GE's peak days as a company were when they enforced a high bar using a curve. The same is true for Microsoft, whose better days ended around 2005. Although their stock performance in recent times has been strong, it is largely riding on the refresh of contracts relating to Office and the transition of clients from on-premise to cloud. There has been little actual innovation from the company, and although the culture has improved under Satya Nadella, employees regularly talk about workplace politics, low-quality hires, etc.