No matter the financial climate, there are always new startups established. Most of these startups are run by first-time founders. What do smart founders do? They often hire experienced leaders to help them (as opposed to trying to do everything in “hard mode”). However, I regularly encounter these executives who fail to leverage their experience […]
One reason that executive roles can be fulfilling for years is that there is always something to improve, often considerably. No matter how good you are at what you already do, it is unlikely that you are great at all things. While some see this as discouraging, I live for this and have the best […]
I’ve had hundreds of conversations with executives over the past year. Naturally, I like to ask them what their most significant current challenges are and how they intend to improve their organizations or companies. Frequently, the answers are very milquetoast, without a scintilla of genuine aspiration. The usual suspects include “improve quality of service X,” […]
I’ve been using the term “Product Engineering” to describe software production, even though it is still separated into two different departments in most companies. That’s because these cannot stand without the other. Like a two-headed mythological creature, both succeed or fail together. Yes, as a tech executive, your partnership with your product counterpart is the […]
We’re in a season where it’s customary to throw a bunch of suggestions at you about what you ought to be doing or for people to pontificate predictions about the upcoming year. Assuming your feeds and inboxes are full of those, let us take a different look at the year ahead. You’ve undoubtedly got notes […]