DATE: Thursday, November 11, 2004 7:30-9:30 AM
LOCATION: The Merchandise Mart Conference Center: Second floor of the Merchandise Mart, across the pedway.
ADMISSION: FREE: Must RSVP: herbold@bigfrontier.org

Robert Herbold will be interviewed on WBBM CBS News Radio 780 this Wednesday, November 10, 2004 during the Evening Business Wrap Up , 6:30 PM.

"Turf wars and bureaucracy can undermine even the strongest corporate strategies. Drawing on lessons learned throughout his distinguished career, Bob describes innovative and practical ways to tackle this pervasive problem -- and beat The Fiefdom Syndrome."
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation

Do not miss an exclusive opportunity to hear inside stories from the man who worked side by side with Bill Gates building the Microsoft empire. Is your company threatened by turf battles, shut out of key data sources by territorial "lords," or ravaged by hundreds of "micro-companies?" If so, your organization may be suffering from a potentially crippling case of "Fiefdom Syndrome." Robert Herbold, former COO of Microsoft, presents a wealth of case studies from the usual (and always interesting) suspects--IBM, Proctor and Gamble, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart--to illustrate an affliction that affects for-profit and non-profit organizations alike.

Herbold identifies why fiefdoms are a problem, where they typically arise in companies--finance, HR, marketing, IT, virtually in most teams and departments--and offers solutions for preventing fiefdoms from cropping up and how to dissolve existing turf control.

Robert J. (Bob) Herbold, retired COO of Microsoft Corporation, is the author of Fiefdom Syndrome: The Turf Battles That Undermine Careers and Companies and How to Overcome Them (Currency/Doubleday, September 2004). He is currently Managing Director of Herbold Group, LLC, a consulting business focused on profitability. Herbold serves on the Board of Directors of Weyerhaeuser Corporation, Agilent Technologies, First Mutual Bank, and Cintas Corporation. Also, in 2001 he was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology where he serves as the chair of the Workforce/Education Subcommittee.

Herbold joined Microsoft in November 1994 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. During his tenure in this position until spring 2001, he was responsible for finance, manufacturing and distribution, information systems, human resources, corporate marketing, market research, and public relations. During his 6.5 years as COO, Microsoft experienced a four fold increase in revenue and a seven fold increase in profits. From spring, 2001 until June, 2003 Herbold worked part time for Microsoft as Executive Vice President assisting in the government, industry, and customer areas.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Herbold spent 26 years at The Procter & Gamble Company. In his last 5 years with P&G, he served as senior vice president of advertising and information services. In that role, he was responsible for the company's worldwide advertising/brand management operations as well as all marketing related services such as media and television program production. He was also responsible for management information systems and market research on a worldwide basis.

Herbold's experiences at Microsoft and Procter & Gamble were the basis of his new and highly praised book, The Fiefdom Syndrome about how to break through turf battles and territorial fiefdoms. An article he authored in the January, 2002 issue of the Harvard Business Review entitled "Inside Microsoft: Balancing Discipline and Creativity" focused on how companies can improve their profitability and agility.

Herbold has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati and both a masters degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in computer science from Case Western Reserve University. Bob is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Heritage Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, the Seattle Foundation, Overlake Hospital, and the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is also the President of The Herbold Foundation, which is primarily focused on providing college scholarships to science and engineering students.

What the press is saying about this important new book...
Business Technology: Attention, Fiefdom Fighters

By Bob Evans

We all occasionally meet exceptional people who seem to be able to master just about anything that comes their way: the astrophysicist who's also a triathlete and dazzling piano player; the surgeon who writes children's books and is the featured singer at her church; those extraordinary Olympic athletes we watched last week who compete with such unbridled power and ferocity and moments later praise their opponents with complete spontaneity and thank their parents, coaches, and teammates with profound sincerity and grace.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=29116669

The CIO Magazine Interview

CIO: You believe that creating fiefdoms is inherently human behavior. How then can organizations prevent them from taking hold?

Robert J. Herbold: Employees try to maintain their independence as a means of staying in control. They attempt to protect their own resources, whether those are personnel, systems or data centers. To mitigate the effects of fiefdoms, organizations need to establish and enforce universal standards, policies and practices.

The BIGfrontier Bob Herbold interview

Mr. Herbold, the former COO of Microsoft, discusses concepts from his new book, the Fiefdom Syndrome, and appears at an exclusive BIGfrontier Chicago presentation on November 11, 2004. Sponsored by Acquity Group

Full interview

Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 8, 2004

Microsoft's Herbold here

Former Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Bob Herbold visits Thursday to speak at Steve Lundin's BIGfrontier event at the Merchandise Mart. Herbold's flogging a hot new book, The Fiefdom Syndrome.

Herbold describes ways to demolish business cliques, and he sees fiefdoms as responsible for colossal failures at Enron, Arthur Andersen and WorldCom.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/krauss/cst-fin-krauss08.html