Pierre Robitaille
2.0 Leaders
Open source management
Get people to challenge you. Putting out a suggestion box, advertising an open-door policy, even walking the floors and asking, “What can we do to improve?” — they’re all well-intentioned actions, but, unless there’s a deep culture of trust and openness, people won’t tell you what they really think.
Pierre Robitaille
2.0 Leaders
Open source management
Get people to challenge you. Putting out a suggestion box, advertising an open-door policy, even walking the floors and asking, “What can we do to improve?” — they’re all well-intentioned actions, but, unless there’s a deep culture of trust and openness, people won’t tell you what they really think.
Francis Moran
In the Media
How Canadian technology companies can own the marketing podium
We’re not big television watchers in our household but like many families in Canada and around the world, we’re putting in a fair bit of time these days with the world’s second-largest (after football’s World Cup) sporting extravaganza, the Olympics. One night last week, it was the women’s halfpipe competition that had my wife and me most excited and the no-holds-barred attitude of these brilliant athletes, plus the controversial “Own the Podium” program that has Canada’s Olympians focused far more on winning than on merely participating and doing well, got me thinking about the pursuit of excellence in other arenas. Like tech marketing.
Robert Hebert
The Talent Jungle
Why candidates should expand and prep their references
As headhunters scramble to match candidates with their shapeshifting clients, process and painstaking due diligence rule the day. To some candidates such rigor may feel intrusive or simply unnecessary. It shouldn’t. In fact, rigor should be embraced and used to all candidates advantage. Consider the use of references as an illustration.
Last week I interviewed a senior executive for a specific role. The candidate presented an intriguing combination of capabilities, accomplishments, values, motivation and style that appeared well aligned to my client. But there were a few cautionary flags. The candidate brushed over several questions and was vague on the circumstances around his departure from two organizations. Though my concerns may well have proven to be minor, they needed to be explored and clarified. Thus, on completing the interview I indicated that it would be helpful if I could speak to several of the candidate’s references around these specific time periods before putting him forward to my client.
Eric Shefler
The High Tech Rep
Getting the job
All roads to high tech sales riches begin with convincing a sales manager that he or she should hire you for a job in the first place. Fortunately, many of the same skills required to be successful as a salesperson are the ones you will need in order to find a sales job in the first place. Perseverance, preparation and focus are all essential elements of an effective job search and will improve your chances of finding that great new job.
Pierre Robitaille
2.0 Leaders
My vote… allow use of mobile devices in meetings.
Maybe it was the meeting I attended at a leading international firm where some participants, mobile devices in hand, were alerting the group about breaking news at corporate that may affect their deliberations. Talk about real time.
Pierre Robitaille
2.0 Leaders
Never Trust Anyone Over 20
It seems that quantifying generations in waves of 10 year intervals is no longer appropriate. The ever-accelerating pace of technological change is minting a series of mini-generation gaps, speeding up generational differences.
Eric Shefler
The High Tech Rep
The High Tech Rep
People unfamiliar with the technology industry are often amazed to learn that successful high technology salespeople can earn hundreds of thousands a dollars a year in salary and commissions. In fact, it’s not uncommon for top reps to make 3, 4, $500,000 a year or more. Even relatively inexperienced reps at the best known technology companies routinely earn 6-figure incomes.
So why are high tech salespeople paid like doctors, lawyers and investment bankers without the necessity of spending years in school earning professional designations and degrees? The answer is simple - they’re worth it.
Robert Hebert
The Talent Jungle
The Unwanted CEO Job …and the one individual who thought otherwise
Several recent articles have lauded the success of Ottawa-based Bridgewater Systems. With skyrocketing revenues, a growing market, and money in the bank, the firm’s prospects have never been better and the street appears to love the story. It was a much more difficult story to sell in 2003, with one notable exception.
Bridgewater was founded in 1997, one of many Newbridge spinouts, a graduate if you will of the Terry Matthews school of stellar startups. The first few years were bumpy as the firm struggled to find its place in the evolving IP telecom marketplace. To make matters worse, in 2000 when its main benefactor, Newbridge, was sold to Alcatel transferring in the process its equity position in Bridgewater. It can safely be assumed that tiny Bridgewater was not atop of the French behemoth’s list of priorities.
Francis Moran
In the Media
Reframing the climate change debate
It might be an oversimplification on my part, but from where I stand, much of the global debate around what to do about climate change has split along a fairly classic left-right axis. Those on the progressive end of the spectrum have embraced the environmental benefits of reducing anthropogenic climate change and often cast the debate in traditional liberal terms such as mitigating the impact on the poorest people on the planet, cutting our dependence on fossil fuels and the often-corrupt regimes governing countries where such fuels are to be found, and halting runaway consumerism. For many on the farthest end of the spectrum, fighting climate change is a natural outgrowth of their anti-capitalist convictions.