deal architect

Marc Benioff’s Playbook

I got a review copy of Marc’s new book – Behind the Cloud – out on the 19th.

It is full of details about his personal and professional philosophies. Organized into 111 “plays” of a little over 2 pages each, it is an easy read.

You get insights into his (and the company’s) approach to philanthropy.

“I did not know this would be the case, but our customers also have greater appreciation for us because of our philanthropic efforts. Customers have rallied behind our cause, arriving at our conferences early to help build playgrounds and paint schools (even in the rain)”

The company gets criticized for its high SG&A, and there is some insight into what they spend it on – and what they do not spend on.

“Typically, 60 to 65% of our account executives qualify for this trip (3 days in Maui).Most companies reward only the top 10 to 20% percent of their sales reps …”

“How many times have you gone to a restaurant based on a giant ad? …How many times, in contrast, have you followed the recommendation of a friend or a positive review in a magazine or newspaper? Unbiased references by experts carry tremendous power”

Some people call Marc egotistical.  What impressed me was how generous he is in the book to friends, employees at every level, customers. If that is egotistical, we need more of it.

OK, so now I feel really bad

Apparently while I was commenting on Tom Siebel’s recent comments about the maturity of the tech industry, he was recovering from an attack in the Serengeti by a 12,000 pound elephant.

Tom, I may not agree with your views, but glad to hear you are recovering from something that horrendous.

Best wishes!

Why I love Om

Oh, he has a great group of writers at GigaOm. And he is fun to get together with to catch up on what’s happening around the world – not just in tech.

But I love him for being the rational consumer. He recently decided to use a Windows machine 2 days a week. But no Ms Office, Google Docs instead. No Google Mail, Apple Mail. Not using the built in AT&T 3G card – instead added a Verizon EVDO card.

I saw him recently Tweet about Apple iTune’s “de-authorization policy” – calling it “kremlin, fricking idiotic”. (iTunes registers and limits number of computers you can access it from but there is not easy way to eliminate old, trashed computers).

And this:“Nokia planning a new line of handsets dubbed C series, where C stands for more confusion."

He is extremely generous where he needs to be, but just as vocal with objections.

So different from so many fan boys and kiss-ass influencers out there.

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto

Secret, secret ..I got a secret…Styx

Now we know why New York Times has David Pogue write about gadgets and devices.  The man’s a machine:

• “My wife once clocked me at 120 words a minute, and that’s including making corrections.”
• “I have a lot of e-mail folders. I also have a lot of “message rules” that file incoming mail automatically into appropriate folders.”
• “I can be online in a car, in the X-ray line at the airport, on a plane stuck on the runway, and so on. My 3-pound laptop is my main machine, by the way, for the same reason—so that I can be productive during any little blob of downtime.”

Seriously impressive how efficient he is…read more here

Farewell to an industry solider

Henning Kagermann of SAP retired today. I have written nice notes about him  here , here and other times.

It was great to see the Twitter stream of SAP and non-SAP folks saying their good byes to this gentleman in a rough and tumble software industry.

SAP’s Past?

I saw someone shake their head when Hasso Plattner was presenting this week. “Cannot believe SAP is showcasing their past”

This person likely did not see Dr. Plattner at the analyst/blogger get-together the night before. Rock star surrounded by groupies.  Even SAP employees lining up, pushing others to get to him.

He clearly relishes being around young technology talent. He feeds off his work at Potsdam and Stanford. Challenging young engineers, regaling them.

A PR nightmare, but oh so entertaining. At the press event, he threw out juicy tidbits about mystery buyers for Sun. In the speech, he took shots at his IBM past, products with cute terms like “beans”, Italian accounting standards, his own products and people.

I saw him briefly on the expo floor admiring the interactive software at the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes booth. There was a twinkle in his eye I remember the first time I met him 15 years ago.

I, for one, hope Herr Professor Doktor is not SAP’s past.

"The $ 200 million a day man"

Bob Evans of InformationWeek asks the nation’s CIO elect,Vivek Kundra:

“ (1) Do you report to President Obama? (2) If not, how sharp are your elbows? (3) Will you commit to chopping your stupendously bloated $71 billion budget to $50 billion? (4) If not, can your cost-control pledges be taken seriously? (5) As an unelected official, who are your customers? (6) By what metrics will those customers be able to measure your performance? “

Read more here

This really sucks

Jeff Walker, who wrote a guest post just 2 weeks ago, reports his cancer is back.

Zoli has a nice tribute.

I just urge readers to read his column to get a feel for this amazing guy, and then join me in wishing him well.

Nick Carr: High Prose and Hogwash

"Hogwash" - that is what Steve Ballmer of Microsoft called Nick Carr's "Does IT Matter?".

Most of us in technology reacted that way to a academic who likely had never spun a tape or written a line of code or developed a TCO model for an IT project.

But over the last few years, many of us have come to admire the "word bird". His prose when he describes tech trends, especially those about the impact of technology on society weaves a magical spell - as he does in the Sun Magazine interview.

Indeed, it is tough to remind yourself  he is a poet not a practitioner.

Girl, your eyes have a mist from the smoke of a distant fire..

She is rumored to be a finalist for the job of US CTO. This at a time when Cisco is launching "Unified Computing" - its foray into servers and the blending of processing, storage, network management and virtualization. Padmasree Warrior is CTO of Cisco.

What a choice. Either way, it will be a long way from Motorola's troubles where she was also CTO till the end of 2007.

I hope she gets offered - and accepts - the US role. Be nice to have a blogger as CTO. And a lady - help make science and engineering more attractive to our young gals. Oh, not to mention do things CTOs do to renew architectures and innovation. US tech and telecom policy could use it.