Soaring on Ridgelift

iDunno

Apropos the iPad, complete the following sentence…

"iDunno…"

Here are my first thoughts…

• iDunno that I'd carry this AND my laptop
  The iPad just seems "in between" – it's too big to be a convenience device like the iPhone but too limiting to dump the laptop. It doesn't run half of the applications I use (real email client, Word, Excel…) that aren't more convenient on my iPhone (like Skype, Twitterific etc.). So the laptop remains when I'm travelling.
  
• iDunno what I'd do with the iPad
  I haven't yet succumbed to an electronic book reader like the Kindle so my media consumption is via the iPhone (music, videos, pictures) or laptop (movies, work). If I was in the mood for a Kindle and prepared to carry yet-another device when I'm on the move, maybe I'd think about the iPad. That choice would be driven by available publications, battery life and weight… in that order.
  
• iDunno how I'd fit all of this in my bag
  After dealing with neck and shoulder pains from bad position on my road bike (bicycle, NOT Harley…) plus having to schlep my way through Frankfurt airport too many times, I resorted to roll-along computer bag (it looks nerdy, but it's the ticket for walking/running to make connections at FRA!). Despite the roll-along, I'm still conscious about what I put into the bag. On the electronics front, the list is limited to laptop, universal power supply for laptop, iPhone, Canon Powershot camera and its charger, USB Flash drive – that's it. The iPad doesn't combine any new functionality. That was the brilliance of the iPhone. Eliminated the separation of phone, iPod and Blackberry in one go.

Steve Jobs and the team at Apple are great marketers so I'm sure I'm missing something. Hopefully I'll be enlightened and get an "Ah-ha! – brilliant!" moment.

In the meantime, I'm left wondering…

iDunno who's the target market for the iPad.

 

CEO Paths to failure

Over the years I've worked with a lot of CEOs – I've helped hire them, mentored them and watched them in action. It's a lonely job – even with a supportive board of directors, you have to be the chief cheerleader, strategist, therapist and mentor to your team. Despite the best intentions of all parties, some CEOs fail – often they aren't the first to leave as a high caliber team will vote with their own feet early in the process.

Stuck in traffic yesterday as a result of the wave of storms coming into California, I found myself thinking about a conversation with a good friend who recently left a company because of CEO issues. He had debated his departure for a while and from time to time had discussed the issue with me. I'd seen the underlying cause of the departure before – all too familiar as it was one of the reasons on my mental checklist of CEO failures.

Here's a few of the causes on my list.

• Micro-management; there are times when micro-management is a necessary skill such as dealing with a major crisis for a company that simply has to be resolved in a given time period. Setting short deadlines with rigorous follow-up can be very effective in crisis resolution. But sustained over a long period of time, micro-management by a CEO can ruin the best of teams. An effective management team doesn't need micro-management – set goals and let people get on with them. Persistent micro-management is a big red flag that something is wrong in the team – either there is a critical weakness in the team or the CEO hasn't got the comfort level to step back and let go. Either way, it's a problem.
  
• Being disconnected; a CEO who isn't in touch with his team and customers is heading for trouble. A good team knows what needs to be done and has excellent recognition of looming problems – a good CEO listens to their team and keeps taking the pulse of what's happening and what needs to be done. Ditto with customers – your customers will tell you a lot about what's going on in your market and in your company. You just have to listen! Once a CEO gets disconnected, the team loses faith and quickly figures out that they need a solution – often, this is leaving for another job!
  
• Not stepping up to lead; ironically, this can stem from a CEO spending too much time trying to keep connected! Every decision has to be made by consensus – often with the process of getting to consensus being long and painful. Decisions flip-flop and the team flounders. A successful CEO spends the time to understand the issues, bring people along in their own though process but ultimately makes a decision… and moves on.

There are other causes on the list for sure but these three stand out for me – they are the most frequented paths to CEO failure that I've seen over the years.

Founders and evolution

Fred Wilson has an interesting post today – The Founder Factor where he shares some thoughts about the role of the founder as a company grows. He ends with the comment:

"The founder factor is a huge intangible force in companies and is most often for the best."

In the early life of a company I agree with Fred. Founders with a strong vision can help keep a company focused as it faces the distractions of growth. Keeping true to a vision can be a major factor in the success of a company.

But as the company grows, it's critical that the founder's perspective and vision evolves both to reflect the needs of the company but also the changing dynamics of the market in which it is a player.

I can think of a number of companies that continued to be heavily influenced by a founder that eventually declined in influence or failed because the vision didn't evolve with the market and environment.

For example, Digital Equipment Corporation clinging to the mini-computer despite the PC revolution, Tandem Computer and its focus on fault-tolerance as hardware became incredibly reliable or perhaps Sun Microsystems and its vertical integration (chip, hardware and software) as its competitors became technology integrators.

I can't help thinking of an observation by one of my former colleagues regarding the "Tragedy of the commons" – any specific decision may look to be right on a standalone basis yet in the long term lead to a bad result.

Only time tells…