Bounce ideas off the marketplace. To understand the marketplace, your people and the
leader really need to get in
touch with your customers
and your customers’ customers. We sell to the people
who buy the components
that make the things like
mobile phones, PCs and
games. But for us to really
understand the marketplace,
we need to go to the level of
HP and Apple and understand what type of products
they want to get to the market and how what we do is
working or doesn’t work.
One way is to come in with
specific concepts and then
ask them to critique it so you
almost can’t lose. If they like
it, they’re going to tell you
why they like it. If they don’t
like it, they’re going to tell
you why they don’t like it,
and that’s going to tell you
where to go.
Divide the power; then check in. A
leader has to really empower
people. If they get a sense
they’re going to be micro-managed, there’s no way
really talented people are
going to work like that.
The way our process
works is those top-level
things we do become the
corporate (management by
objectives). They are made
more quantitative, and on
each of those, you decide
which of your executives
contribute to making that
happen. Then they become
owners of that goal and
expand on down to a bunch
of things they need to
accomplish to achieve that.
So, basically, if they are on
track for hitting their goals,
then they don’t see much of
me. The other thing is having
a weekly staff meeting where
you listen to what the problems are, and the problems
between groups, and take a
stance on how we’re going to
address that. Generally, if
you truly listen to them, even
if you don’t agree and do
something else, they’re fine
— they realize there’s not
necessarily a right or wrong
answer, they just need to
make sure their input is
heard.
HOW TO REACH: Tessera Technologies Inc., (408) 894-0700 or www.tessera.com
