Sun's new executive brand

Today's New York Times profiles Jonathan Schwartz, who took over the reins of Sun Microsystems as CEO from Scott McNealy this week. The article talks about how he views Sun's strategy and what he might do to change its technology and business direction. But I think that the article misses out on another marketing story: Jonathan is reshaping Sun's executive brand.

Scott McNealy was a Silicon Valley icon, known for headline-grabbing sound bites, serious hockey playing, and fierce competitiveness. Most market watchers would say that CEO McNealy was Sun. But Jonathan creates a new brand image for Sun because he can:

• 
  Communicate. Jonathan's blog has a personal voice and a strong point of view. McNealy always said the network was the computer; Jonathan's blog shows he lives that vision and is comfortable with it.


• 
  Differentiate. How many CEOs do you know who sport a pony tail? Jonathan is as unforgettable a personality as Steve Jobs and that willingness to be different from everyone else carries over into his business approach too.


• 
  Break with the past. Unlike McNealy, Schwartz wasn't there at the big bang that created Sun as McNealy was. So if he finds strategies or behaviors that don't work for him, he can ditch them without any loss of credibility for his vision of what Sun should be.

So what does this new branding mean for Sun's strategy? The article provides some good clues:

But if Sun is to really shine, what Mr. Schwartz needs is his iPod — a runaway hit product to give the company new life in a new market.

Now that he has the reins at Sun, Mr. Schwartz is giving hints of his own direction. He said in a telephone interview on Monday that his first task would be to sit down with Gregory M. Papadopoulos, Sun's executive vice president and chief technology officer, and review all of the company's development efforts.

The thought of these two executives planning the future of Sun should give pause to anyone thinking that Sun is only a server company. A few years ago, Papadopoulos coordinated research on self-organizing "Internets of things", which led to Sun focusing on RFID, sensor networks, and a host of other leading edge applications. And Sun has the only currently shipping eight-core processor, something that Intel won't have available until 2007. With a stable of cutting edge technology, and a new CEO who's not afraid to be embrace being different, that runaway hit Sun iPod may not be as far off as people think.

And if that happens, expect to see CEO pony tails become as much of a trademark as Steve Jobs' black turtlenecks.

Technorati Tags: Branding, Jonathan Schwartz, Marketing, Processors, Research, RFID, Sun