The memo that Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer recently sent to the company's 57,000 employees was clearly designed to rally the troops -- to get them excited about their jobs and Microsoft's (MSFT ) future. But what comes through loudest and clearest in the 4,900-word e-mail is quite a different message: This is no longer the vital, nimble, fast-growing Microsoft of yore. Microsoft is stuck in a full-blown midlife crisis. The 24-year-old company is now a sprawling organization with dozens of businesses, modest revenue growth, and a flat stock price. Instead of being driven to change the world -- the mission its best employees signed up for -- a key focus now for Ballmer is "process excellence," which seems unlikely to inspire Microsoftees to stay up all night creating the Next Big Thing.
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