BUS4012_CREIGHTON_WEEK-6-ASSIGNMENT-1

.docx

School

DePaul University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

4012

Subject

Management

Date

Feb 20, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

13

Uploaded by DukeCrabMaster798

Report
BUS4012: WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENT 1: Personal Project Final Bill Creighton Capella University August 27, 2023 1
Summary Findings from Interviews Tech executives often face rapid and dynamic changes in their industry. The topic I chose to focus on for our conversation is how leaders handle change and disruption. I took the opportunity to interview my Chief Revenue Officer which was a GREAT experience. We have a great relationship, and often take long conversations, so I had a lot of notes to sort through! Here are the summary takeaways that resonated with me after the interview with my boss, who is also a friend and mentor and his approach to handling change and disruption. Note that he referred to several other giants in our industry, some common relationships, others his own. 1. Adaptability is Essential : Successful tech executives understand that change is just about the only constant in the tech industry. Prioritize adaptability and encourage teams to be open to new ideas and approaches. Flexibility, and especially creativity, in strategy as well as a willingness to pivot when necessary are key traits good leaders embody. When thinking back to the recent trend in cord-cutting which has affected our field immensely, he likened it to the front lines in a war and trying to motivate troops who wanted to abandon the ship instead of hold the lines. The big difference being there was nothing as motivating as the fall of civilization to motivate them! The CRO recalled “trying to keep my team intact was almost a daily struggle. The pressure from the teams themselves, the operational leaders like Human Resources facing large departures and dealing with exit packages and hiring replacements, I realized it was up to me, for my team at least, to ensure that we understood the mission, the long-term goals, and our ability to make our own destiny.” He is a very charismatic speaker, and one of the key points made is that an entire industry, especially in the service provider video space does 2
not disappear overnight. His leadership in driving the value of team-member contribution and to pivot was a big factor in talent retention and in allowing that talent to adapt to the chaning market. 2. Embrace Innovation : Leaders foster a culture of innovation. They encourage experimentation, risk-taking, and the exploration of new technologies. They recognize that staying ahead in the industry requires a commitment to pushing boundaries and finding novel solutions. Don’t be afraid to reinvent the wheel. The operations director I interviewed was very proud of the work his team has done to adapt to new technology in the supply chain. “We were quick to adopt cloud-native technology and virtualization. The role of tools like JIRA, Salesforce, and Confluence had a major impact in efficiency for the entire operation. This helped us increase margins in our service contracts, as well as shorten our delivery; delivery of everything from order fulfilment to support requests and product updates. We were moving at the speed of the cloud and the majority of those interfaces were written and developed by my teams. The teams really shined in learning, recommending, gaining approval, and deploying all of these solutions”. 3. Continuous Learning : Executives are lifelong learners, now more than ever. Staying up to date on industry trends like cloud tech and devops software creation are vital. Attend the many industry and standards conferences are also key to staying up to speed. The shelf life of knowledge in this space is continually shrinking and to remain at the forefront of technology and real-time advancements is increasingly difficult. It is also critical that this learning culture is a priority within their organization. One of the key stories is from the operations director, building on the quote and story above: “these tools 3
evolve quickly and it’s very easy to get swallowed up and left behind. We are lucky to have great recruitment and outstanding talent, but we also have some pretty good tenure. The folks on my teams who were working here while many of these tools and technologies were born need can’t learn this organically. We have ‘lunch and learn’ and internal sessions, but investing in proper education and development is what keeps us ahead of the curve.” 4. Customer-Centric Focus : Executives emphasize the importance of understanding customer needs. They actively listen to customer feedback and use it to refine their products and services. This customer-centric approach ensures that products, service and solutions remain relevant and valuable. There are many stories in the history of my CRO and I, one of the best we discussed while reminiscing was on my time in Brazil trying to recover an entire region from an acquired company which had laid dormant and ignored by the organization for years. “We failed as leaders in maintaining a focus on the customers in Latin America, especially <a very large one> in Brazil. I spent 3 years and gained about 100,000 frequent flier miles going back and forth to normalize the relationship and rebuild trust.” The terms of our commercial offers reflected an acknowledgement of the problem which was our fault. By not being arrogant and by putting a fair and equitable solution with full transparency, they are one of our best customers to this day. 5. Talent and Team Building : Disruption comes from all directions. Leaders recognize that their teams are their most valuable assets. They prioritize hiring diverse and talented individuals and creating an inclusive work environment. They empower their teams, 4
delegate effectively, and encourage collaboration. My CRO is a very charismatic leader, and may come off as very aloof to anyone eavesdropping on a sales meeting. “I go with my gut. I knew you and the other sales leaders were capable and I trusted that you could do what you said you could do. I have been burned in the past, but not very often. At the end of the day there are qualifications and then there are indicators. The former checks boxes, the latter defines talent. Kinda (sic) like a sports scout, I’ve learned to focus more on the indicators and less on the qualifications. I’ve been around a very long time and I can explain sales requirements to anyone. Funnels and pipelines and quarterlies and sales cycles are all trainable. Selling is not. Building a team is an art and sometimes it has to be rebuilt, but I can tell you that when the outside world throws curve balls and impacts our business, the team I’ve built has never let me down.” 6. Data-Driven Decision Making : This was the longest part of our conversation. The data comes from ALL directions. When you add in emerging tech like AI on top of all the data and trends, disruption is guaranteed. Executives emphasize data-driven decision-making. The ability to leverage data analytics to gain insights into market trends, customer behaviors, and product performance are table stakes. Uncertainty can certainly NEVER be eliminated, but you can shine lights on as many shadows as possible to find a path. The operations director had a lot to say on this subject. “The role of technology and the gathering data is growing exponentially every day. The gathering of data is no longer the problem, it hasn’t been for a while. The problem is interpretation. Same as in your role, you know finance very well and make decisions based on those data streams and formulas. There is so much more to deal with in supply chain and we are in an extremely relevant pivot right now. Looking at what Amazon and Google and other tech giants are 5
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
  • Access to all documents
  • Unlimited textbook solutions
  • 24/7 expert homework help