Like most things, it is fear of the unknown. As a leader, many of us have a natural tendency to feel we need to know the answers, correction, ALL the answers. That is actually our biggest weakness.
We are fundamentally all managers: managers of expectations, of time, and of effort. As managers and leaders, it is about how we work with others and bring the best out of them.
My big break came when I was appointed R&D Project Manager to lead a new project at HP Bristol.
Until then, my experience had been in production systems (telecoms test equipment) and manufacturing engineering (disk drives). These areas, although advanced in their own right, are well understood and already developed by others. New product development is what every engineer dreams of doing.
So when I was told I was to lead the (then) next generation storage system for HP, I was over the moon. Then reality hit home: err.. how? The immediate reaction was: can I pick another project and start with a less challenging project instead? Fortunately I didn’t.
Leading the project means identifying what will be that next generation backup solution, selecting the right vendor and defining what the product would look like. This is not only about the external look of the box, but also what it does and how it is supposed to function.
Initially it exposed me to the world of market research, meeting with the largest computer companies of the time like IBM, DEC, Wang and their customers to understand their needs. From there, we selected Sony’s Digital Audio Tape (DAT) technology to be adapted for computer applications.
Along the way I also learnt Japanese, and led our US and US teams to work with Sony engineers in their Shibaura plant in Tokyo and how to eat my first sushi.
The best part was everyone on the team participated and contributed to the best of their abilities and happy pushing the boundaries in the areas that they excel in – only with stress on how to do their very best. We worked hard and played hard.
To cut a long story short, we introduced the DDS/DAT Storage System in 1989 and HP in Bristol generated over US$600 million revenue p.a. after 3 years; the second most successful industry-wide peripheral solution from HP (after printers). There had since been 7 generations of the technology, and still shipping today.
I was worried I could not invent a new category of products from my background, but the team managed to. Together with Sony, we generated 26 patents from the project. And I got my name in one too.
The lesson I want to share to the reader is to fully embrace your areas of weakness and fears.
Managers do not have to have answers for everything. The leader is one who can identify the capabilities of the team.
After that, just let each member do their best.
