Reflections on Building a Global Technology Platform

Being able to leverage hard-earned intellectual capital and equipment across more than one product or product generation is often critical in sustaining competitive business propositions. It's easy to look back on any career and recall the decisions that went right, the plans that worked out, and the hard work that led to professional success. But then there is the startling and humbling reality: The most crucial forks in the road, the decision points that dramatically changed the course of the author's professional interests and successes were often unconscious and uncontrolled. Adopting a shameless search for useful connections in unforeseen influences and challenges will often mean the difference between trying to save the last piece of pie and enabling the pie to grow beyond any of the current plan's abilities. Plans are necessary and useful, but they often create a false sense of future predictability. Snap out of it. Aggressive agility in the face of change is critically important and deserves top billing.