FINANCE MONTHLY CEO AWARDS 2014

EUROPE

Q Q

What

lessons have you learned as a CEO?

As CEO I can never give up. I always consider what others say is “impossible.” It’s important that I act decisively. Further, as CEO I work to rely my strengths and be aware of my weaknesses.

What are the key success factors for a CEO?

To succeed as a CEO one must lead the development of a great product and build a great team to market, sell, deploy and support that great product. This requires tenacity, a sound strategy and the belief in that strategy such that you can steer a steady course. Avoid the “strategy du jour” but when circumstances around you change, don’t hesitate to review your strategy. I would also urge CEOs to seek help. Seek others’ counsel and get a mentor, someone who can coach you when you have no one else to talk to.

Q Q

What are the key challenges for a CEO?

In a small and rapidly growing company, relinquishing control is difficult. CEOs must placing trust in their team to do the things that CEO once did and do them better than before.

How did you overcome those challenges?

In a small and rapidly growing company, I must build a strong management team and bringing in new blood as and when necessary. Diversity is key. I hire people who are not me precisely for this reason. They will help me to address my weaknesses as well as think and act differently to achieve far better results.

Q

How do you manage the relationship with your Board

of Directors?

We are a team, and I am the one tasked with executing our shared strategy. Our board meetings are opportunities for collaboration. As CEO, I am open to input

and advice from board members both in and outside board meetings. This allows me to have a strong working relationship with Relayware’s board of directors.

Q

What do you look for in your successor?

My successor is the person who has my back as well challenges my decisions in private. That person defines, documents and tests better solutions to our business challenges. Then they present these new ideas and helps execute the change. This person does all of these things for one reason and one reason only – to make the company more successful.

Q Q

What advice do you give to rising CEOs?

Anyone who becomes a CEO must work harder than anyone else. Lead by example. Share your passion.

How do you manage organizational politics, and

conflicting personalities, interests, and views?

I don’t have time or patience for politics, conflicting personalities and interests. These things are symptomatic of people forgetting that the success of the company is paramount. I would often manage these situations head on, and sometimes this left lingering resentment and discourse. I have evolved my approach to handle matters firstly one-to-one, then in small peer-groups to build consensus, and then move to organization-wide alignment. The result is far more enduring and beneficial for the company. Conflicting views are to be encouraged. Listening to different ideas and being open to change is part of being a good leader. If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.

Q

How do you balance and manage various stakeholders’

interests?

In particular, we care tremendously about the interests of our board members

and management team. They are aligned with our goals and our strategy, so balancing and managing their interests is not difficult. It is my job to create alignment of interests, and I must do that by establishing shared goals and defining a unifying strategy.

Q

How do you describe your leadership style?

I’ve been likened to General George S Patton Jr., but I am mellowing with age. I like to lead from the front and by example. I work hard, am decisive yet strive to be open and approachable so that my team feels able to challenge me and offer alternative views.

Q Q

How do you compete in a global business environment?

We compete in a global business environment by being the best solution anywhere, maintaining a footprint in key markets and being familiar with international business cultures.

How do you compete in a recession?

We have remained very competitive throughout the economic cycles by looking after our customers. We have understood (where possible) how, to what extent and how quickly our solution can deliver a return on investment. Combining these two results wins new customers.

Q

How do you see the future of your industry?

The future of Relayware’s industry is very bright. Our technology enables vendors and their indirect channel partners to see greater returns. The world has been preoccupied with deploying customer- centric software systems and fine-tuning them for 15-20 years. Businesses are realizing that greater productivity gains are there when they focus similar efforts with different technology specifically for their partner-centric activity.

Q

What advice would you give to policy makers to help the

economy and your business?

I would like to see policy makers help the economy by lowing the tax and administrative burdens endured by smaller growing business. These stifle innovation and constrain growth. I would like to see policy makers do more to enable companies with compelling business models raise capital.

Q

Can you please share any life or personal lessons that other

CEOs might relate to?

People are inspired to do amazing things when they establish a firm and fixed goal, when they afford themselves no alternative course of action and no way back.

I led a management buy-out in 2010. I had rented out the family home, sold our cars, secured a visa to move to and work in the U.S. to set up our company there, incorporated the company, leased an office, rented a house to live in, taken my kids out of their school, registered them in new ones, opened a U.S. bank account and bought the tickets to San Francisco airport before even getting close to closing the deal. We finally closed the deal five days before the removal trucks arrived and we boarded the plane.

If you believe in your head and your heart that you need to do something, throw everything you have into making it happen.

Q

Can you share with us a CEO humour?

I’m a great believer taking action without delay. Patton sums it up beautifully, “A good plan vigorously executed now is better than a perfect plan executed in a week.”

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