Most of us derive self-esteem from showing others how much we know says Steve Vamos, former CEO of Xero and ninmsn. The problem, at a time when things are changing so fast, is that what we know becomes less important every day. It is far more important to ask the right questions and to keep learning.
I loved the education sessions David Leckie, Nine Network CEO, gave me about the workings of the media industry when I was CEO of ninemsn. With my lack of previous media industry experience, I got great value from David’s willingness to share his experience with me.
David spoke with clarity and certainty about the industry and business of mainstream media. He was also self-aware enough to tell me, only half seriously, ‘Steve, I’m often wrong, but never in doubt!’ David showed great curiosity and interest in the development of the online business.
Behind his larger-than-life persona, he was one of the best executives I met in the media industry. He knew when to listen and when he could rely on his own experience and knowledge, and he did so forcefully.
By contrast, another executive I worked with at IBM was a major know-it- all. I had the challenge of dealing with this executive to extract vital business administration and operations functions to support the spinoff of the IBM Personal Computer business from the mothership in the early nineties. He would bombard me with his knowledge on every subject and then some. I found meetings with him incredibly draining because he would not listen to what I was saying and would try to control me and the way I went about things. In frustration, I complained to another peer of mine.
‘Dealing with this guy is driving me crazy! He’s a complete know-it-all! I could ask him a question about nuclear physics and he’d know the answer.’ My colleague looked me in the eye and said, ‘Steve, I hate to tell you, but he has a degree in nuclear physics!’ I couldn’t win.
Knowing it all (and we all have that tendency from time to time) is dangerous because it stifles the change process, which is inherently about navigating the unknown. A know-it-all mindset is unsuited to changing times, when opinions should be recognised as just that.
As Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said in a meeting with the Telstra Board (and also expressed in his book Hit Refresh), ‘I’ll take a learn-it-all over a know-it-all every day.’ Satya’s open/change mindset has brought an important shift for Microsoft.
The know-it-all gene has always been strong at Microsoft, originating from when Bill Gates led the company at the height of the Windows boom when fulfilling its vision of a computer on every desk. That mindset didn’t translate well for Microsoft when the industry changed, and the Internet emerged as the platform for software as a service.
The search product group in Microsoft genuinely believed it could catch and outpace Google, when objective perspectives suggested otherwise. This same mindset led to the most popular free email service, Hotmail, being renamed ‘Windows Live Mail’, before being changed back to
‘Windows Live Hotmail’ after pressure from many inside the company who could not understand the decision to trash one of the world’s top online media brands at the time.
The rationale for the change was obvious: to protect and build the Windows brand and franchise, which was the basis of Microsoft’s success. But often what we hold on to that worked in the past may be irrelevant or damaging to the future.
In considering our mindset, and the shift from a fixed/default to an open/change way of thinking, it is important to stress that, depending on the circumstances, both are relevant. The challenge we all face is to make sure we apply the right way of thinking to the situation we face.
This is an edited extract from Through Shifts and Shocks: Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change by Steve Vamos. Vamos is a former CEO of Xero and has been an executive leader with Microsoft, Apple, ninemsn and IBM during a 40-year career in tech. Shifts and Shocks is available online and in bookstores from 27 November 2024.
