Brutal Optimism in the face of Harsh Reality…lessons from a bigshot at TEB this morning
Bernie Ashe was so proud as he introduced his little brother, Rob, to the Technology Executive Breakfast (TEB) crowd this morning. Introductions can so often be bland and a direct steal from the speaker’s bio but Bernie’s humour, personal stories and insight provided the audience with much deeper appreciation for Rob the person, and what’s driven him to such success as a globally respected business leader.
Not long ago, we all gasped as Cognos was seemingly gobbled up by IBM. One of our biggest and best success stories was no longer “ours.” Rob, who is fiercely loyal, with over 25 years at Cognos walked us through the highs and lows teaching us some important lessons that can enable all of us to be ready and able to adapt to change – regardless of what it is. Undoubtedly, shift happens and there’s nothing we can do about it other than be on the upside of the transition. How? 1) strategically be prepared to run as a stand alone 2) talk to everyone! be connected and know who to call when you need information or advice 3) make sure your board is aware and informed 4) have up to date projections and 5) continuous strategic planning is mandatory. Being prepared is the key – a great example of this was the way that Cognos ran simulated takeovers which allowed them to practice reacting, responding and managing all kinds of acquisition scenarios. By including the board, management, bankers, lawyers in the dry runs, they were able to develop a very high level of readiness. It was an invaluable tool for the company and meant that when Rob received the call from IBM, he knew it was not a CEO’s decision but a board responsibility and the process began, as planned!
IBM’s commitment to building a Smarter Planet in which new intelligence is one of the key pillars, drives a global commitment to improving how the world collects, analyzes and use information. Cognos is a “pearl” in the IBM necklace which includes some of the best people, technologies and services in the world and the Ottawa team is seen as the centre of IBM’s Analytics expertise.
Takeaways from today:
- innovation will pay off
- you need to follow the shifts
- be prepared
- there are huge opportunities if you follow the right areas including: analytics, social networks, cloud, and mobile with its world changing applications.
You know it was a good event when after the closing remarks and applause, nobody wants to leave.
Looking forward to Peter Allen of DragonWave who kicks of 2010 on January 28!
Comments
Kim – really enjoying your TEB posts. “Almost” as good as being there.
A lot of hand-wringing resulted from the Cognos acquisition about how Ottawa was being gutted of head offices – as if the acquisition would prompt IBM to put the IP on crates and ship it to India, or somewhere else. (Ironically, just a few years prior tech pundits were in a high-anxiety state about the lack of multinational tech tenants in the city.)
In today’s Ottawa Citizen story by Bert Hill, it now appears IBM is Ottawa’s biggest tech employer with 2800-plus employees and “growing”, according to his story.
As a former Cognos employee from the pre-IPO days who got to share in the excitement of one of the first handful of software IPOs in the world, I too was sad to see the Cognos brand taken down from its familiar home on Riverside Drive.
But I also know that many pre-acquisition and post-acquisition Cognos employees have or will start up new companies in Ottawa. In fact, I worked in one of them 01-05, a mid-market analytics software company called Databeacon, bankrolled in part by Cognos founder and CEO Mike Potter, that was later sold to … Cognos.
It’s great to see OCRI doing its part to celebrate Rob Ashe and the growing IBM team as winners in our tech community. They deserve the kudos. Thanks again for the post.
Leave a Comment