Next CPO

Upon my boss's advice, I attended the Landmark advanced course once again.  Felt good. Felt sorted. Essentially, a reminder of all the rackets and scheming we all do with ourselves. Met a bunch of young people who were really messed up but, kind of, got sorted.  The one thing that it reminded me was "being your own word".  I am not sure how it will translate into every day work but here is what I have thought about: Start a weekly heart-to-heart one-on-one with a young trusted partnership leader and imagine how this meeting should go, if ten years later, this meeting would be written about as the one that turned the company around.  Create an internal team of people who really like innovating and wouldn't shy away from drastic innovation attempts  Use your team. Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. And oversee big time.  Organise the product org. Focus on a nine-month timeline  last quarter -measure the impact of the work current quarter - unblock the engineering --> repe

The half-pant (shorts) is, by now, a rope around my neck. I really like it. I really stand for it. It represents a lot to me. In the office, I have sensed it even makes the atmosphere light-weight, collegiate and free-flowing. But the CEO has spoken. So, I spoke with a few people about it: My Engg counterpart: We are always at each other's neck. We are also great friends. I think he is the only friend I have made in the work environment in the last 20 years. Don't get me wrong. Guy's a rocket. Doesn't mince his words, doesn't shy away from a fight. And I suspect he is quite adept at CYA and politics too.  Advice: as long as some amount of formality is expected, it's okay. Draw your boundaries and choose your battles. T-shirts and Jeans should be your lowest threshold.  My wife: It's your Saturn. (Me: What?). Yes, it's Saturn doing this to you. It is making you face all the things that you have escaped from, even looked down upon. Saturn, when he focuses

The CEO had pointed out a bunch of things: Widen your focus: To know everything; the business plan; the compliance; the revenues; the partnerships; everything. This was welcome and I could see how I would do this. Greater engagement with finance team, partnership team, ops team etc. Executive presence: By this he meant, stop wearing half-pants and crocs to the office. Now, this was a uphill one for me. For me, the half-pant is like my personal national flag. It represents a lot to me - iconoclasm, innovation, even courage. I was considering how to handle this. For a few moments, I even considered resigning from all this bullshit. Truly, I did.  More on the half-pant later...

Came to know! The CPO and the CEO, after a long session of massive pre-board-meeting head-bang with the c-suite, called me aside to the CEO room (which we all use). And asked, “Do you really want it?” And I said - “Yes!”...