Disruptive Leadership

Another great post from Seth Godin arrived in my email inbox this morning. It was his breakdown on how the election was run on both sides and why one candidate will win and the other won’t. It is not partisan at all….he just does an analysis based on his theories on tribes, permission, and more. I may have to nominate Seth for the monthly disruptive leadership award if he continues to produce these insightful tidbits. I’m sure he will be delighted.

For the month of October, I have decided to highlight a company as the Disruptive Leader of the Month. NComputing has been on my radar for awhile as one of the few for-profit startup companies that are targeting emerging markets and the digital divide, but I had not looked at them as a serious player due to their “thin computing” or “network computing” model.

If you recall, in 1995, Larry Ellison famously predicted the demise of the PC and introduced the Network Computer concept in which processor-less devices would hook up to servers to access applications and services. This is like Kryptonite to Intel, which makes its money selling a chip in every computer. Intel dismissed it and marketed against it. As such, I had been effectively brainwashed over the years as a marketer who had to convince users that a “fat client” or “full functioning computer” is the only way to go.

I recently reconnected over coffee with a former colleague who had just joined NComputing’s board. My first question was: “But isn’t it the same as a thin computer? These have all failed, or barely made a dent anywhere.” His response was that what NComputing had gotten it right in three ways:

1. The technology IP is primarily in the software, not the hardware, allowing decent margins in a computer business that is now highly commoditized and in which ahardware players barely eek out a margin.
2. Their business model is about scaling through big and small channel partners, and in some cases, allowing the partners to put their own brand on the devices.
3. They have a cost that is substantially lower than the cheapest PC (about $70 per seat/user depending on the size of the deal, which doesn’t even take into account the power savings—at <1 watt per user, it blows away the average for a PC at ~110 watts).

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Seth Godin just wrote a great post on the importance of choosing who you work for (e.g., your boss, your company).  And the photo he used is priceless (I used the same on the right).  If you haven’t seen Office Space, then you have to run to Blockbuster or get on Netflix and rent it.  It appeals to all cubicle dwellers and Dilbert fans.

I have had somewhere between 15 to 20 managers during my career.  I can count on less than one hand how many were really good managers.  What makes a good manager?

• Leads vs. manages.  Gets you inspired and motivated.
• Is a coach vs. a supervisor.   You learn new things.
• Challenges you to be your best, no matter how uncomfortable that is.
• Does not micro-manage.  Sets the goals/objectives, and gives the team the freedom and flexibility to get it done.
• Clears the way of obstacles when politics or things outside your sphere of influence impede your progress.

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The initial $100 price tag of the XO Laptop from Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) created quite a furor when it was first announced three years ago. At the time, the cheapest laptops were hovering around $400 to $500.

This subject has been rehashed many times in the press and the blogosphere, but reading a recent report on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for computers deployed in schools in India prompted me to write about the pricing debate and what can be learned from it. A longer version of the report can be found here.

The report was prepared by VitalWave Consulting, a firm specializing in consulting and research for technology companies growing businesses in emerging markets. They performed a study in India, funded by Microsoft, on the TCO of computers deployed in schools. They built a model that took various factors into consideration when estimating the total cost of owning a computer over a period of time.

Purchase cost, maintenance, support, training, replacement cycle, and electricity cost are just a few of the elements they factored in. They looked at desktops, laptops, and ultra low-cost laptops like the XO and Intel’s Classmate PC. The report also compares the differences between TCO in India and TCO in a “global” model. [Read the rest of this entry...]

A previous boss of mine, Jason Chen, who was running Intel’s sales and marketing business at the time, had a habit of saying profound things in brief, simple ways.  Maybe it came from a Chinese background steeped in Confucianism, which has many short but wise phrases and proverbs.

He once told me that the best kind of relationship you can have with your customer is one that is “strategic” vs. “transactional.”   What I think he meant was that you want to build long-term relationships with your customers so that they:

• See you as a partner vs. a supplier.
• Are trying to do more than just get the best price from you.
• See the relationship as win-win.
• Trust you because of your authenticity and willingness to “go to bat” for them.

It is ironic that this came from someone with a Chinese background, as most Chinese businesses tend to be more transactional and less trusting.   This is changing, albeit slowly. [Read the rest of this entry...]