Lesli Marchese, Campus Carrier News Editor
The leader of the team responsible for the Xbox spoke to students about about the importance of faith, perseverance and serendipity last Thursday.
Robert Bach, former president of the entertainment and devices division for Microsoft and team leader for the development of the Xbox game console spoke at Berry this past week. He was initially invited to Berry by alumnus Barry Griswell (’71).
Bach came to Berry to speak about his newest book, “Xbox Revisited: A Game Plan for Corporate and Civic Renewal” which emphasizes business strategies and community issues. He writes about the idea of “civic engineering” and how the business plan that made the Xbox franchise so successful can be applied to daily life.
His speech and time at Berry were provided pro bono. All money accrued from his speeches and his book goes to one or more of the many charities he is involved with. Bach spends his time post-Microsoft as a “civic engineer” because he believes in the betterment of communities through self-sacrifice and service.
“I do what I do because I want to have an impact, not because it’s how I earn money,” Bach said.
In his book, Bach writes about his personal life and professional career, and highlights three main ideas – faith, perseverance and serendipity – which he believes people can apply in their daily lives.
“They are three things that have really changed my life,” Bach said. “You have to believe in what you do and be prepared to overcome the odds to reach those goals.”
He related those three goals to the challenges that students face with constant life changes and goal planning and encouraged them to look at changes as opportunities.
“It’s interesting what role serendipity plays in our lives and the opportunities it presents us,” Bach said. “Our country is structured in many ways around encouraging and enabling new things to happen.”
During his time at Microsoft, Bach and his team developed the “3P Framework” or the “3-pager” as Bach refers to it. This strategy divides a challenge into three pages, one each for purpose, principles and priorities.
A strong 3-pager will summarize an organization’s strategy, and will include a strong purpose statement followed by three to five principles and priorities, Bach said.
Innovations like the Xbox console and “3P Framework” are reasons that Bach speaks to groups about the importance of setting goals, encouraging innovation and determination.
“I learned a lot about perseverance and discipline and about self-reliance and about the ability to overcome things,” Bach said about his life growing up. “Most great change happens from the ground up, so find a good starting point.”