Humility in the tech world

I recently walked up to Azim Premji, the Chairman of Wipro (the 3^rd largest Indian services firm) at a conference. He is the one of the richest men in Asia. No handlers around him – we had a polite few minutes about the state of the technology industry. I have heard from others he still flies commercial coach class when he could own a few private planes.

How do such folks stay level headed and accessible when all around us are arrogant technology executives, VCs, consultants and analysts (I realize some folks would put me in this arrogant bucket!)?

Through Gartner and since I have had the honor to work with (and, of course, annoy) a number of tech luminaries. Here are a few decent, accessible human beings I have enjoyed knowing:

Dave Duffield – a successful serial entrepreneur, but an even better human being with a second family of a string of adopted kids from Eastern Europe, his generous charities for stray pets and his continued help for employees displaced by the Oracle takeover of PeopleSoft.

Ray Lane – we used to spar at Oracle and continue to disagree on a number of matters, but he is responsive even now as a VC at Kleiner where he gets bombarded with all kinds of requests. A model family man and unafraid to express opinions about the industry. Unlike Premji, though, he does not enjoy commercial flights.

Henning Kagermann – CEO of SAP.  A former physics professor – analytical, soft spoken – so different from the arrogant image his company (unfairly) has.

Chris Everett– retired PwC partner who took their SAP practice to a multi-billion dollar powerhouse. A true leader of people, but humble enough to just grab crab cakes in a Baltimore hole- in-the-wall whenever I came through town.

Peggy Taylor– an investor in my previous start up. In our industry with really poor etiquette about responding to email or voice messages, she sets the gold standard for being amazingly responsive and polite.

Steve Sprinkle – we had some knock-down, drag-out arguments about my Gartner opinions of his firm Deloitte Consulting, but over the years have come to admire this cerebral executive – a bit of a rarity in the services business.

M.R. Rangaswami – Mr. Connected. Love the way he works favors out of you but reciprocates with contacts in his global rolodex. He has a wider reach than most analysts and VCs but you could not tell that from his modest style.

Brian Sommer – a former Accenture partner I have competed against and partnered with. We co-founded a start up and went through the thrill and heartache of watching it grow and decline. His wacky sense of humor, his work-life balance, his patient teaching style – a definite human being.

There are several others I have had the fortune of knowing over the years – Erik Keller, Mike Laven, Marty Glavin, Bruce Bond, Chris Jones, Charles Phillips, Hank Jones, Jack Sweeney, Karen Beaman, Fred Studer, Judith Rothrock, Mark Galloway, Greg Call, Jim Holincheck, Tristan Hoag, Kimberly McDonald Baker, Jeff Robertson, Barry Wilderman, Bill Kutik, Jeff Edwards, Charles Pelton and many, many more. At various points I am sure I have annoyed each of them or vice versa, but in different ways they have been accessible and direct – not just to me, but to so many others.