person told me how much Robert's blogging helped recruiting, particularly of new developers. What Abbot editorial perspectives on Microsoft? Dd you read what Fortune and the Economist had to say about him this year? Would Microsoft be better without that kind of coverage? When was the last time Microsoft got national media coverage extolling the company's virtues.
Outlived his usefulness? I think not. They should give him a raise--a very big raise.
