Kraig Brockschmidt emailed me today to tell me he has finally decided to self-publish his book Mystic Microsoft. Mystic Microsoft is the tale of Kraig’s spiritual transformation in the most unlikely of places – Microsoft. It’s a book he and I discussed many times since the late 90’s.
Kraig is offering printed copies through Lulu.com, and it will soon be available at online retailers including Amazon.com. In addition, he has released the e-book free of charge under a Creative Commons License, and is encouraging everyone to share.
From the Prologue:
As you have undoubtedly gathered from the title, the story contained in these pages involves one of the most successful business ventures in recent decades and the very heart of high-tech, corporate multinationalism: Microsoft. I was employed by Microsoft in various capacities for eight and a half years—from March 1988 to November 1996—during which time the company underwent its most important phase of expansion. When I began, Microsoft had six buildings housing about 2,500 employees; its minimal market-share products were hardly given serious consideration by industry pundits. When I left there were at least thirty-six buildings plus countless domestic and international locations housing well over 30,000 employees. By then, Microsoft generally ruled the personal computer software market and got more press than many other Fortune 500 companies combined. Technology, success, money, power…all of these defined much of the Microsoft experience during those years.
I certainly shared in that success, achieving a fair degree of wealth, fame, and influence. Professionally, I made important contributions to some of Microsoft’s flagship products, wrote two wildly popular programming books, and became a highly-respected industry expert. On the material side, my wife Kristi and I acquired all the trappings of “the good life” and had enough investments set aside for quite a bit more.
All this is a moderately interesting story in itself—I think you’ll enjoy the many anecdotes about Microsoft’s coming-of-age. What makes it much more fascinating is the added spiritual dimension of my experiences during that era. I won’t be saying much, however, about the role that spirituality played in that success. Nor do I have much to share on how I might have brought God and spiritual principles into my work without sacrificing success. Why? Because for most of the time I was at Microsoft I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with God or religion!
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